John C. Champion's first films were two Westerns that he produced and co-wrote with Blake Edwards.
Panhandle (1948) and Stampede (1949) were both directed by Lesley Selander for Allied Artists.
He later worked again with Selander as producer and screenwriter on another western, Shotgun, and the Korean War film Dragonfly Squadron.
Champion produced and co-wrote with Arthur Hailey the aviation film Zero Hour!
He wrote the original serious one hour pilot of McHale's Navy called Seven Against the Sea.