Joan Yee

Joan Yee was an American television executive.

Born in Hong Kong, raised in Los Angeles, Yee majored in Art History and French Studies at Yale University, and also attended NYU in Paris.

Prior to working in television, Yee was editor-in-chief of California Business magazine. During her journalism and publishing career, she also worked at the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Los Angeles magazine, and East/West Publications.

From 1996-1998, Yee served as a consultant in Dramatic Series Development for CBS. In that capacity she worked with such series creators as Tom Fontana, Paul Haggis, Mark Frost, Henry Bromell, Thomas Carter and John Sacret Young to develop more than 40 pilots.

From 1998 until 2006, Yee was Vice President, Sponsor Programming, Movies and Miniseries for CBS. In this position, she supervised the development and production of more than 150 films. Working with writers, directors, producers, talent agencies, and advertisers, she was responsible for many of CBS's most highly rated programs.

Yee supervised the first television movie to air live in more than 40 years: a 2000 remake of the 1964 Cold War thriller film Fail Safe, starring George Clooney, Richard Dreyfuss, and Don Cheadle.

Beginning in 2007, Yee worked as a producer, screenwriter and consultant, working in feature films, cable TV and new media. Additionally, she oversaw a portfolio of sponsor programming to enhance corporate brands. She worked closely with MediaVest, Magna Global and other advertising agencies and, in less than three years, doubled the yearly production in this area.

In addition to supervising films, Yee enhanced the marketing of the programs by generating and supervising all the movie websites on cbs.com. This new media work included innovative sweepstakes, interactive fan Q&As, exclusive actor videos, blogs and other original content.

Yee died September 29, 2017. She was 58.