Helena Medina Home

film and tv creator, writer and executive producer

ACADEMIC DEGREES:

Columbia University, New York Ph.D. (Doctor's degree) in Literature

Columbia University, New York M.A. in Literature and Linguistics

Universidad de Barcelona, Spain B.A. in English Literature and Linguistics

CERTIFICATES:

New School University, New York Cinematography

New York University Tisch School of the Arts Musical Theater Writing

WORKING LANGUAGES: Bilingual English/Spanish; very good French, Catalan (native)

AWARDS

EMMY Awards, Best TV Miniseries, nomination (Operation Checkmate)

FIPA d'Argent BIARRITZ, FRANCE Silver FIPA to best series (Operation Checkmate).

PREMIO NACIONAL DE TELEVISION, National Television Award Spain (23F: The King)

TELEVISION & FILM AWARDS, NEW YORK, Silver World Medal Best Mini Series (23F: The King / 23F: El día más difícil del Rey)

SAN SEBASTIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Welcome Mr. Kaita)

NEW YORK FESTIVALS World Bronze Medal (Operation Checkmate)

ALMA AWARD for Best Television Original Screenplay (23F: The King) INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION FESTIVAL OF SHANGHAI, Finalist Magnolia Award to World’s Best Original Screenplay (23 F: The King)

ONDAS AWARDBest television series and : Innovation in TV Quality (23F: The King)

PREMIOS DE LA ACADEMIA DE TELEVISION, Best TV miniseries (23F)

NATIONAL TELEVISION AWARDS, Colombia best miniseries (Operation Checkmate, finalist)

NATIONAL TELEVISION AWARDS, Colombia Best Original Screenplay finalist

GAUDI AWARDS Spain, Best Television Series (23F: The King)

ATV AWARDS (Spain’s Academy of Arts and Science) Best TV series (23F: The King)

TELEVISION SERIES and FILMS (creator and writer)

XRey (Starz, Sony-Howard Gordon, Weekend, Spain/USA NOW in production -series, drama/political thriller)

Smuggler (Venus Films UK, in development -series drama/criminal thriller)

Quello che nascondono i tuoi occhi / The Truth in your Eyes (Mediaset 2017 Italy/Spain, series, period drama)

23F: El día más difícil del Rey/ 23F: The King (TVE, ALEA DF, 2009 -miniseries, political thriller)

Operation Checkmate (TVE Spain / Paraiso USA/ Caracol Colombia, 2011, series, action/drama)

De la Ley a la Ley / The Law within the Law (TVE, 2018, TV film, political thriller)

Niños Robados / Stolen Children (Mediaset 2013, miniseries, period thriller)

A Christmas Story/ Un Cuento de Navidad (TVE and ALEA DF 2013, TV film, comedy)

Los Días de Gloria / A Banker’s Days of Glory (Mediaset 2012, miniseries, political thriller)

Bienvenido Mister Kaita / Welcome Mr. Kaita (TVE 2008, docudrama)

Torre de Babel / Tower of Babel (TVC, RTV 2005 TV movie, comedy)

Sara (TVC, TVG, ALEA DF 2003, TV film, drama)

PROFESSIONAL CAREER:

1992-1994 NBC Television, New York. Researcher and Writer

1994-1995 CEM Blue Productions, New York. Scriptwriter for documentaries and TV shows.

1995-2018 ALEA DOCS & FILMS. Director of Fiction, leading the writers’ room and creating and writing my own projects produced by the company. I was a partner at this most awarded company (which co-produced with BBC, ARD, ARTE and the most prestigious channels in Europe); the company is now undergoing a transformation and I still collaborate with them.

1995- ongoing CREATOR/ SCREENWRITER / SHOWRUNNER (fiction). Creating and writing movies, miniseries, series and docudramas for different channels, streamers and producers in Europe and also the US

2013- ongoing Expert at CREATIVE EUROPE - MEDIA evaluating projects (cinema and TV fiction and animation), taking into account not only their creative potential but also viability, budget, production values, etc. I occasionally teach and give master classes at different universities: Metfilm School in London, The New School University in New York, etc

ACADEMY

Lecturer in Screenwriting and History of Television at Metfilm School / University of West London

ARTICLES PUBLISHED

An Introduction to European Television, in Pilots, ed . by the Media Programme of the European Union, January and May 2005

Turning History into Fiction: Challenges and Responsibilities (orig. "Ficcionar la Historia: desafíos y responsabilidades"), in Mínguez, Norberto, ed. Ficción y no Ficción en los discursos creativos de la cultura española. lberoamericana-Verbuert, 2013 pp. 201-213

The Evolution of American TV Genres in Europe (orig. "La evolución de las generos de television americanos en España"), in Del Pino, J.M. (ed): America, the Beautiful. lberoamericana-Verbuert, 2014 pp. 61-77

The Construction of Masculinity in Television Fiction (orig."La construcción de la masculinidad en la ficción televisiva") in Zurian, Francisco A. (ed): Diseccionando a Adán: Representaciones audiovisuales de la masculinidad. Síntesis, 2015.