Alejandro "Álex" Pina Calafi (born 22 June 1967) is a Spanish screenwriter, television producer, and former journalist, known for creating the Spanish heist drama series La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) (2017–2021) and the prison drama series Vis a Vis (Locked Up) (2015–2020). His other shows include Los hombres de Paco (2005–2010; 2021), El embarcadero (2019–2020), White Lines (2020), Sky Rojo (2021–2023), and Billionaires' Bunker (2025). The Hollywood Reporter listed Pina in their "Top International Showrunners of 2019".
Biography Born in Pamplona in 1967, Pina began his career as a journalist, working with publications such as El Diario Vasco and Diario de Mallorca and later in the Europa Press Agency.
Between 1993 and 1996, he worked as a scriptwriter and editor for Videomedia until joining the production company Globomedia in 1996. In 1997, he started his career as a screenwriter in the television series Más que amigos and Periodistas. He later created, executive produced, and wrote for Spanish series such as Los Serrano (2003–2008), Los hombres de Paco (2005–2010; 2021), El barco (2011–2013), and Vis a Vis (Locked Up) (2015–2020). While at Globomedia, Pina founded Cangrejo Films with other creatives and producers and produced several films, including Fuga de cerebros (2009), Tres Metros Sobre el Cielo (2010), and Tengo ganas de ti (2012). He also directed and co-wrote the film Kamikaze (2014).
At the end of 2016, after the conclusion of Vis a Viss second season, Pina left Globomedia and founded his own production company, Vancouver Media. Its first production was La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), which premiered on Antena 3 on 2 May 2017 with more than four million viewers. The series was distributed worldwide by Netflix and became the biggest success of Pina's career, leading to the signing of an exclusive contract with the streaming platform for the creation and production of an original series. In 2020, he created and co-produced White Lines. He also co-created and produced with Esther Martínez Lobato the television series Sky Rojo (2021–2013) and Berlin (2023–present), a prequel spin-off of Money Heist.
Filmography Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes 2009 Fuga de cerebros 2010 A Tres Metros Sobre el Cielo Also song writer: "A Ras del Cielo" 2011 Fuga de cerebros 2 2012 Tengo ganas de ti 2014 Kamikaze Also song writer: "La Rusia" and "Karadijstan libre"
Television
Year Title Creator Writer Executive Producer Director Notes 1997-1998 Más que amigos Wrote 10 episodes 1998-2002 Periodistas Wrote 55 episodes 2003-2008 Los Serrano 146 episodes; Co-created with Daniel Écija
Wrote 6 episodes and directed unknown episodes 2005-2010 Los Hombres de Paco 118 episodes; Co-created with Daniel Écija
Wrote 12 episodes and co-directed one 2011-2013 El Barco 41 episodes; Co-created with Ivan Escobar 2014 Bienvenidos al Lolita TV-Miniseries; Co-created with Fernando González Molina and Esther Martínez 2015-2016 Vis a Vis Co-created with Iván Escobar and Esther Martínez Lobato 2017-2021 La Casa de Papel 41 episodes;
Wrote 33 episodes 2019-2020 El Embarcadero 16 episodes; Co-created with Esther Martínez Lobato 2020 White Lines 10 episodes 2021 Los Hombres de Paco: El Regreso 15 episodes 2021-2023 Sky Rojo 24 episodes 2023 Berlin Co-created with ; 8 episodes
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