Speaker Alena Smith

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Alena Smith

Creator, Showrunner and Executive Producer

Alena Smith is a playwright and TV writer. She is the creator, showrunner and executive producer of the critically-acclaimed series Dickinson starring Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson, which recently aired its second season on Apple TV+, and has been renewed for a third.

Dickinson won a Peabody Award in the category of Entertainment for its first season and was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy series.

Smith previously served as a writer and producer for Showtime's The Affair and HBO's The Newsroom.

Variety said of her play “Icebergs,” which had its world premiere in 2016 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, “Smith shows impeccable comic timing, and also knows how to layer her drama with pathos.”  Other published plays include “The Bad Guys,” “Plucker,” “The Lacy Project,” and “The New Sincerity,” which The New York Times called “Splendid... entertaining and thought-provoking... comedy with a poignant edge.”    

Speaking on: Showrunner Superpanel: making content for the new world; Showrunner Screen Time: Steve Blackman, Alena Smith

At the Banff Media Festival, we met with Netflix and took a ride up Sulphur Mountain on the gondola. That’s where we made the pitch.
- Naveen Prasad, EVP and GM, Elevation Pictures

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