Luis Medina (Producer)

Luis Medina (born August 17, 1953) is a Venezuelan talent manager, producer, and entrepreneur for Latinos in the United States. He has almost three decades of entertainment industry experience spanning radio, television, and film.
He recognized early the need for marketing and promotional expertise within the U.S. Latin consumer market. Luis combined this market need with special events and multiple production opportunities specifically targeting this emerging new consumer demographic. His confluence of market factors, coupled with his unique insight into the Latin heart and soul, compelled him to form UNO Productions Inc. He is the founder, CEO, and Executive Producer of the production company UNO Productions Inc., in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for managing a variety of elite artists including Willie Colon, Julio Iglesias, Yuri, Pablo Montero, Lupillo Rivera, Jessica Diaz, Gelena Solano, Luis Magaña, Los Horóscopos de Durango, Pepe Garza, Omar y Argelia, Adela Micha, Lorenzo Mendez, and Ninel Conde.
In the last 10 years, he has also begun to manage writers, producers, news anchors, and digital content producers. Currently, UNO Productions Inc. is working on the promotion of the group “The Rebeldes”, which is a collaboration amongst the three Mexican artists Lupillo Rivera, Pablo Montero and José Manuel Figueroa.
Early life and education
Medina was born in El Tocuyo, Venezuela, a small pueblo town deep in the Venezuelan countryside, growing up amongst a family of 12 siblings.
As a young boy Medina would look over to the radio to see if he could find where the voices and sounds were coming out of this obscure wooden box - his life began to build itself amongst vast coincidences. At just the age of 5, he would constantly talk to himself in the mirror and would spend a lot of his time listening to the voices on the radio. While in primary school he would begin to visit the local radio station thanks to a family friend who knew someone who worked at the station. In hopes of being allowed to spend more time at the radio station, Medina would buy the employees coffee. This gave him acmes to go in and out of the station as he pleased and this slowly helped him realize his passion for production.
Career
Today's executive producer and owner of UNO Productions Inc. obtained his first industry job as operator on “Radio Colonial” in El Tocuyo before even starting secondary school and in addition to this job Medina would buy beauty products from a local business who was bankrupt and would sell these products door-to-door and to his friends. His experience as a door-to-door salesman was a major catalyst for his future skills in negotiations.
The brilliant performance of Luis Medina in the world of entertainment as a producer, promoter, and marketing agent for Latinos in the United States is a testament to the aspirations he’s had since he was a young boy to pursue his passions. During his young years in El Tocuyo, his family attempted to distance him from radio because they did not want him to lose focus on his studies. After failed attempts to distance him from the radio, he family sent him away to live with his sister in another city. However, despite the move, he soon found himself meeting a member of the local radio community in his new city. Within a few days he was once again a part of the production team at “La Emisora”. Once again neglecting his studies, his family found out about his reconnection with the radio world, and immediately shipped him back to his pueblo of El Tocuyo. At just 14 years, without telling anyone he decided to embark on a completely new venture, he packed a pair of pants, one shirt, and spoke to the owner of a nearby trucking company. This company specialized in transporting sugar to and from the nation’s capital, Caracas, and that's where he decided to go in pursuit of his dreams.
Once established in Caracas, the adolescent Luis Medina worked a variety of different jobs. He was able to save enough money from his job to enroll himself in a course on radio production. Upon gaining his radio license, he was employed at Radio Continente and later in RM Radio, a well-respected radio company in the country. Working at this radio station gave Luis Medina the chancee to work amongst many of the most well-known radio professionals in the country. The beginning of the 1970’s and his aptitude for media would lead him to travel to a variety of radio stations in the country.
United States: Expanding Horizons
As a natural born producer and man of communication, Luis Medina had a strong impact in 1975, when he vacationed in New York and Florida after being invited by a friend. This was his first time in the United States and he was mesmerized by the impact of media, the color television, and the endless opportunities that were around him. His friend, Jorge Bustamante, who was proficient in English, scheduled several meetings with Luis and multiple radio conglomerates in the states, to discuss the possibilities of branching out projects to Venezuela. He found himself in meetings with famous radio personalities who were keenly interested in hearing about the possibilities of branching out to Venezuelan radio. From that day forward Luis Medina stopped being a muchacho “tocuyano” or country boy, and left behind a radio career only defined by the city of Caracas. He returned home from his trip obsessed with the idea of living outside of his country. He spoke with his brother Pablo, who at that moment was studying Politics in the city of London. Pablo encouraged him to make the move to England to pursue a career. However, before making the trip, his same friend from the states, Jorge, called him with another opportunity. The invitation for this opportunity ended in Los Angeles, California, where Jorge was completing a master’s degree.
Throughout his life and professional career, Luis Medina has prioritized following his instincts. During the holidays of 1975, he did just that. Nevertheless, what was originally just supposed to be a temporary trip in Los Angeles resulted in him cancelling his trip to London as he realized he had blown through most of his savings. Medina was very upset and disappointed with himself, and wanted to return to Venezuela as self-punishment.
However, as has been most of his life, things shifted so as to make him end up where he truly belonged. Around this time, his friend Jorge got him an interview at K-LOVE radio. After a week-long trial, they brought him on as a part of their production team. After working there for some time, he asked for raise in pay because he felt he had given and done so much for the company. They declined, citing a lack of available resources. After this Luis chose to return to Venezuela. Four months later he returned to North America. At the young age of 22, Luis explored the streets of New York and Boston, with no specific route in mind. One day out of nowhere, a dear and close friend from Los Angeles, almost like a sister to him, called him and offered him a plane ticket to Los Angeles, money, a car, and help finding a job in the industry. She told him if he didn’t accept to never bother talking to her again. After much thought, Luis accepted, and once again made his way to Los Angeles. From here on out, Luis Medina began to make noise in the entertainment community in Los Angeles. Year after year forging his prestige. Working hard to put on quality events became one of his greatest aptitudes and contributions to the entertainment world.
Los Angeles: Dreams become reality
Since his arrival in Los Angeles, Luis Medina has endured a wide variety of circumstances that have affirmed him as a knowledgeable member of the Hispanic market. Working as a tour guide for tourists visiting Disneyland, Universal Studios, and other local attractions was his precursor into radio in Los Angeles. Thanks to the connections of a friend, Luis was able to get an interview with the director of Radio America. On the same day of his interview he was able to begin his job at the station. For two consecutive years Luis worked the 12 am to 6am shift. During this time Luis Medina took classes, and worked an independent contractor.
In the 80’s, Luis had acquired many important contacts in the media industry, both in the United States and in Venezuela. One of these contacts would end up getting Luis into a meeting with Amador Bendayán who at the time was one of the most famous television animators in the country due to the success of his show “Sábado Sensacional” on Venevision. After this meeting, a deal was struck and the aim was to bring North American talent from Hollywood, to the Venezuelan show. The first production to come from this was “El Increíble Hulk", which made the rounds amongst neighborhoods in Caracas before it's small screen debut. Luis was interested in bringing artist Lou Ferrigno to Venezuela for work, but due to security issues his contract required him to stay in the United States. In the United States, Luis was able to offer Lou Ferrigno the position of stunt double on the Universal Studios tour. The ratings did so well that Luis was constantly being contacted to present more talent.
One of the most iconic artists of this time was the lovely Brooke Shields who had just launched her movie The Blue Lagoon. Amador Bendayan made it his objective to bring Brooke to Venezuela to appear on his show, and therefore would need Luis’ help to make this happen. Soon after Luis saw on a television an interview of Teri Shields (Brooke’s mother) being conducted. Luis felt that she was almost watching him through the television, and felt that he should attempt to contact her immediately. He found her mailing address in New York city, and sent a letter requesting a phone call from the woman herself, and the rest would be history. Luis soon came to a verbal agreement with Teri, which would see Brooke travel to Venezuela to be present in this famous and popular show. Bendayan wanted to have a physically signed contract, and the verbal agreement with Shields did not include the signing of a contract, and when Luis attempted to contact the producer of the show his calls were ignored. Luis then contacted the competing television channel, and the channel RCTV presented Brooke Shields, resulting in one of the highest television ratings of the time, and Luis’ largest payday. Luis continued to contract many major North American talents such as Erik Estrada, Lindsay Wagner, and Lynda Carter among others. Additionally, Luis began to bring Latino talent to the states. This led Luis to start his first company called ERLA (Entertainment Representative for Latin America) which cemented his relations with producers and the market in the United States.
Expanding into the Music Industry
The staggered economies in Venezuela and the countries he was negotiating with awoke the visionary inside of Luis Medina. He decided to broaden his horizons into music, and sent a letter to Herb Albert, who at the time was the president of A&M Records, one of the biggest musical conglomerates at the time. Albert was impressed by Luis’ marketing experience, and asked for a meeting with him.
A few days later, Luis was contracted to run a part of the Latino music division of A&M records as vice president of marketing, which was currently being run by producer José Quintana. Working with Jose for years allowed Luis to learn more about the industry than he could have ever imagined. However, in 1984 Luis felt that he should continue with his personal endeavors and left to explore other paths.
Luis began working as the representative for Mexican singer, Yuri, and soon after received a call from Albert Hammond who was famous for his song “it never rains in southern California". Albert invited him to work on a project with Luis' previous employer, A&M Records. This project revolved around the already successful production by A&M titled “We Are The World”, which included a variety of musical talent collaborating on one song. The record company wanted Luis to help produce the equivalent of this project in Spanish it would be called “Cantaré Cantarás”. The record company felt that Luis and Jose’s combined experience were necessary to launch a project of this magnitude. The project would involve four months of nonstop work, but would also lead Luis to be a part of one of the most historical events in Spanish music. “Cantaré Cantarás” debuted on April 9th, 1985, and involved the inclusion of major Latino artists such as Julio Iglesias, Pedro Vargas, Plácido Domingo, Emmanuel, Vicente Fernández, José Luis Rodríguez, Lucía Méndez, Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan, Lucho Gatica, Emilio Estefan and Diego Verdaguer amongst many others. Along with the song, a television special was produced with Ricardo Montalbán outlining the production of the song. From all of this arose a company called “Hermanos”, which partnered with UNICEF to promote disco music worldwide. For the next year, Luis worked as the director of “Hermanos”, strategically managing their endeavors.
The Birth and Growth of UNO Productions INC.
Luis always had the concrete idea of launch his own company and in 1986 he did just that. On February 1, 1986 UNO Productions Inc., opened its production studios in Toluca Lake, California. UNO Productions has proven to be very successful in the industry, and has given Luis a great amount of satisfaction. UNO Productions was able to sign many contracts, and assisted in the radio show “Hits Calientes” which was produced in [http://Westwood%20One%20(1976-2011) Westwood ONE]. In addition to this, UNO Productions under Luis' management managed the “Hit Parade” here in the United States. It was the first time this show was transmitted over 100 different stations nationwide. Other contracts found Luis managing a live monthly show for Universal Film Studios titled “Festival Latino”.
Thanks to his tenacity, vision, and expertise, Luis soon became a well known personality in the world of Hispanic entertainment. He produced many radio shows such as “La Historia de una Canción”, and worked with numerous discography companies to produce marketing campaigns for Sony, Disney, Virgin Musicc, Atlantic Records, RCA, among others. He also worked with Cinema production teams to produce soundtracks for hit movies. Among these Luis also produced “Fiesta Broadway”, the biggest Latino music festival in the states which involved 7 stages spread amongst 32 closed street blocks in Downtown Los Angeles. UNO Productions continued to grow to massive heights.
In 1994, on the exact day of the birth of his first son, Luis Medina received a call from Julio Iglesias asking him to come to Miami for a meeting to discuss projects. It was at this time that Luis strengthened his relationship greatly with the legendary singer, who had contracted him to rework his public image and career which at the time was passing through a rough patch. Luis Medina became his personal marketing strategist which soon saw his album “Crazy” debut amongst the top 3 spots on the billboard countdown. He soon made the slow transition to being Julio’s manager and this led Luis to travel to 60 different countries. They visited all the Latino-American countries, Europe, and Asia. For the next 6 years Luis traveled the world with Julio where he participated in the recording and launching of his albums “La Carretera” y “Tango”.
During this time, Luis never strayed too far from the projects he had going on with UNO Productions. This was the chance for Luis to bring to life a long-time vision of his, “El Premio de la Gente”, which was a people’s choice award that allowed fans nationwide to cast votes for their favorite artists. In 1999, he debuted this show which involved a total team of over 300 people producing the awards and had known artists nationwide performing their biggest hits. People cast their votes amongst over 2,000 different markets, the show also attained major sponsors such as Chevrolet, Bank of America, Pepsi, and Corona.
Among the many other productions of UNO Productions headed by Luis Medina was “La Gran Despedida de la Virgen de Guadalupe” which drew a crowd of over 120,000 people to the Los Angeles coliseum. Another production was the writing of the song “La Gota de la Vida”, of which the profits went towards a City of Hope or “Ciudad de la Esperanza”, an entity that does cancer research and treatment. As a part of this productions, elite artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Franco De Vita, Jenni Rivera and Marco Antonio Solís recorded their contributions from New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Miami.
Certain projects have remained a source of inspiration and pride for Luis Medina throughout his life. Such as the soundtrack he produced for the novella “El Clon”. Long before his affiliation with Telemundo, Luis had a vision for a joint Spanish and Arabic album. Luis found the perfect artists and engineers to produce the album and got it done. He was in a meeting with executives from Telemundo when he found out that they were looking for a project such as the one he had just produced. He presented his project and it was instantly approved to be the soundtrack for the soap opera “El Clon” and was a great success.
Among his long list of productions is the video produced for the Mexican organization “En Nuestras Manos”, which was a collaboration between 110 different artists, recorded in Churubuscu studios in Mexico. As well as “Los Premios A La Musica Cristiana”, with Betty Meza, which were numerous events revolving around the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. As well as the television program, “Gente en Ambiente” on AlmaVision, where Luis was the live presenter.
Luis has managed a variety of elite artists including Willie Colon, Julio Iglesias, Yuri, Pablo Montero, and Lupillo Rivera. In the last 10 years, he has also begun to manage writers, producers, news anchors, and digital content producers. Currently, UNO Productions Inc. is working on the promotion of the group “The Rebeldes”, which is a collaboration amongst the three Mexican artists Lupillo Rivera, Pablo Montero and José Manuel Figueroa.
For more than two decades now, UNO Productions, has specialized in taking action on the development of promotion and marketing platforms for the music, movies, radio and television industries. This has allowed UNO Productions to become a well known name within these industries, having worked with companies like 20th Century Studios, The Walt Disney Company, Columbia Pictures, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Bros., EMI Music Publishing, and more. Additionally, UNO has produced successful television specials for Telemundo, Almavision, Azteca America ,and PBS. “There are people who have great difficulty finding their calling in life. In mine, I’ve had many signs that have led me to identify mine and to make me feel like I can accomplish things. I have absolute faith in God, nobody has to convince me of God because I am a man of faith. I am a simple man that made it out of a pueblo called El Tocuyo in a sugar truck that never would have imagined that he would end up here. I never over advertised or over magnified the things I’ve done. I just have faith that God gave me the opportunity to take, and collaborated on being part of it." Luis Medina is a man who maintains his countryside toughness, birthed from a mother who taught him not to complain about his circumstances or anything that would interfere with his plans so as to maintain his never-ending enthusiasm.
Awards
On September 27, 1985 Luis Medina was honored by the City of Los Angeles in recognition of the recording industry's contribution to world famine relief.
In 2004, the city of Los Angeles awarded and congratulated "El Premio de la Gente" and Luis Medina for becoming an integral part of the city and bringing world-wide attention to the city.
In 2009, Medina was recognized for his extraordinary contribution to the music and television industry and for his commitment to empowering the Latino Community by the Los Angeles City Council along with the Mayor, City Attorney, and City Controller.
Videos and Interviews
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi193835289/
https://vimeo.com/112874207
https://radioprodu.com/luis-medina-de-uno-productions/
https://www.instagram.com/luisunoproductions/?hl=en
https://anchor.fm/fig-factor-media/episodes/19--Recorriendo-la-Vida-e-Impacto-del-Mdico-de-Los-Pobres-con-Luis-Medina-e15sg89

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