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by Doug Jones
Tomel Griggs (born Tommie Lee Griggs Jr., August 23, 1965) is an American filmmaker, specializing in inspirational genre. He also has a knack for designing clothes. Tomel has written and produced several R& B, Gospel and Jazz songs that were not ever release. He has also produced and directed short indie films and music videos for YouTube viewing. In 2009 he started his first stage play, which soon turned into the developing of an inspiring short film about Change and Redemption.
Tomel is known by family and friends as the entrepreneur, creator, and inventor and go getting. A lot of his family and friends didn’t know that he went on to receive his certificate in Computer Aided Drafting and helped design several Lavish Hotels in Las Vegas, such as the Aria Hotel, The Bellagio Hotel, Long Beach Town Center, and Compton Town Center and many more. In 2007 he relocated to AZ and in 2008 Tomel launched his first clothing line, Shooff Clothing which was on its way to spiraling up to being the next hottest trendy style jeans line. Fashion shows, magazine writer ups, purchases, and then an unfortunate divorce would have him put the clothing line on the back burner for future possibilities.
In 2010 Tomel begin his Journey to ensemble a production team on a very low budget to get his Behind Locked Doors aka The Jack Story completed. With casting out of the way and after finding locations at no cost, the filming began. With only having enough to get half of the filming complete Tomel decided take it to a feature length film and moved back to LA to further develop the film project, because at that point he knew he had great inspiring story that needed to be on the big screens. He’ll tell you he let a close friend read his script and it inspired her to go into her daughter’s bedroom to see what was going on behind the locked doors of her bedroom. What she found was not pretty. Her 14 year old daughter had met an older man online and had setup a day and time to meet this total stranger. She went through her cell phone and found out that her perfect daughter wasn’t so perfect. She called him and thanked him. She feels like it SAVED her daughter’s LIFE. Who knows what could have happened to this young teen and hundreds of teens who are doing the unknown Behind Locked Doors.
Tomel moved back to LA in 2011 to make industry connections, to network in Hollywood and to developed project to the next level. Behind Locked Doors script has been read by, Lou Gosset Jr, Charles S. Dutton, Vivica A. Fox, Brian McNight, Cuba Gooding Jr, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bai Ling, and several other
inspiring actors. Tomel has several LOIs from Hollywood actor, distribution and very interested investors currently reviewing the project. Tomel hopes to start production as soon as the end of 2015 year.
Tomel was born in St. Louis, Mo. as Tommie Griggs Jr., the son of Orlette Griggs (Walton) and Tommie Griggs Sr. an entrepreneur and inspiring musician at that time. He has 2 siblings. He remembers his father telling him when they hung out at 10 years old, saying you need to start now thinking about what you want to be. Tomel would think to himself, but I’m just 10 years old. Later in life he knew why he’d continued to put the pressure on him to decide. Growing up with the interest in sports, Tomel played little league and looked to have a promising career in any sport he played. Attending Visual and Performing School in St. Louis he also showed a promising career as a musician. With the interest of playing Bass guitar and Alto Sax, class mates and he later started their own local band in elementary school. He often wonders what his life would be like if his father would not have taking a chance and believing in more than just settling for a blue collar job.
In 1980 his dad up rooted the entire family to California to pursue the American dream, music and acting careers for his kids. Tomel’s dad believed it was the best decision he could have made for his family. Tomel first year in high school, a starting wide receiver at Wilson high school in Long Beach where he was injured the day before his first game. That day his life took a serious detour. His focused then turned to girls, hanging out with the wrong crowds, discouraged of a future of the unknown. He had his first child, son Jermaine Griggs in his junior year of high school. He went on to have 2 beautiful daughters. In learning from all his mistakes in life today, being an absent father has been the worst feeling of his, a big sincere apology to all my children.
Tomel is on his path to becoming a very successful writer, producer, director and entrepreneur some day in the near future, happily married, living in his dream home in LA or Scottsdale. He currently has a movie in development and branding his own new fashion line.
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