Al Gomez

A veteran of the Entertainment Industry, Al Gomez has worked as a Producer, Writer, Director, and Actor in Feature Films, Television, and Commercials.With blind ambition, Al secured an acting role in his first film, a take-off of the action classic Easy Rider (1969) called the Hi-Riders (1978). In his commercial acting work, he also had the opportunity to perform for international commercial companies such as Sunkist-Japan, Singapore Airlines, as well as in a number of domestic commercials.During this time period, Al discovered an innate storytelling ability, and an acuity for the filmmaking process. He wrote his first screenplay, a teen comedy called Arcade. Al approached a Producer who had started him in the business, and asked if he would be interested in the script. Lo and behold, the Producer read, liked it, and within a matter of months, Arcade was re-written into the teen comedy Joysticks (1983). It turned out to be one of the top independent hits of the 1980s as its opening weekend box-office numbers ranked it behind the studio megahits, Tootsie (1982), Gandhi (1982), and 48 Hrs. (1982)!While continuing with his screen writing, Al decided to extend career options within the studio system and found an opportunity at Universal Studios with the Producers of The Breakfast Club (1985). This allowed him to observe and work with the likes of Producer Ned Tanen, President, Feature Films, Universal Studios, Co-Producer Michelle Manning, President, Production, Paramount Studios, mega-comedy filmmaker John Hughes, and pioneering editor Dede Allen, best known for her work with with Warren Beatty on Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and the Academy Award winning Reds (1981).Wanting to diversify his business experience, Al created a commercial Production company called Status Entertainment. His commercial clients included America's largest lighting retailer, Lamps Plus. Over the period of the next few years, Al wrote, produced, and directed over 100 promotional and training videos.Al expanded his company to include production in the Hispanic advertising field, working with the Spanish speaking Ad agency Cobra Advertising. In 1992, Al directed a spot for Cobra Advertising that won a Comedy Award from L.A.'s local TV stations.Al returns to Feature Films and is asked by Universal Studios-Television executives to be part of a new venture called the Hispanic Film Project, a film series that promotes new talent within the Latino community. As Associate Producer-Assistant Director, he teams with 'Robert Diaz LeRoy' to create the award winning, "I'll Be Home For Christmas," a dramatic film short about one man's identity crisis and the dilemma he faces when his 9-year-old son comes to visit him in jail.Al and Robert team together again to produce their first feature film. Working with a shoestring budget and a tremendous amount of passion, River Bottom (1993), is a dramatic narrative about a day in the life of homeless denizens attempting to survive in the wilds of an urban jungle.In his next creative adventure, Al teams with Kostas Iannios of Big Rock Pictures, and together they Co-Produce a unique project, "The Accident," a drama about a young man who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. The main character thinks he has hit a man with his car, but returns to the scene of the accident, only to find the man's body has disappeared. It's his twilight zone type of internal mystery that lead us all to the conclusion that this accident may not have happened at all! Al and Kostas found producing "The Accident" to be a true creative challenge with a budget of only $40,000. "The Accident" was shot in Panavision Anamorphic format and state-of-the-art sound by TODD-AO. A triumph when one considers the scope of the project.Continuing to hone his creative instincts leads Al to the Video Game Industry where he discovers the fascinating interactive options of non-linear storytelling at the Dreamers Guild. Using his production and writing skills, he brings a feature film quality to various CD-Rom games, which include Dinotopia for Turner Interactive, Pandemonium Golf for IBM Interactive.After his foray into the video game industry, Al collaborates again with 'Robert Diaz LeRoy' as they produce the insanely rich comedy feature film Elvis Is Alive! I Swear I Saw Him Eating Ding Dongs Outside the Piggly Wiggly's (1998). This mocumentary pits a reasonably sane documentary filmmaker against a small minority of crazy Americans who swear they've seen Elvis Presley alive!Al's Industry credits and background are listed in Who's Who In Entertainment and Who's Who In America. His current and past industry affiliations include the Screen Actors Guild, American Film Institute, Independent Feature Project-West, & Nosotros. Show less «