Tony Prince Tomety
Award-winning arts director and production designer, Tony Prince Tomety, has indicated that even though working in Hollywood has its own challenges, it wasn’t a scary moment for him when the opportunity came knocking at his door.
Tony, who was speaking in an interview with NEWS-ONE, said that all that was required of him was to deliver to his professional best and he did exactly that.
According to him, owners of all the productions he worked on are satisfied with his work and that makes him happy.
“I wasn’t scared when the opportunity came to work out there. I was only thinking about how different it was going to be like because Hollywood is a very developed industry. I was asking myself if I am at par with the people over there. Am I going to be seen as someone who doesn’t know what to do? Do I have the requisite skills and stuff like that were some of the questions I asked myself,” the man who is tagged Will Smith look-alike revealed on Wednesday.
“But honestly I did like the opportunity because I was going to help and people end up appreciating what I did,” he added.
Tony Prince Tomety remains one of Ghana’s brilliant art directors and production designers, and he is privileged to be one of the few Ghanaians who worked in Hollywood.
He worked on some Leila Djansi productions out there in Hollywood and a few others.
Back home, Tony has worked on numerous productions from films, commercials, reality shows, TV programmes and many others.
A former art direction student of the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) graduating in 2006, he has been working in the film industry for over a decade.
He is the art director behind programmes such as Vodafone Icons, Airtel Touching Lives and MTN Hit Maker. He has designed films such as ‘Warrior Queen’ (2009), ‘Sinking Sands’ (2010), ‘Ties That Bind’ (2011), ‘B For Boy’ (2013) and ‘Northern Affair’ (2013). He has a number of awards to his credit such as the Best Art Direction Award at NAFTI (2006), Ghana Movie Awards for Best Art Direction for ‘Sinking Sands’ and ‘Ties That Bind’ in 2010 and 2011 respectively(the first to win the award in that category). He is the first Ghanaian art director to win the African Movie Academy Award (AMAA) for Achievement in Production Design in 2014 for ‘Northern Affair’.
His most recent work include award-winning ‘Beats of No Nation’ movie, where he was the lead man and ‘Like Cotton Twines’, which is yet to be released, where he was the production designer. Tony is a member of the Art Directors & Designers Guild of Ghana and a solid creative for that matter.
“I almost enjoy every work that that I have done. I think all of them stand out exclusively,” he said about his favourite from the various jobs that he has done.
Last week, Tony opened the first prop house in Ghana called Prop Haven, where filmmakers can get their variety of props to film with.