James P. Mimikos

Born and raised in Detroit. He was considered a team leader, though a bench quarterback, on the Public High School Championship Team of Southeastern High School. He finished as class Salutatorian; sports editor; and accomplished member of the Drama Club. From there, he attended The University of Michigan on various scholarships including the prestigious caddie scholarship of The Evans Scholars Foundation related to the Western Golf Association. During college he served as Feature Editor of the Graduate Business School publication. As he didn't have a politically connected family and didn't feel right going to Canada or the UK, at his father's urging, he joined the Air Force ROTC program as a way to bypass the Viet Nam draft, finishing the program as a Distinguished Military Graduate. He received his BBA, Accounting with Honors and passed the CPA examination on the first sitting. Three years later, he graduated from Wayne State University Law School, J.D. cum laude, with a specialization in trial law; especially criminal law. The war ended but his obligation did not. Thus, he served four years in the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG) where he successfully tried difficult felony cases either as Trial Counsel (Prosecutor) with resulting "Guilty" verdicts; or as Defense Counsel with resulting "not guilty as charged." He received the Air Force Commendation Medal for Defense services. Philosophically, he never cared what side he was on so long as he was in court. Upon discharge, he stayed in Athens and eventually got into shipping. His shipping company served for 8 years as the exclusive husbanding ship agent for the U.S. 6th Fleet visiting Greece... and then into films. He wasn't discovered; instead, using Detroit smarts, he imposed himself into the business. For years he ran the Global Negotiations series of workshops for the European Union MEDIA Programme funded by the EU, MPA and Paramount. He lectured on International Film Development and Producing in many countries, especially India where he also served on several international feature film juries. Today, besides producing, he is a screenwriter, author and novelist.