--- name: "Ted Griffin" canonical: "https://film.one/person/ted-griffin" fi1m_id: "ted-griffin" imdb_id: "nm0341372" tmdb_id: 1886 wikidata_id: "Q3517027" roles: ["Writer","Producer","Director"] born: "21 December 1970" reviewed_on_fi1m: 6 average_fi1m_score: 82 average_as: "writer" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-20T07:28:45.710896+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Ted Griffin ## Identity Ted Griffin - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ted-griffin - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** ted-griffin - **IMDb ID:** nm0341372 - **TMDB ID:** 1886 - **Wikidata ID:** Q3517027 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Griffin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3517027, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0341372/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1886 Writer and producer. Born 21 December 1970 in Pasadena, California, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Producer, Director - **Born:** 21 December 1970, Pasadena, California, USA - **Active:** 2001–present - **Also known as:** T.M. Griffin - **Titles on Fi1m:** 6: 2 acting, 1 directing, 2 writing, 1 producing - **Frequently works with:** [Clark Johnson](https://film.one/person/clark-johnson.md), [Guy Ferland](https://film.one/person/guy-ferland.md), [Shawn Ryan](https://film.one/person/shawn-ryan.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as writer, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 79 (3), 2010s 82 (2), 2020s 82 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Griffin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3517027, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0341372/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1886 ## Streaming the US now - **Disney+:** [*The Shield*](https://film.one/tv/the-shield.md) (84) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Ted Griffin > Ted Griffin writes men who talk their way around trouble, from the crew of *Ocean's Eleven* to the two unlicensed detectives of *Terriers*. The plots run like clockwork. What we remember is the talk in between. Watch Brad Pitt eat. In *Ocean's Eleven* (2001) Rusty has a snack in nearly every scene, and Ted Griffin's script never explains it, because it does not need to: this is a man who is not worried, and the plot can be as intricate as it likes while he is chewing. Danny talks; Rusty finishes the sentence. Each new recruit gets a small comedy of his own, and then the film moves on. That is Griffin's method. The mechanism is the excuse; the talk around it is the point. He came up writing films in the late 1990s, *Ravenous* (1999) and *Best Laid Plans* (1999), and has said *Ravenous* was the first script that made him feel like a real writer, because he stopped paying attention to the rules. *Ocean's Eleven* made his name. *Matchstick Men* (2003), written with his brother Nicholas, kept him among the con men. He was to direct *Rumor Has It...* and was replaced twelve days into filming. Then *Terriers* (2010), made with Shawn Ryan, which Griffin created, wrote and directed, and which ran for one season. Since then the credits are rewrites, other people's films and other people's programmes: *Killers* (2010), *Tower Heist* (2011), episodes of *Patriot* (2015), writing on *9-1-1* (2018–). We have not reviewed them. *Terriers* is the case for him. Hank Dolworth and Britt Pollack have no licence, no office and no money, and they are paid, when they are paid, in cash and favours. We sat down expecting a pleasant hour about two skint men bickering in a pickup, and a few episodes in we realised we were watching a noir about debt, drink and what a beach town lets a rich man get away with, and that we minded a good deal what happened to Hank. Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James do the playing, but Griffin gave them thirteen episodes in which little is wasted, and even the tagline, they'll solve anything for the right price, is the show making fun of itself. The weakness is the one *Ocean's Eleven* wears openly. It is a robbery staged as a dance and the most purely pleasurable thing Soderbergh has made, and there is nothing underneath it. Julia Roberts is wasted. Griffin's cleverness, left to itself, is all surface, and it needs either a director who wants a party and nothing more, or a season of television long enough for the debts to come due. He also wrote on *The Shield* (2002), which we rate highly, though we could not tell you which parts were his. He has been a screenwriter for hire for most of his career and a television creator for one season. We would take the second Griffin over the first, and we would sit through thirteen more episodes of anything he ran. ## Biography Ted Griffin (born 21 December 1970) is an American screenwriter. Born in Pasadena, California, he graduated from Colgate University in 1993, where he helped form the comedy troupe Broken Lizard. His screenwriting credits include *Ravenous* (1999), *Ocean's Eleven* (2001), *Matchstick Men* (2003, co-written with his brother Nicholas Griffin), *Rumor Has It...* (2005, as T.M. Griffin) and *Tower Heist* (2011). He created the FX television series *Terriers* (2010). His maternal grandparents were director William A. Seiter and actress Marian Nixon. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (6) ### Performed in (2) - *Poker Face* (2023), Fi1m 82, as Dale McClintock — [page](https://film.one/tv/poker-face.md) - *The Wolf of Wall Street* (2013), Fi1m 82, as Agent Hughes — [page](https://film.one/film/the-wolf-of-wall-street.md) ### Directed (1) - *Terriers* (2010), Fi1m 82, Writer, Director, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/terriers.md) ### Wrote (2) — the average rests on these - *The Shield* (2002), Fi1m 84, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-shield.md) - *Ocean's Eleven* (2001), Fi1m 80, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven.md) ### Produced (1) - *Up in the Air* (2009), Fi1m 74, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/up-in-the-air.md) ## Complete filmography (25) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Zootopia 2* (2025), Thanks — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/zootopia-2.md) - *EARTH'S SIX* (2023), Original Film Writer - *Your Place or Mine* (2023), as Doorman - *Poker Face* (2023), series, as Dale McClintock — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/poker-face.md) - *Pretend It's a City* (2021), series, Executive Producer - *Gone Hollywood* (2019), Director, Writer, Executive Producer - *9-1-1* (2018), series, Writer - *Patriot* (2015), series, Director - *Solace* (2015), Writer - *The Wolf of Wall Street* (2013), as Agent Hughes · Co-Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-wolf-of-wall-street.md) - *Tower Heist* (2011), Story, Screenplay - *Prom* (2011), Producer - *Public Speaking* (2011), Executive Producer - *Terriers* (2010), series, Director, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/terriers.md) - *Killers* (2010), Screenplay - *Up in the Air* (2009), Executive Producer — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/up-in-the-air.md) - *Rumor Has It...* (2005), Writer - *Must Love Dogs* (2005), as Bill Jr. - *Matchstick Men* (2003), Producer, Screenplay - *The Shield* (2002), series, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-shield.md) - *Ocean's Eleven* (2001), Screenplay — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven.md) - *Best Laid Plans* (1999), Writer - *Ravenous* (1999), Screenplay - *Puddle Cruiser* (1996), as Rick Johnson - *Carthage Must Be Destroyed*, Director, Writer --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/ted-griffin