10 years after of arriving in L.A., this Kearney native’s first Major Motion Picture will open in theatres around the country and eventually around the world. Taking Lives stars Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland.

Ten years may seem like a long time but its seems only a short time ago Jon was using family and friends around Kearney to shoot a movie on VHS, to help him get into USC Film school.

It took nine months of pitching his ideas, to write the movie, in the process getting hired, fired and re-hired. Finally on the job, it took 6 drafts (rewrites) of the script before Taking Lives was ready to shoot. During the rewrite Jon found you have to pick your battles between what you really want to keep your own in the script and following producers’ notes.

Jon doesn’t like to spread himself thin, so he works on one film at a time. Discipline is the key to Jon keeping his 8am to 6pm plumbers hours. Thinking of writing like a normal job helps keep outside distractions to a minimum. He has learned over the years to just keep typing� so he can stay attached to the project without losing focus. Although he has found a clever way to procrastinate, research.

Another interesting aspect in Jon’s process is his mental imagery of what he recalls as classic moments in a good thriller. A favorite character that inspires him is the man with the trench coat and the fedora running to the phone booth on a dark stormy night. Jon’s eyes light up where he speaks of the idea of ‘the chase,’ when the character realizes his or her life is in danger, there’s no one to turn to and its time to run.

TAKING LIVES is a thriller, as are Jon’s other films. He has a formula that works for him and he’s sticking to it for the time being. He does admit he would like to try other types of film eventually or write a novel.

Jon’s resume of films includes: DRIVE IN MOVIE MEMORIES, a documentary on drive-in movie theatres, BAD SEED an independent which he also directed starring Luke Wilson, and NEED, which is still shooting, starring Diane Lane.

Courtesy of Marlo Tremain

THE ANNOUNCEMENT

Monday, March 8th at the NCC Hollywood Salon...

Our guest will be screenwriter and director Jon Bokenkamp, writer of the new Warner Bros thriller, TAKING LIVES, opening nationwide this month. TAKING LIVES stars Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland.

Hailing from Kearney, Nebraska, Jon has had a meteoric rise to the top of the film business, first as director/writer of BAD SEED starring Luke Wilson, and now writing for stars like Julia Roberts and Diane Lane.

Jon also recently became a father -- so come meet him and help celebrate both his new babies, his movie and his kid!