He grew up in Nebraska before graduating with honors from the prestigious USC School of Cinema-Television.
Fresh out of school, Bokenkamp wrote and directed the documentary After Sunset: The Life and Times of the Drive-In Theater, which was hailed by Leonard Maltin as "a wonderful evocation of a distinct piece of Americana!" The film, which features John Carpenter (Halloween) and legendary movie mogul Samuel Z. Arkoff (Beach Blanket Bingo), played film festivals across the country before being released by American Movie Classics, where it currently airs on a rotating basis.
Bokenkamp followed his directorial debut with the screenplay to the psychological thriller Preston Tylk (a.k.a. Bad Seed). The effort quickly caught the attention of Academy Award wining director William Friedkin (The Exorcist) who hand picked Bokenkamp to collaborate on a horror film titled 30 Pieces.
Two years later, Bokenkamp stepped behind the camera again, this time to direct his screenplay Preston Tylk. The film, which stars Luke Wilson (The Royal Tennenbaums), Norman Reedus (Boondock Saints) and Dennis Farina (Saving Private Ryan) marked Bokenkamp's feature directorial debut and was released in the fall of 2000.
Since that time, Bokenkamp has focused on writing and scripted material for such notables as Julia Roberts, Halle Berry and Dianne Lane. In 2004, he adapted Michael Pye's novel Taking Lives into a feature film for Warner Bros. starring Angelina Jolie (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), Ethan Hawke (Training Day), and Kiefer Sutherland (24). He wrote the original story for Sony's 2007 thriller Perfect Stranger staring Halle Berry and Bruce Willis.
Most recently, Bokenkamp adapted Ken Kalfus's short story Night And Day You Are The One for Universal Pictures and reworked the adaptation of Lawrence David's novel Need which is set to star Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts.
Bokenkamp lives in Kearney, Nebraska with his wife, Kathy, and their two children, Jackson and Ella.
