Over fifty Super-8mm short films followed before his high school graduation in 1984, after which Bookwalter took photography classes at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. When his apartment was robbed a week into his second year there, the fledgling director took it as a sign to return home, and a mere month later he touched base with filmmaker Sam Raimi (THE EVIL DEAD, SPIDER-MAN), who would wind up financing his first feature-length effort, THE DEAD NEXT DOOR. Four years later the film was finally completed in Los Angeles, where Bookwalter ran into a producer who was in the early stages of starting a distribution company, Cinema Home Video.

From 1989 to 1992, Bookwalter worked on nine features and four special interest videos for the company before starting Tempe Entertainment in 1991 to self-distribute his features, such as the critcally-acclaimed OZONE. Bookwalter has taught himself the ins and outs of low-budget production — in addition to directing, producing and editing, he has also penned several screenplays, indulged in a bit of acting, explosives work, makeup effects, lighting, cinematography...you name it, and J.R. Bookwalter has probably at least tried it, including writing three books on the subject of low-budget production and distribution.