William Sokolic

I've spent more than 22 years as a journalist, writing for regional magazines, weekly and daily newspapers, among them, full time jobs with The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Courier-Post. My career spanned a diversity of subject matter: business, tourism, metro, and of course, my favorite pasttime, entertainment. As an entertainment reporter, I've profiled Jay Leno, rock group O.A.R., Smokey Robinson and screenwriter Joseph Stinson. I wrote about filmmaking in New Jersey on a number of occasions.

I co-authored a pictorial history of Atlantic City for Arcadia Publishing, entitles Atlantic City Revisited.

I also write screenwriter profiles for moviebytes.com, cover the Jersey Shore for examiner.com, and on the side, I've penned six screenplays and two novels. A short script, Santa Killer, has won various awards, including Yale University's Bulldog Short Screenplay competition. A feature, Knit One, scored in the mix at the American Zoetrope contest.

I ran the screenplay competition for the New Jersey State Film Festival at Cape May for a few years. Last year, I founded the Downbeach Film Festival, where I serve as executive director. We honored Kevin Smith and William Forsythe at the inaugural festival.