BONUS EPISODE: Richard Linklater - Slacker, Indie Cinema & How to Become a Writer

Well I put out an episode back in 2019 putting my dream list of
guests out into the universe and in the past four months I've been
humbled to have some amazing filmmakers and screenwriters on the
show. Incredibly one of those dream guests has made his way on the
show today. 

We are joined by indie film icon and Oscar nominated
writer/director Richard Linklater. Richard was one of the
filmmakers who helped to launch the independent film movement that
we know today with his classic 1991 indie film Slacker. So
today, we will not only dive into the extraordinary career of
Richard Linklater but also that of collaborator and longtime friend
writer/director Katie Cokinos.

If this is your introduction to Linklater and his work, here are a
few highlights you must know; Linklater helped launch the 90s indie
film renaissance with his film Slacker.

The producer, director has juggled the TV, film, short-film, and
documentary genres seamlessly over his career - typically focusing
in fine detail on generational rites and mores with rare compassion
and understanding while definitively capturing the 20-something
culture of his era through a series of nuanced, illuminating
ensemble pieces which introduced any number of talented young
actors into the Hollywood eco-system.

One of the talents to emerge from this era is the Texas native,
Matthew McConaughey in Linklater’s third movie and VHS smash hit,
Dazed and Confused. Based on Linklater’s years at Huntsville High
School and the people he encountered there, the film shadows the
adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day
of school in May 1976.

Throughout his career Richard has chosen to tell stories about the
human condition, while many times making us laugh and cry at the
same time. I found an immense philosophical under current to most
of his life's work. From The Before Trilogy to Boyhood, his
films tackle topics in an honest, raw and deeper way that is not
normally seen in filmmaking.

Many of the actors who work with Richard call him the "Zen
Director" on set. His philosophy can be felt throughout his
work. He often tells long and transformative coming of age
stories over years, if not decades, something that is unique to
him.

His Oscar nominated film Boyhood is a groundbreaking story of
growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a
breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up
on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia
Arquette as Mason's parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his
sister Samantha, BOYHOOD charts the rocky terrain of childhood like
no other film has before.

Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to
birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become
transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years from
Coldplay's Yellow to Arcade Fire's Deep Blue. BOYHOOD is both a
nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up
and parenting. It's impossible to watch Mason and his family
without thinking about our own journey.

Now the other remarkable filmmaker in this conversation is Katie
Cokinos. She has made over ten short films and in 2000 wrote,
directed, and acted in the feature film, Portrait of a Girl as a
Young Catwhich premiered at SXSW.  Katie produced Eagle
Pennell’s film, Heart Full of Soul (1990); was a publicist for
Richard Linklater’s Slacker, (1990).  She was the Managing
Director of the Austin Film Society, 1990-95.

Her latest film is the coming of age story I Dream Too Much,
co-produced by Richard. Here's a bit about the film:

Presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its social
outcasts and misfits, predominantly the twenty-something set, using
a series of linear vignettes. These characters, who in some manner
just don't fit into the establishment norms, move seamlessly from
one scene to the next, randomly coming and going into one another's
lives. Highlights include a UFO buff who adamantly insists that the
U.S. has been on the moon since the 1950s, a woman who produces a
glass slide purportedly of Madonna's pap smear, and an old
anarchist who sympathetically shares his philosophy of life with a
robber.

So much was covered in this EPIC 2 hours conversation. I need to
stop here and let you dive in.

Enjoy my conversation with Richard Linklater and Katie
Cokinos.

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