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Richard Linklater: An Overview

In 1989, a book by Rick Schmidt entitled How to Make a Feature Film at Used Car Prices was published. This book was a how-to on making an independent film at a maximum of $10,000, and had become a "bible" of filmmakers in the early/mid 90's such as Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, and eventually Richard Linklater.
Linklater originally had plans to become a doctor, studying gynecology at Sam Huston State University, but left college and worked on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. During his time working there, he picked up on a love for literature and film, partially due to visits to a repertory theater in Houston. After his work on the oil rig he bought a Super-8 camera, a projector, and some editing equipment and moved to Austin, Texas. Here he founded the Austin Film Society at the University of Texas.
Linklater created many short films that were the mostly just experiments in filming techniques and testing. In 1989 he finished his first full-length feature, It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books, which took about one year to film and another to edit. He filmed the entire film on a Super-8 camera, acted and produced the entire film on his own, and edited it in a public access TV station. The movie had little plot or narrative, as it follows a main character (played by Linklater) travelling about the country, meeting with various people and performing mundane, boring, everyday activities. The film lacked a wide audience and was rarely seen until its release with the Criterion Edition of Slacker.
His release of Slacker in 1991 followed a similar style of It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books, but with more dialogue and a hell of a lot more actors. It was Linklater's first major release, costing $23,000 to produce and film. It eventually developed a cult following, bringing in a gross of over $1,000,000. Slacker show us a glimpse of Linklater's developing style, which would change little over the course of 10 years worth of...