Short Cuts

Slacker: The Series Dept.: We're just surprised someone didn't think of this sooner: Richard Linklater and former Late Night With David Letterman head writer/producer Rodney Rothman have announced (via The Hollywood Reporter) they're in the initial stages of developing a comedy series for HBO tentatively titled $5.15/Hr. The proposed series will focus on minimum-wage workers and the dreaded McJob, a subject Linklater has tackled before (tangentially, anyway) in both Slacker and Waking Life. Linklater was unavailable for comment (he's in New York City wrapping up post-production on his School of Rock feature film), but expect more on this as the director and his Detour Filmproduction company proceed... Congrats to Matt "The Shiv" Dentler, who has been named the new South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival Producer. Dentler's been active in SXSW Film for several years running, and the outstanding success of this past March's SXSW Film Festival was due in no small part to his exhaustive efforts across the board.

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Kool Keith has left the building

No, we're not talking about hip-hop's Black Elvis -- we mean Keith Garcia, manager of Landmark's Dobie Theatre, who's concluding his year-and-a-half stint as Boss Movie Man as of next week and heading out to greener pastures back home in his native Denver, where he plans to renew his more-than-passing acquaintance with making films, as opposed to simply screening them. Since Dobie founder Scott Dinger's departure several years ago, it has sometimes seemed as though the little theatre with the big design-aesthetic has had a revolving door where the manager's office ought to be. Garcia's arrival in November 2001 heralded a number of significant changes at the Landmark flagship -- his tenure saw the installation of Austin's first digital projection system as well as a number of cosmetic and programming changes (including the "theme" midnight-movie packages that have proved to be a resounding success) -- and while he may soon be gone from Austin's most progressive chain theatre, he'll surely be missed by local film writers and media folk who could always count on that gratis cup of piping-hot coffee so essential to appreciating those early-morning critic's screenings. (Seriously, gang, you have no idea what a necessity that is.) Regarding his stint at the Dobie, Garcia says, "I've enjoyed running the theatre for the past year and a half -- the bald patches on my head are appreciated and a testament, I think, to the work I've put in on it." Touché, Mr. Garcia -- your complimentary bottle of cinematic Rogaine is in the mail.