Sikes offers advice from his 30-year career in HollywoodDate: 12/9/2020 LOS ANGELES, CA – A lot of people dream of a career in films, and Springfield native Mark Sikes was one of those. Now, Sikes has taken his nearly 30 years of experience in film and TV and written “Hollywood Made Simple,” an advice book offering practical instruction for would-be actors trying to break into the business.
The new book, available at all the major on-line booksellers, walks a would-be actor through the steps he or she needs to know – from how to audition to what kind of head shots work. The book grew out of a series of blog posts Sikes started writing in 2004. The reception was so positive to his column he started working on a book in 2010.
Sikes knows from experience. His IMBD page lists 104 credits as a casting director, 10 for acting and two for writing
Sikes explained to Reminder Publishing that growing up in Springfield he envisioned himself as a writer for movies and TV. “I wanted to get into film at a very early age,” he said. Some advice he received from a fellow native of the city who has been to Los Angeles changed his life.
The friend told him to go to Los Angeles and look up legendary independent director and producer Roger Corman and get an internship.
“That was my first mission: find an apartment and see Roger Corman,” Sikes recalled. He found a place to live near UCLA and noticed one day in the college newspaper that Corman was looking for interns.
He made Corman an offer that beat the other applicants: he would work 40 hours a week for free.
“I found a paying job at a video arcade,” he said, “where I worked from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. five nights a week. I would work 80 hours a week.”
As an intern, Sikes worked in every department in the studio, which was a great learning experience.
In the Corman film version of the Marvel Comics’ “Fantastic Four,” Sikes even appeared as Ben Grimm, The Thing, in a series of pick-up shots.
His dedication paid off and he lobbied Corman for a paying job. “Just to shut me up,” Sikes said with a laugh, Corman hired him to be a receptionist. That opportunity led Sikes to one in Corman’s company as a casting director.
He worked on 12 films for Corman before working from 1994 to 1998 for PM Entertainment, a company that made low budget films for the growing home video market as well as television series.
Sikes worked on 20 to 25 films at PM before the company closed, and had one of his scripts produced as part of the company’s “LA Heat” TV series.
In 1999, he decided to become a freelancer, returning to Corman for several films before he cast “Dark Realm,” a TV series for Warner Brothers shot in the United Kingdom.
He explained the job of a casting director is to assemble a cast of actors – on camera and for voice-overs – for a project that would match the vision of the producer and director.
In the pre-digital days, Sikes would receive thousands of head shots and resumes from agents responding to a “breakdown” or description of the characters in a project. He would have “crates” of photos of prospective actors.
For one role, for example, he received 4,000 photos and resumes. Now the submissions are all digital.
His job is to find the performers, bring back the best ones for call-backs – second looks – and then even deal with contract negotiations. During the filming, he may have issues that arise on the set and after principal photography there might be tasks he has to undertake.
In most cases, he works more with a director than with a producer, although the people in both positions can have approval power for casts. While working on two films with the late director Tobe Hooper – best known from his seminal film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” – Sikes recalled the producer saying to him, “As long as Tobe’s happy, I’m happy.”
His involvement with a film may last as long as a year and half.
His book has many more specifics, but he offered hopeful performers the following advice:
Move to Los Angeles. “It’s not impossible [to break in from a smaller town] but the odds are stacked against you,” he said. Sikes explained that living in the region allows for greater networking and exposure. “You’re walking for coffee and you meet people from the industry,” he noted.
Assume the move is permanent. Breaking-in can take time, he added.
Continue training. Sikes said that many college acting courses are more geared to the theater more than film or TV. Even trained actors continue their education, he added. “Always try to embrace great teachers,” he said.
Although some in the acting community have spoken about how reality television shows have decreased acting opportunities, Sikes sees things differently. He said that with Netflix and Hulu there has been a surge in the productions of scripted movies and series.
With the addition of the streaming services producing content, Sikes asserted, “There have never been more acting jobs, especially for older people and people of color.” He added women are getting better parts than in the past and there is fewer exploitation films being produced.
Calling himself “an optimist,” he said. “I think a lot of things have gotten better.”
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