From his modest office in Beverly Hills, Mark Sikes drinks hot tea to soothe his throat. We’ve both been done in by the January Santa Ana Winds, and, both of us sounding like we’ve gargled glass, we conduct the interview while indulging in Sucrets—”the new Altoids,” Sikes jokes.
There’s a picture of a monkey taped to Sikes’ computer monitor complete with the caption: “I fling poo.” This tickles me to no end, as I realize the casting director slash teacher with credits ranging from horror flicks to festival circuit regulars is in it for the fun.
“Casting is a cool job,” he assures me. “It’s a job… but it’s a cool job.”
First casting job
Assistant casting director on the 1992 feature A Cry in the Wild II—starring Ami Dolenz and Mark-Paul Gosselaar—for legendary producer Roger Corman. “I’d started out in Massachusetts wanting to direct,” Sikes began, “but the head of drama at my school told me that I must have acting classes in order to direct. I loved acting. I ended up doing four or five gigs at a time: theatre, musicals, kids’ shows. After six years of producing and directing theatre, teaching high school drama, and acting, I came to L.A. to do casting.”
Sikes first assisted Laura Schiff at Corman’s Concorde/New Horizons Pictures. “It was great, there, because you’d go in working on three films a month and just learn it all yourself, moving up quickly. Laura was great to work with. She went up, then I went up, and I ended up working as head of casting for Concorde for three years,” he recalled.
After his tenure with Corman—for whom he still casts on a freelance basis—Sikes went on to head casting at PM Entertainment, where he cast over 30 features as well as television series such as L.A. Heat for TNT. “I was doing a movie every five or six weeks with a budget in the $2 million range. These films were action, low-budget, horror, bad Sci-Fi—because you can’t do good Sci-Fi at that budget—and about a half-dozen exploitative films.” Sikes admitted that his work on the latter came out of financial necessity, more than anything else. “Still, you have to do a project for the money every now and then to make up for all of the low-budget, high-quality, ensemble, festival features. I still have to do action and horror to pay the bills,” he assessed.
Sikes went solo six years ago and has run his office with no assistant, no intern, no reader, from South Beverly Hills ever since. “I’m a control freak. I like knowing what’s going on in my office. As you can see, nothing gets past me here,” he said, indicating stacks of submissions and scripts.
Coolest casting gig
Cheyenne Warrior, the 1994 feature starring Kelly Preston, Dan Haggerty, and Pato Hoffman. “Pato and I became very good friends. I went to this pow wow with him for four hours in the desert. I thought, ‘This is amazing: these people, this culture.’ I cast the film with a full Native American cast. That took a lot of work, but it was worth it.”
Obviously, populating a Native American film required casting methods beyond the standard Breakdowns/Agent Pitch/Session routine. “I went with the normal process initially, but then began to bring more and more people in for sessions. I’ve never done a project where every person who came in was so humble, so proud. It’s like when I’ve worked on kids’ films. They’re just who they are, when they come in. There are no neuroses.”
This film remains Sikes’ coolest gig because it was, in his opinion, “so not Hollywood. Also, I came out of it with a very good friend who introduced me to a whole culture, openly.”
Currently casting
Just wrapping up the indie feature A Lousy Ten Grand. “Breakdowns went out again today for one last role, but we’ll be finished this month,” he said.
Also on the books, Prom, a gay coming-of-age film that Sikes describes as “delightful” and in the tone of the John Hughes movies of the ’80s. John Baumgartner is set to direct. Sikes is working as both casting director and producer on this project, having already extended offers for the lead roles. This feature marks the second collaboration between Sikes and Baumgartner, the pair having worked together on the critically-acclaimed 2001 indie short War Story.
Best way to get seen by him
Submissions. “I see non-union actors, actors with no agents, no problem. I Taft-Hartleyed two people on this last film. I see theatre—and in LA, that’s more bad theatre than good theatre, I’m sad to say. I will always go see Shakespeare,” Sikes admitted, noting that it’s not due to the ability to scout from Shakespearean plays. “I just love it. I will always go see Shakespeare and always see musicals I did to see how they’re doing them.”
Sikes recalled attending a run of Guys and Dolls seven years ago. “I saw Perry Stephens as Sky Masterson—I had played Liverlips Louie or something to that effect; one of the gamblers—and brought him on L.A. Heat. I saw three of my students in shows last year. I do go to theatre. But I had to tell one of them, ‘Make better use of your time!’ You think you’re not spending money to be in a bad play, but we’re talking about a five night a week commitment and you won’t come do a great short film I’m producing? Make good choices,” he emphasized.
Key things he looks for in an actor
“A good attitude, preparation, and craft. And a good attitude,” Sikes added. Why twice?
“In the audition itself, all you need is a good attitude, preparation, and craft. But to transcend that five minutes in my office, to develop a relationship with me as a casting director and producer, you need all four of those things.
“Follow up. Don’t just sit at home and count on your mass mailings to do your work for you. Follow up and keep following up. Stay on my radar. Now, don’t call me. Calling: bad!” Sikes exclaimed. “I open all my own mail—all of it—so send a postcard, a headshot, a note. Follow up.”
The importance of training
Sikes explained that he reads resumes from the bottom-up. “I look for training. Be ready to work. Your training should indicate your readiness. You shouldn’t be lacking in anything if you’re ready to work. Think of it like going to a doctor,” he said. “You wouldn’t see a doctor who only trained in one element of practice. You need to know everything.
“Get your core training, do scene study, take comedy classes, get on-camera experience. Now, on-camera doesn’t need to be ongoing,” Sikes qualified. “On-camera classes help you know whether you’re auditioning right. You could take one different on-camera or commercial class every three or four years to keep in touch with your look. But you must be constantly training–and not at those factories where you spend $300 a month to train in all things at once.”
Sikes regularly teaches classes out of his office space. “I simulate the audition process using ten years’ worth of material,” he began. Then quickly, he added, “I do not use material from current projects. Oh, I adhered to those guidelines before they even existed! I try to get actors to connect with material in which they’re teenage zombies. You have to sell that line, so we’re now doing more script analysis with audition technique.”
His opinion on the evolution of his instructional technique? “I used to think that if I changed my technique it meant I didn’t know what I was doing before. Now I realize that we have to change in order to remain sharp with anything we do. I read screenwriting books. I know that every line is there for a reason. Every scene is there for a reason. Every line costs money to the producers, and that means—when you audition—you need to understand the reason that line is there,” he concluded.
Advice for actors
“Know about your people.” Sikes recommended that actors try to get their agents on the phone. “Do you always get a machine when you call your agent or your manager? Always? That’s not right. If you can’t get your agent on the phone, I probably can’t either, and that could cost you a job. Call up and schedule an audition for yourself. Say you want to see you—the actor—for a session and then see if your agent even calls you to tell you you’ve been requested for an appointment. So many times, the agent or manager won’t call. It’s like they’re working against the actor. They want to hold the actor for a commercial—which pays better—rather than letting him go in for a small role.
“When you’re meeting with an agent for the first time, remember, you’re interviewing the agent, not the other way around. It does you no good to get signed so you can be shelved.”
His take on staying power
“I see this like a ladder,” Sikes described the actor’s process using his hands, indicating climbing rungs. “Actors leave town every day—easily as many as come to town every day. So many of them didn’t have the dream with them or weren’t ready for it. Then there are those who stay here but stop pushing,” he said, continuing up the imaginary rungs of the ladder with his hands.
“Then there are those who stay here but stop training. Every year you’re here and being proactive, you’re moving up the ladder without even really working that much. Now, if you’re getting your work out there on top of that—training, doing theatre, staying on my radar, ready to work—you’re climbing more,” he insisted.
Highlight of his week
“As a teacher, it’s seeing my students book work. I feel so proud. As a casting director, I am somebody who roots for the underdog. I love seeing a nice person with no connections and a great attitude go against a name and book.”
This interview was conducted on January 6, 2003, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.