Tips from Manager Cody Dorkin | Industry Insights

What you don’t know CAN hurt you.   

Claiming ignorance may keep you from receiving a citation, but it certainly won’t get you anywhere in this business.

When you decide to play professionally in this industry, it’s game on.

Talent need to show up to auditions and bookings prepared and on point.  You do not get paid to learn your way around a set or learn to act during an audition; it’s expected that you already know these things. You are there to get the job done.

Here are a few tips to help you show up prepared and on point.

• Make choices.

Don’t wait for the Casting Director or Director to tell you what they want. That’s why they went through the trouble of getting you a script and story board. Use it to make your choices before you are in the audition room, it’s your job!)

• Bomb proof yourself.

Creative beings are fragile.  I see actors get thrown off their game all the time. Sometimes it’s nerves, running late, forgetting a headshot and resume, the constant thought of getting a parking ticket because you were short on change or, perhaps they flubbed a line or were given a different character to read last minute.  You’ve got to expect the unexpected and be ready for all the wacky things that can tamper with your performance.

• Get rid of the questions marks.

Understanding how this business works can really help your career. From knowing how you got your audition to understanding the contracts you sign on set.  It’s all part of being a professional talent.

If knowledge equals power then ignorance must equal inability.

- Cody Dorkin, Studio 24

Studio 24 CEO/Manager and Acting Coach Cody Dorkin has over 17 years of first hand industry experience.  He is a member of SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and AFTRA (American Federation of Television & Radio Artists) and has worked for just about every major network and studio in LA including: NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Miramax, Universal Studios, Disney, Comedy Central, HBO, Touchstone, Lifetime, and Nickelodeon, to name a few. His experience includes commercials, print, voiceovers, T.V. shows, movies, and theatre.  A Sacramento native, Cody is dedicated to the enrichment and growth of the entertainment industry in Northern California.