Cody Sanders: Embracing Risk and Reward in Comedy and Filmmaking
Welcome to another engaging episode of the Creator/Shift podcast! In this edition, Erika Christie, sits down with the incredibly versatile Cody Sanders, a dynamic personality who juggles the roles of improviser, actor, screenwriter, director, and solo sketch artist. In this enlightening conversation, Cody shares his journey from childhood dreams to the stages of Atlanta and New York, his therapeutic experiences with improv, and the creative challenges he embraces in screenwriting and performing. Whether you’re an aspiring performer, a creative professional, or just a fan of insightful stories, this episode offers a captivating look at the intersection of creativity, performance, and personal growth. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon for more inspiring content from Creator/Shift!
Some Questions I ask:
What creative roles do you do?
How did you get into improv? And how has it changed your life?
What types of writing do you do?
How do you deal with the SHIFT in writing for different mediums?
Do you have any PROCESS for testing jokes?
What is comedy?
What is the biggest creative risk you’ve ever taken?
How has your production work made you a better performer?
What is the importance of the indie comedy scene in Atlanta?
What is the next SKILL you want to learn?
Do you approach projects differently if you’ve written them?
In this episode you will learn:
• Cody's Love for Performing
•. Finding pieces of himself in different characters
• Learn how Cody uses his improv skills to enhance his screenwriting and sketch writing, treating scripts like live performances to fuel his creative process.
•. Dive deep into Cody’s journey, from his roots in youth theater to professional stages in New York and Atlanta, revealing how improvisational theater has shaped his artistic and personal life.
• The sense of community and magic found in improv
• Transition from performing to screenwriting
• The process and enjoyment of creating short films
• Cody’s perspective on what makes something funny
• The different hats worn in production and performing
• Uncover the crucial role of chemistry and trust in collaborative creative efforts, which Cody describes as fundamental to generating ""genuine magic"" on stage.
• Cody discusses the importance of indie and alternative comedy scenes in nurturing talents and creating vibrant, supportive communities for artists.
• Accessibility of the indie scene to talents outside mainstream venues
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🔗 Follow Cody on Instagram and TikTok: @Cocojamz
Erika Christie is the host of Creator/Shift and as a Filmmaker/Writer/Producer has worked professionally in many different fields. Erika will be interviewing all types of amazing art-folk and delving into the best ways that artists up skill themselves- meaning, what they do to better themselves and their artwork. We'll also be putting a special focus on transitioning your skills into new artistic mediums and how to best work and collaborate with artists who have very different skill sets from your own.
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TRANSCRIPT
Erika Christie:
You do a lot of things, improv, writing, directing, performing, singing, etc.
Cody Sanders:
Yeah, I'm an improviser, an actor, screenwriter, director, solo sketch artist as well. And really, if it's performance based and someone wants to collaborate on it, I'm usually down. I love working on anything expressive on stage or in front of the camera or behind the camera.
Erika Christie:
So what do you like most about performing?
Cody Sanders:
There's so much that I like about performing. I love finding pieces of myself in characters that seem dissimilar to me. I love being able to express an emotional state that I don't often get to in the real world, whether that be in a work setting or if I'm just trying to follow social decorum. So getting the opportunity to be on stage and let those more primal feelings unleash is usually kind of fun.
Erika Christie:
How did you first get into doing things like improv? And has improv affected your life in other ways outside of performing?
Cody Sanders:
Do you mind if there's no time limit on this, because I could talk about this?
Erika Christie:
Absolutely, yeah.
Cody Sanders:
So I've wanted to be an actor since I was a child and started acting in the fourth grade. And when I moved to Atlanta, I was in 8th grade and knew I wanted to get into improv. I loved whose line is it anyway? As so many people do. And there was this christian youth theater that did short form improv, and I found my footing in improv then in 9th grade and improvised with that organization until I started an improv team in high school, controlled chaos was our name, and then moved to UGA and joined Improv Athens, which was such a dream. Soon after college, moved to New York, studied at Upright Citizens Brigade, and did that for a few sessions until I had a panic attack and moved back to Atlanta and joined highwire. Comedy, rest in peace, great improv comedy theater back in the day. And when that faltered, I joined Village theater, which I'm still a cast member of. Now that we're still trying to get our footing across, I've definitely focused more on independent teams and joining into different shows that will have guest improvisers pop in.
Cody Sanders:
But improv has been such a thread throughout my life. And as with so many performers, at times it's therapeutic, at times, it's the only way that I found that I could express myself creatively. And one thing that I didn't realize was so important to me about improv that kind of came to me more recently, maybe within the last five or six years. I found such a sense of community with comedy at large and especially with improv, getting to find trust and chemistry with folks that you can translate on stage is genuine magic, and I love being a part of that glimmering experience.
Erika Christie:
Excellent. As far as writing goes, do you do primarily just screenwriting, or have you been writing for all the different types of.
Cody Sanders:
So I've written a couple of short films and a couple of short stories as well. I've done some solo sketch writing, but primarily screenwriting.
Erika Christie:
I would say I work a lot in kind of the realm of switching your skill from one platform or one medium into another. So what have you enjoyed about writing short films? Writing improv or developing the concept, whatever you're doing with improv, and then writing material for stand up, like, what have you enjoyed about those pivots that you've had to make in writing?
Cody Sanders:
Yeah, well, I lean and have leaned on improv for so long because once I am familiar with the tools and the format that we're playing in, we just go. And there's no prep work you have to do, so you don't really have to be too disciplined to improvise. I started doing my short screenwriting, my short film screenwriting, because I wanted to have a body of work that I could point to and honestly use improv as the limitations for writing my first short film. There's an improv format called the Laurend, and I basically wrote a 13 page script that is a Laurend and found myself getting in a flow state, very much like I do on stage when I'm playing with people that I have good chemistry with. And it was pretty magical. When I set that boundary for myself writing, it was like, oh, now I can play with myself, play with these ideas, kind of surprise myself with what happens on the page, surprise myself with the voices of the characters. For the longest time, when I would sit down and write, it felt like I had to get to that end state first. But for whatever reason, approaching that short film as an improv show really unleashed something.
Cody Sanders:
Yeah. And then the second short film that I've written and haven't shot yet, very similarly, I just allowed myself to get into that flow state. I didn't actually use an improv format with that one, but got in a similar headspace where once I started writing, I just allowed myself to be curious about where things were going to go and treated it almost like an improv set. I've done a little bit of solo sketch. Honestly, I kind of just approached that by just doing a stream of consciousness, just trying to find what entertained me by writing these characters that I'd come up with. And my wife could tell you I wasn't sure if it was funny or not. It was funny to me, but when you're improvising, you have that immediate feedback, and when you're working with a script and other people, you can kind of get a sense in the room what's working dialogue wise and what's not. But running solo sketch at home alone or for my wife, it's hard to be like, okay, well, is this working? Is it not? Thankfully, she was super supportive and is super supportive, and she made me feel confident.
Cody Sanders:
So the first time I performed my solo sketch, I honestly felt really on fire about it. Not just for how it was received, but for my enjoyment of the piece.
Erika Christie:
Expanding upon what you were saying, do you have any way of trying to test out jokes or anything of that sort before you go on stage? Do you have any process for that?
Cody Sanders:
So I've not done too much solo sketch or stand up, really. It's running it by my wife, to be honest. Occasionally I have a couple of close friends that I would send jokes to, maybe that I want to work on. If I'm doing something for TikTok or Instagram, which I don't do very much, you know, I think that's one reason why I love improv, is because the only way to find out if it's funny is to just go with the idea and to sit down and write something. I start second guessing myself pretty quickly, or I have noticed that being a pattern in the past.
Erika Christie:
Excellent.
Erika Christie:
I've got a big one for you.
Cody Sanders:
Please.
Erika Christie:
What is comedy.
Cody Sanders:
Question as old as time? Um, that is a great question. I honestly think the comedy that comes from me is often a bit of the truth. Everything that's actually funny is based in reality to a certain extent, because it's either relatable or it surprises us because it isn't meeting our expectations, but is still somehow real. I think that a lot of things that are funny in a different perspective, someone might take it very sincerely. In terms of the comedy. I like, I love big characters. I love wittiness. I always am really happy with myself when I say something clever because I think my go to as a performer is big character work and taking up the stage.
Cody Sanders:
And I love clever formats, too. I love stories that unfold in ways that require the audience to pay attention. I love being lost in an experience, whether that's watching other improvisers or a comics brilliant set or a movie that just has me locked in. But I think I would change my definition of comedy probably throughout my life. That's just kind of what's coming to me right now.
Erika Christie:
What is the biggest creative risk you've ever taken, and how did it pay off?
Cody Sanders:
The biggest creative risk I've ever taken? Well, I mean, I'm going to mention a couple because I don't know that any have been necessarily, like, super large, but shooting, editing, and screening my first short film, golden Hour, required a lot of me. I had never been so disciplined writing a piece, gathering a group of people together, shooting it, and keeping a schedule with editing and then booking a place to screen it that we packed out. That was definitely my first big challenge of sharing a piece of work that I really believed in and had a vision for. And the payoff was that I saw that I could do what I see in myself as a dream. I could bring that to reality. Recently, I did the VSP showcase, and that was maybe not super risky, but that was a challenge that I had to hype myself up for because I don't do a lot of solo sketch, but it's something that I absolutely enjoy. And I really had fun writing these three characters that I was already familiar with and creating some pieces around those. And that was more of a challenge with a hopeful goal of finding representation.
Cody Sanders:
But throughout the process of doing it, I realized what was really gratifying for me was seeing people's response to it. And now I'm just sitting here wanting to perform that piece again, that five minutes. There have been other risks. Those are two that come to mind right now, though.
Erika Christie:
Excellent.
Erika Christie:
How has your production work? And when I say production, I mean anything that's not performing.
Cody Sanders:
Sure.
Erika Christie:
So writing, producing, if you get into directing technical work, how has any of your production work helped you be a better performer?
Cody Sanders:
I think first and foremost, when you produce your own work, whether that's something as quote unquote quick as producing an improv show, which there's a lot of work that goes into producing an improv show versus producing or directing a short or any sort of filmed production. Once you do that work, you have a lot more respect for the people that are putting on the work to make it a reality for you. Every time I've produced an improv show, even though I've done it so many times now, it's so stressful making sure that people know the call time and that you have someone to do lights and sound and that you boost the marketing out the weeks leading up, and that you make sure people are comfortable with the set list. And there's so much work that if you're just performing, you don't really know the true amount of work that goes into it and the amount of mental effort. So I think just having that amount of respect is helpful as a performer. When you produce and direct something, whether that's on stage or on film, it gives you this other vision for what the work is, too. And I think a lot of performers I work with have a bigger vision than what their character is doing or what they're trying to bring to the stage or the camera. All the same, when you direct or when you produce and you think about the project more holistically, it definitely informs how you operate when you're performing.
Cody Sanders:
Kind of gives a broader sense for how your place as a performer impacts the story at large, or the way that the character presents themselves or the impact that they'll have to the story outside of their dialogue and relationships.
Erika Christie:
Excellent.
Erika Christie:
When you're putting together an improv show, do you prefer to keep it sort of free form, or do you kind of like to have a theme or kind of a cohesive through line throughout the show?
Cody Sanders:
It depends. It depends. I used to have this show, it's my darling show head lettuce, and that was a show that was very free, but had a very strict through line. It involved two characters, Chad and Braxton. I played Chad, my good friend Ben played Braxton, and we would show up to the venue in character and remain in character until either everybody left or we went away and changed. And so there was this constant theme of, like, the show is already happening. You're in the show most of the time. We would have an opener for those sets, not always, but we wouldn't worry about there being any sort of theme or consistent style of play between the openers or us.
Cody Sanders:
But the theme really was just woven in the entire evening. But the most recent show I produced at Dynamic El Dorado, there was like a loose marketing theme, but really, the goal that I had for that show was to book my favorite improv groups, a night of duos, and there was a strict structure that I had for the show. But improv is improv, and you kind of have to go with the flow on stage as much as you do off stage. And that was a night that we did go with the flow, and it really was a magical evening.
Erika Christie:
Yeah, excellent.
Erika Christie:
On that note, what is the importance of the indie comedy scene in Atlanta?
Cody Sanders:
I love that question. So for as long as I've been back in Atlanta since 2012, it's always had a really vibrant alternative comedy scene, and I know it existed before then as well. Improv has been here for so many years, and there's some established theaters, and thank goodness we have those places as these flagships for people out of town to come to, whether that be attendees or performers. There's so much talent in the city at the same time, and that talent does not have the accessibility to get to all of these places to play. And having independent spaces where we can collaborate and put on shows keeps the community alive. Theaters can only be successful when they find the people to play there, but oftentimes people don't get the opportunity to play there unless there's a lot of money that's invested or a lot of time that's invested. And having spaces like dynamic El Dorado is so helpful and encouraging because it brings this space to people that might not otherwise have an easy way to connect with the community.
Erika Christie:
Excellent.
Erika Christie:
What is the next skill that you want to learn? That could be something performing, that could be post production, that could be dancing, that could be anything. What's the next thing you want to learn to kind of level yourself up?
Cody Sanders:
Can I say a few things, or.
Erika Christie:
Absolutely.
Cody Sanders:
Okay. Because the first thing that came to mind is not comedy performance related, but I've been playing the guitar intentionally with the intention to get better for the last two years, and I'm certainly going to continue doing that. I have a goal to learn Dutch very soon, so that's going to be something that I think will be maybe not the most useful language to learn in the entire world, but a fun one to learn as far as performing. Want to continue developing solo sketch? I have a big goal to do some open mics, start doing some stand up, figuring out how to weave, what I've learned through doing some solo sketch into doing stand up, and let's see what else. Another skill, I guess those are the three skills that I would talk on right now. I would love to learn throughout my entire life. So it's going to be something that I explore from now until the day I die, learning new skills.
Erika Christie:
Awesome.
Erika Christie:
Last question. Do you approach projects differently if you're the one who wrote it or produced it, versus if somebody else asks you, hey, do you want to be in my thing?
Cody Sanders:
I really like this question because I've had the opportunity to be involved in other people's projects recently, and I think I always want to approach projects with the intention to bring my best because I want to look good for people, whether that's work I'm doing for myself or work for other people. I want people to be like, oh, dang. He really brought his a game when it comes to working on other people's projects. I had the honor of being in Brett Schultz's most recent short film, Lamb of God. It was so clear that he had a very strong vision for this piece. And the character he wrote that I played. It meant a lot to me to play that role. And throughout the process, pre production and production, I just wanted to honor him as much as possible.
Cody Sanders:
Because if someone has such a clear vision to be able to be a part of executing and bringing that vision to reality, there's no greater honor in the world in my mind. Tonight, I just came from a table reading, wonderful script for office of residence life by Peyton. And I had a very small role in this script for this particular episode. And all the same, I was like, okay, I have these four lines, and I want to absolutely knock each of them out of the park because, same thing. It's one, a great script, but two, what a joy to be asked to bring someone's project to the world. And I want to make every opportunity that I am offered, one that's worthwhile, excellent. That doesn't totally answer the question, because I feel similarly with my own work. I guess it's just a different approach, though, because with my own work, I want to honor my own vision, of course.
Cody Sanders:
But there's that other side of it that's like, oh, I have so much more responsibility to share what this vision is and make sure that people understand what it is I want to bring to the world. So it's kind of the same, but more nuanced, I think, when it's my own work.
Erika Christie:
Excellent.