Rising vertical talent Luke Dodge chatted with #Powerjournlist Markos Papadatos about his career in microdramas.
He is best known for playing the male lead roles in romantic microdramas. He is the son of actors Heather Brown and Graham Dodge. Some of his popular series include “Taming My Bullies,” “Tell Me Not to Love You,” “Tell Me How to Say Goodbye” and “The Tutor Trap.”
Vertical space
On being a part of the vertical space, he remarked, “I got into verticals when I was about 18 years old. I did my first job, where I played a supporting character, and it just spiraled from there. I guess they liked me enough and I got on a lead as my next one, and that one blew up.”
“It earned 200 million views, and then after that, it just kind of kept cycling in and we had a really good gold rush for a while, and it just is kind of starting to dwindle out now due to the rise of AI,” he said. “So yeah, it’s a weird time in the vertical space. Everyone is wondering what the next moves are.”
“Nobody really has solid footing on what’s going to happen, even like the biggest names… everyone is kind of scrambling for work because everyone got so comfortable with the consistency of the jobs and now they’re not as consistent anymore,” he noted.
‘Tell Me How to Say Goodbye‘
On starring in the melancholic “Tell Me How to Say Goodbye” on ReelShort, he said, “That vertical was cool and really fun. It was super sad but it was really well-written and I have funniest story about it. I won’t lie, when I read the draft of the script, I wasn’t a fan of it at all. I almost didn’t do but but then they did a rewrite of the script, and it was just amazing!”
“It was one of the best scripts I’ve ever read for a vertical and so I was very pleased with it,” he said.
Daily motivations as an actor
On his daily motivations as an actor, he shared, “I think just the goalposts are always moving! As harsh as it sounds, you will never really be satisfied as an actor. There will always be the next thing. It’s always either getting a big job, a series regular, or a leading role, and then once you do that, you set your sights to winning awards such as Emmys, Tonys, and Oscars.”
“So, I think the motivation is just the goalpost always moves. You get to the place you want to be and then you got to, you want the next step. You always want the next thing,” he noted.
Plans for the future
On his future plans, he remarked, “I have some bigger projects coming out. I am attached to a Netflix project where i have a little role, and I’ve got another movie coming out with a little cameo called ‘Dear Kevin Bacon.’
“Well, I’ve got some kind of bigger stuff coming out. I got a Netflix project that I had a little role in and I’ve got another show or another movie coming out with another little cameo where Jake Johnson is one of the lead producers and he acts in it as well,” he said.
“It appears that Netflix and Hulu want to work with me. I also have some pretty cool and neat auditions rolling in,” he said. “I am slowly trying to graduate from verticals into professional films.”
Luke takes cues from his actor parents
He shared that he takes cues from his actor parents Heather Brown and Graham Dodge. “They were big influences on me growing up,” he said. “I did child acting when I was very young. I started as a kid at seven years old, and I did that with a theater company. That experience was a lot of fun. I did that for a while until I was like 16, even though I stopped doing theater when I was 13.”
“Then, my parents told me to look into acting again because they thought I would be a good at it. So, I started doing commercial work and all that led into the verticals and the bigger movies,” he said.
“So, my parents were definitely huge influences on me,” he reiterated. “They keep me going through it all!”
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he said, “Right now, it’s a weird pivotal point because I’m about to turn 21 in a few days. It am officially about to be a real adult and with that, I want to start doing major TV and film.”
“So, I really feel like I am slowly graduating in a new chapter of time right now,” he added.
Superpower of choice
His superpower of choice would be “telekinesis.” “Every character who has telekinesis is pretty strong. So, I think that would be pretty cool, especially to be able to move things with my mind,” he said.
Success
Regarding his definition of the word success, he said, “I think success really just means that I can do what I want to do in life and be comfortable doing it financially. I think success would be being able to do what I want to do and being able to live that way.”
Message for his fans
For his fans, Luke expressed, “I would say thank you so much. My fans mean literally everything to me. They’ve helped me build a following, which has lead to bigger things. The fans are super supportive, and they make more content of my work than I ever make online. I enjoy seeing all of their edits, and I couldn’t do all this without the fans. I love every single one of them to death.”
Closing thoughts on ‘Tell me How to Say Goodbye’
Luke remarked about “Tell Me How to Say Goodbye,” “I think the one thing I want fans to get out if it is the old Italian saying, ‘Tutto Passa,’ which translates into ‘this too shall pass.’ It basically means that everything passes, and I think that’s a huge theme of the movie. Even though it’s a very sad vertical, things can still be beautiful when they have an ending.”
“Everything ends and you have to make the most of that time, and you have to make the most out of that situation because everything eventually will end. It’s sad, but it’s true,” he concluded.
To learn more about actor Luke Dodge, follow him on Instagram.
