I have been asked to perform for a group of 250+ people. I am getting payed $50 to do a 30 minute show and this is money I would like to put towards an effect for that show. At this time I can only get one effect and a few I've been looking at are Smoke, the Tarantula system, and Elusionist's new Shift Paperclip. What do you guys recommend?
Deciding on Magic
- Thread starter Echo 1998
- Start date
I am 15 years old and this is my first gig. Sure, $50 may seam meager to magicians, but I was willing to perform before I knew money was involved. I would love to purchase a high end product, but I have other projects and bills to pay with my part time job while saving my money for a car, new computer, etc. The money I make from magic is the money I put into magic.
Let me repeat the question: Did you accept pay for a show that you were not ready to do?
That would be a no. Okay, no chance of misinterpreting this: If you ever accept a gig, paid or otherwise, ever again, make sure you are ready and able to do the show that same night you accepted the offer. This is not negotiable.
Now, what does your set currently look like? Do not just list the effects. I want to know how you're pulling this all together. What is the scripting like? How much time do you have? What's the venue like and how are you planning to use the space given to you? How do you plan to open and close?
This is all very important information. Anyone who fires off a recommendation without asking for things like this is all likelihood has never done a paid show in their life. I'm not going to tell you to buy stuff to put it in the show. If I tell you to buy anything it's because your answers weren't good enough.
I'll start off saying I am not a stage performer. I do street magic.
A good friend of mine watched me perform at a talent show (about 450 attending and I performed the invisible deck and my Ambitious Card routine) miles from where we live and asked me to perform for a group which she is a leader of. They host a dinner show every year where they usually invite local singers or another talent to be the 'show' of the dinner show. The theme for the night is One Magical Night, so while they were in the meeting, she brought up my name as a magician and they agreed to call me up.
When they talked to me they never mentioned pay, I never thought of money I was just glad to have an opportunity to perform. They called weeks later when they had figured up the date and time. They told me the basic information and then said they would pay me. I had already agreed to perform BEFORE money was involved.
I will honestly say I don't have a full act yet. I am working hard on it every day. I hope this much is clear by now. I plan on opening with The Invisible Deck and I have not yet decided what to close with. These people aren't expecting me to pull a bunny out of a hat or anything of that sort.
I was not ready to begin with because I was never expecting this. The reason I asked my first question of this thread was because I wanted to expand my magic before I did this performance and I decided I would add to my act. I'm sorry if I am doing something wrong, but I don't understand how I am to blame for the fact I haven't scripted every aspect of what I perform. Yes I will do my tricks in order, but the way I present could change without my control.
A good friend of mine watched me perform at a talent show (about 450 attending and I performed the invisible deck and my Ambitious Card routine) miles from where we live and asked me to perform for a group which she is a leader of. They host a dinner show every year where they usually invite local singers or another talent to be the 'show' of the dinner show. The theme for the night is One Magical Night, so while they were in the meeting, she brought up my name as a magician and they agreed to call me up.
When they talked to me they never mentioned pay, I never thought of money I was just glad to have an opportunity to perform. They called weeks later when they had figured up the date and time. They told me the basic information and then said they would pay me. I had already agreed to perform BEFORE money was involved.
I will honestly say I don't have a full act yet. I am working hard on it every day. I hope this much is clear by now. I plan on opening with The Invisible Deck and I have not yet decided what to close with. These people aren't expecting me to pull a bunny out of a hat or anything of that sort.
I was not ready to begin with because I was never expecting this. The reason I asked my first question of this thread was because I wanted to expand my magic before I did this performance and I decided I would add to my act. I'm sorry if I am doing something wrong, but I don't understand how I am to blame for the fact I haven't scripted every aspect of what I perform. Yes I will do my tricks in order, but the way I present could change without my control.
I have been staring at this in disbelief for about five minutes. Rule number one: Never book a show that you do not have. Ever. For any reason. At this point, everything I'm telling you is damage control.
Because when you accept any gig, paid or otherwise, that is precisely what is expected of you! Performers of all stripes are expected to have their act ready to go before they sign on the line that is dotted. This is one of the pillars of showmanship. It is one of the foundations of show business. It is the root of professionalism in the entertainment industry. I cannot overstate how important this is.
How so? Is the show during a full moon and you're secretly a werewolf? Are you expecting a roving gang of luchadors to disrupt the event? Are you anticipating a meteor shower to rain down on the venue? Will you get there only to discover that the audience is comprised entirely of polar bears?
Dude, you script specifically to make sure you're not half-assing the whole thing. Scripting does not mean you can't adapt. On the contrary, it facilitates adaptation by giving you a path and an end goal to reach so that you can easily navigate around distractions and get yourself back on track at the end of it.
What material do you have now? Don't tell me the DVDs, I want to know the books.
I don't need to repeat what Steerpike's saying. But I do have some questions to ask before we can be of any real help.
1 - What's the performance space look like? Are you up on a stage at all? Are you level with the audience? Are they going to be seated around tables or is there auditorium seating? (Sounds like tables) How far are you going to be from them?
2 - What else were you thinking of performing? How do you usually perform, what's your style?
3 - What props are you comfortable performing with?
I would not open with the ID, personally. I feel this is too slow and demands too much of the audience before you've gained their trust. You can say, "I want you to imagine a card turning upside down in a deck" but they won't necessarily really do this or put any real energy into it. However, when it still works whether they did anything or not (which you won't know) you actually lose credibility. They know, at least subconsciously, that you're just doing tricks that while they may enjoy, ultimately will be forgettable.
And of course, Steerpike's question still stands - What material do you have already?
1 - What's the performance space look like? Are you up on a stage at all? Are you level with the audience? Are they going to be seated around tables or is there auditorium seating? (Sounds like tables) How far are you going to be from them?
2 - What else were you thinking of performing? How do you usually perform, what's your style?
3 - What props are you comfortable performing with?
I would not open with the ID, personally. I feel this is too slow and demands too much of the audience before you've gained their trust. You can say, "I want you to imagine a card turning upside down in a deck" but they won't necessarily really do this or put any real energy into it. However, when it still works whether they did anything or not (which you won't know) you actually lose credibility. They know, at least subconsciously, that you're just doing tricks that while they may enjoy, ultimately will be forgettable.
And of course, Steerpike's question still stands - What material do you have already?
Of course nobody was perfect the first time they performed! But these people are trying to help you be as perfect as you can be! I am in NO WAY saying that I can give you a whole lot of advice, as I am still PREPARING A COHESIVE ACT (lol, sorry I couldn't resist), but I will try to put this in terms you can understand. Do you play football? Because this will make a lot of sense. If you are going to play the first game of the season, you get as much scouting as you can on the other team, and their field. Learn how their grass feels under your feet (materials you will be using, as well as your stage/table setup), what the stadium looks like (where are the spectators located), how the team plays (what kind of people you will be performing for, what they want), and what plays to run against them in which situations (what tricks to perform, and how to make them work together). I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THAT THIS CAN ALL SOUND CONDESCENDING, believe me, I do. However, all these people Re looking for are some details about the gig, and that includes your entire act. This will help us give input about which effect to purchase. Also, by asking one simple question, you will almost always get so much more help than you were originally looking for. But that's the beauty of this forum.
Did a post get edited? Because this suddenly doesn't make sense.
Look, no one is perfect the first time through. You have a couple choices. You can go the route you're going (which is the route many people go), and do it the hard way. Or, you can get a head start and listen to the questions being asked of you from people who have done this before.
Look, no one is perfect the first time through. You have a couple choices. You can go the route you're going (which is the route many people go), and do it the hard way. Or, you can get a head start and listen to the questions being asked of you from people who have done this before.