How do I start booking gigs?
- Thread starter D1618
- Start date
If you're a beginner and are just looking to practice then booking gigs are not something you want to be doing.
You could always do tricks for people you don't know at parties or ask some people in a bar if they would like to see something. You sort of have to look and gauge people to see if their willing to give you their attention. Obviously, you don't want to interrupt people who are deep in conversation. That's a great way to get practice
Hoe long have you been doing magic by the way? And since you're new to the forums, welcome! You're going to get some great advice here from the people here.
You could always do tricks for people you don't know at parties or ask some people in a bar if they would like to see something. You sort of have to look and gauge people to see if their willing to give you their attention. Obviously, you don't want to interrupt people who are deep in conversation. That's a great way to get practice
Hoe long have you been doing magic by the way? And since you're new to the forums, welcome! You're going to get some great advice here from the people here.
Have been doing magic for a little over a year, my favorite way to practice is actually at bars (the more drunk the person it seems the cleaner my stuff is lol) basically been practicing sleight of hand and using gimmicks really want to get into mentalism though
Here's another thread where you can get some books for a foundation in mentalism. There's some great things on theory 11 as well. Look up Spidey.
Forgot to attach the link. https://www.theory11.com/forums/threads/where-do-i-start-in-mentalism.47127/#/post-458583
No and yes (there are several apps, just have to know where to look).
The reason I say no is the very fact that you are asking if you are ready to start doing gigs means you are not. No one else is going to know if you are ready or not for a gig, only you can answer that question and you will know it when you feel it. Taking on gigs is a serious business because if you do a bad job at it, you not only hurt your own business but the business of other magicians as well. If an event planner booked you and was not pleased with your service they may be turned off to hiring a magician ever again. Be very weary of that before you sign on to do a paid gig.
So the next part is how do you get to the stage where you know you are ready in life? That comes with practice and real world experience. Doing magic tricks for a camera won't get you anywhere here. You will need to actually go out and perform for real people which it seems like you are already doing which is a great start. Thanks to people like David Blaine, it's pretty socially acceptable for you to walk up to people and perform for them on the street or at a party. I'll share two clips of how I go about doing this. In this first clip you will hear me talk to a girl about a ring she is wearing and immediately ask if she likes magic. I then connect to the topics and say would you like to see magic done with your own ring? At that point I had her full attention (she was previously talking to a European guy who was definitely playing the foreigner card to flirt with her
).https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-YU39pFMcbjQ0xWZXZfb0IwbWs/view?usp=sharing
This next clip is pretty long but I'm sure you can figure out my approach to performing to a lot of people just by watching it. The family at the very end of the video personally asked for me to come up to them and show them what I was doing since they noticed my buddy with a camera so I guess that whole thing was cheating since my buddy incidentally was playing a wing man for me with his camera.
1. Volunteer
To get experience performing for people, I started volunteering at a local food pantry and performing magic tricks for the kids that would go there every week. It was a great experience of messing up and learning what works for me and what doesn't. It also forced me to get over my fear of performing in front of people. Every summer I also volunteer at a special needs camp for kids and put on a parlour style show for them. Haven't done any nursing home work yet but I might do that as well. I've been asked to perform at some youth groups as well which I might do this summer. Just be sure to explain to the event coordinator that you are new to magic and just want experience so that is why you are working pro bono. Since you are doing that, they are more likely to cut you some slack.
2. Network
My next piece of advice is to network with other magicians. Once you feel you are ready to do paying gigs, you will definitely want to know other magicians that are at that same level. They may refer you to event coordinators if they are overbooked and can't make an event and you might even have to do the same for them someday. Not only that, it's a great way to learn the ins and outs of the trade from more experienced people. I had always wanted to be a stage illusionist ever since I saw Darcy Oake on Britain's Got Talent but I didn't develop an abnormal hunger for until I worked with Joaquin Ayala at a closing show at a magic convention. Just because he asked me to work with him I got to hang out back stage with magicians such as Scott Alexander, Puck, Bizarro, Nick Diffate, Jessica Reed, Martin Cox, and Jay Mattioli. I learned so much about their process before a show and what it looks like. That is something you can't buy online but if you attend magic conventions and join groups such as IBM and SAM you never know what might happen.
Also, network with event coordinators and theater directors. The local theater director of my hometown is my old football coach and the show I'm doing in May is at my mother's church. It's more important who you know rather than what you know. Get yourself out there and build up your book of contacts.
3. Focus
You need to focus in on what you want to do and get really good at it. Michael Ammar said one of the best pieces of advice he got from Dai Vernon is to find one thing in magic and do it better than anyone else. For your intents and purporses you don't have to focus in on specifically one niche thing in magic but I am recommeding you focus in on what kind of performer you want to be. Examples would include stage illusionist, close up magician, street magician/busker, birthday party/kids magician, etc. Pick one thing you want to do and get really good at it.
4. Just Do
I would say if you want to start working restaurant gigs, just go to one and as you are waiting for a meal start entertaining. If you create a big enough fuss a manager is sure to hear about it and might want to speak to you. If you get that opportunity, be sure to explain to them how your services will help bring them business and help their customers wait for food speed along more quickly by being entertained. You don't need to brag about your skill because they don't really care all that much, they want to know how you will benefit them so focus on that.
Get out there on sites such as Craigslist, Gigsalad, Gigmasters, and the app by busk.co. It's a practical way to get local gigs without having to go out and personally meet with event coordinators. You might land anything from birthday parties to college events depending on what you want to do.
5. Document
You are going to want to build your own website and brand eventually. Be sure you have someone photograph and take a video recording of you performing for live people at events. Don't load up your personal website with camera tricks. Event coordinators don't care at all about that. They want to see if you can entertain their clients and that's what you need to be proving. Show in your documentation that you can make people smile. It's about them rather than you. Create a killer promo reel of yourself and have that do all the verification that someone needs to see that you are perfect for the event they want to put on.
Good luck!
This may help?
...and this?
......and maybe even this to generate leads!
Hope the mods don't mind me sharing! if it's too much please feel free to take them down, but they may be helpful to someone who wants to start doing magic professionally!
...and this?
......and maybe even this to generate leads!
Hope the mods don't mind me sharing! if it's too much please feel free to take them down, but they may be helpful to someone who wants to start doing magic professionally!
Tyler's post offers a plethora of info that I concur with. I started out 20 years ago, just by simply entertaining friends/co-workers; however we all know that audience then becomes difficult to keep entertaining because they then become so close to you that they feel it is more of a "game" to figure out your material or to have fun heckling you. Then comes the phase of "buy...buy...buy...must have the new cool item to fool my same audience" when in actuality this is NOT what you need to do.
You keep honing in the material you have over and over again with as many audiences as you can. This can be done by volunteering at events or fund raisers in your community, go to a Cub Scout Pack Blue/Gold Banquet, Church, etc. By not being paid, you won't have as much of the anxiety and stress of what happens if I mess up. Eventually you will begin to book your gigs at a reasonable rate and work your way up.
Networking and word of mouth were what got me booked over and over in the beginning. I also joined a local magic ring and when senior members saw how good I was they began to book me out and take a cut of my check.
I didn't mind because they were landing me higher paying gigs because they already had the connections.
You keep honing in the material you have over and over again with as many audiences as you can. This can be done by volunteering at events or fund raisers in your community, go to a Cub Scout Pack Blue/Gold Banquet, Church, etc. By not being paid, you won't have as much of the anxiety and stress of what happens if I mess up. Eventually you will begin to book your gigs at a reasonable rate and work your way up.
Networking and word of mouth were what got me booked over and over in the beginning. I also joined a local magic ring and when senior members saw how good I was they began to book me out and take a cut of my check.
I didn't mind because they were landing me higher paying gigs because they already had the connections.