Question RE: Originality

Sep 1, 2007
109
0
Alright, so a large majority of what I do is sleight of hand card magic. It's what I enjoy, and it's what I perform day to day as a working magician. That said, it comes with the territory that much of what I do are sleights invented by other magicians; stuff that isn't necessarily mine, however the construction of the trick is.

Take someone like Helder or John Guastaferro as (popular) examples. They aren't creating sleights, however what they're doing is unique in construction,and that's what makes it great.

Would something like this be accepted on the wire?

For example, I use Lee Asher's BS shift, and a steal similar to one that Eric Jones used in his Collectors routine (I dont know the proper sourcing) within my own routine. Would this be accepted? Also, should the trick itself be accepted, I assume written consent would be needed to teach such moves within the tutorial? Otherwise an alternative should be taught and the moves used for myself should be referenced as an alternative?

Just a few questions I would appreciate being cleared up.

Cheers,
Lucas
 
Aug 6, 2011
56
0
If you are using sleights which are being sold somewhere such as the Clip Shift, then the effect won't get accepted. Think of other ways of accomplishing the same sleight but change it so that it is different. It is all about experimentation. Try submitting something and see if it is accepted.
 

Lyle Borders

Elite Member
Aug 5, 2008
1,604
859
Seattle, WA
www.theory11.com
Lucas,

That is a good question, and one we get a lot in our support system. The answer is not completely black and white, but I will do my best to answer it as clearly as possible.

There are three criteria that we use when processing a submission for the Wire. Creativity, Originality, and Production Quality. They are all important, but in for you question I only need to address the two that are applicable, Creativity and Originality.

Let us address creativity first. Creativity, in raw form, means that you created something. We do expect that what you created is good. Coming up with a small modification on an Ambitious Card Routine phase is not very creative, and will likely not be approved. Coming up with something new, such as a way to visually make an out-jogged card rise from the middle of the pack to the top on a table without touching it, that would grab our attention, as it is something that we have not seen before. If you are just trying to teach a previously published sleight, it will not make the cut. The exceptions are old sleights considered part of the public domain (such as the pass.) You could teach this sleight on its own, but remember that since you did not create this sleight, it holds absolutely no weight towards meeting the creativity criteria. You would have to meet that criteria another way, such as a new way to make the pass more or less [insert adjective here.]

The other criteria we are going to discuss, originality, is very similar in many regards to creativity. What we mean by this is that you are not taking another artist's material and simply sugarcoating it. You can be creative by creating a super cool color change, but if you find out that someone else previously created it, it is not original. I need to remind you guys of one important thing here. If you were to go and take someone else's material and publish it, who is considered at fault for it? theory11 is not held liable for your slip up. You are. If another artist comes to us complaining that you took their material, we have to send them to you. The Wire is a place for you to publish your tricks, not a place for theory11 to publish your tricks. An unethical move on your end can cause you some major problems. That said, the reason we check for originality is because we want to provide you the service of an extra set of eyes. We don't want legal problems to happen to you. It does not benefit theory11 or you.

We check every trick for commonly known material, and if we suspect that we might not have caught something, we send it to outside experts to review for originality. Nowhere else will you get the double check of your material that you get on the Wire. I know that some of you are disappointed by some of our decisions regarding originality, but we don't play games with this one. It can be dangerous.

What does all of this have to do with your trick? Let's look. You said you use Lee Asher's BS Shift. I don't know the rest of your trick, but this part does not earn you points in creativity and it is a strike against you in originality. Judging by the information you have given us, I cannot say that I am confident your trick would be approved.

Let us look at how this might change. As I said, I don't know the rest of your trick. You may have a gem on your hands. I simply do not know. Ask yourself this - What did I actually create? Is it good? Does it impress spectators? Would I pay money for this? This will help you determine on your own before you submit your trick if your trick is ready.

As for the fact it uses Lee Asher's control -if you already know it is his, it is not yours to teach without his permission. Contact him and ask for permission. If he says no, find another way to do your trick. If he says yes, include this in your trick description. We can bypass a small portion of originality so long as the majority of the trick is original and we have the creating artist's permission for the part that is not.

I hope that clears things up for you. We are here to help you guys. If you have further questions, shoot me a PM and we will talk.

Let's see what you've got!

L
 
Searching...
{[{ searchResultsCount }]} Results