talkmagic.co.uk

i was pondering this the other day and thought it would be nice to get some more opinions.

when ever i do magic i always get the comments; wow your like david blaine (shudder!!!) and how the hell are you not on TV. My answer to them is maybe one day we'll see, my answer in my head is, because im nowhere near good enough!

But...... what would i do if i was showing my skills (or lack of ) and a tv producer said to me, i want to make a programme with you in doing magic. what would I say? ummm, HELL YES!!!

the main reason for this post is that we all like to have a bit of a grizzle about blaine, and a few other magicians that we know arnt very technicaly good but are out there getting work and tv deals etc.

so..... what would you say if that tv man came up to you?

I think the majority of people would say yes.

I would jump at the chance and practice till my balls stopped droppping ( sponge balls of course ) and just run with it..

Im in it for the love of it but I plan to make money out of it, and personally I would love to be famous.. I have a big ego and nothing much to fill it with!!

But I think its down to personal opinion. Not everyone would relish or indeed handle being in the limelight..

I have to say, Blaines interaction with spectators is pretty poor. In street magic, it was the whole stare thing, I think he got away with minimilistic interaction. Magic man he was a little more involved but he acted like he wa God or somthing, it came across rather farcical and false.

And then he sold out for stunts as he couldnt come up with anything new.

See I think it would depend on what the offer was.

If it was my own tv special then I would probably say no as the thgouht of being famous fills me with dread as I love my anonymity (spelt wrong?) but if it was a small section in a larger programme that would be played out at an obscure time then a big yes.

At the end of the day I would love to be able to do this wonderful art of ours for a living and any exposure to the public could only help this but for me if it meant me being unable to continue my life in the way I want then it is a sacrfice too far.
I would rather seek respect from my peers in magic rather than seek fame and celebrity.
The money would be nice though.

TV exposure does not mean today what it implied even a decade or two ago. Today we are seeing UTube and such venues more or less challenge the turf that's been televisions and even Hollywood's for a very long time and in so doing, we are seeing 1001 idiots with access to a camera acting like they are almost as good as Blaine... (sorry, I couldn't pass that one up)

I've had my fair share of spots here and there and even "breaks" as some would call them. What must be understood however is that each such situation is merely a stepping stone. For the clever and wise, it will be a stepping stone forward and for the ego-driven and fool hearted, it will prove to be stepping stones that lead backward (generalling in a spiral manner...)

I agree Craig.. to be on a television spot would just serve me the opportunity to perhaps meet with magicians greater than myself so I could learn more and be guided by the masters.

Too many people ( a la Blaine ) will find thmselves stuck in a rut and resort to being hung from a noose for 3 days with barb wire to see if they can survive.. nothing magic related and no respect from magicians for it!

I think one big question is could you survive a stint on TV.

I think that many people could manage a 10 minute slot but how many people could entertain for 30 minutes every week. That really takes a special magician.

If you manage it, then you're going to hit it big, but I think in that situation unless you get it right you could easily see your career destroyed.

Actually this is a thought that came to mind a lot the last few months. Israel only got her first shine of magic TV series the last year with a mentalism TV show done by the fantastic Nimrod Hareal, going on a second season right now and already signed for a 3rd one. And the new Uri Geller "reality" mentalism contest (that really starts to prove itself as a hyped out let down, but I guess that comes from a conjurer/ novice mentalist point of view). So there will be a lot of room the next few years for a TV series that revolves more around magic, illusions and escapology then around mentalism.

Do I think I could sustain a 20-25 minutes TV series (actually 30 minutes in TV terms)? For 6-7 episodes, sure, with the right funding it's not that hard to fill 2-3 hours of screen time (without commercials time of course) even more if you know how to revolve around one major effect/stunt for 7-8 minutes without it being boring (take an example from Criss Angel's TV show, most of his episodes only have 2-3 "small" effects in them and the rest of the time revolves around one major effect/stunt in the end of the episode). But to fill a 10-12 episodes TV series, is no walk in the park, and that’s where special consultants usually come into the picture.

I would love to perform in a TV show, not because of fame or money or any thing like that, but because when you are performing on TV you have the ability to perform the things you only ever dreamed about, whether it's performing an impossibly dangerous escape in front of thousands of people, or whether it's just doing a simple card trick to a cretin celebrity you love, and having it all immortalized on video and in the memory of viewers. TV shows gives you the ability to let your creativity run wild, and letting you really express yourself, not only as a conjurer, but as an entertainer as well.

I was fortunate enough to be offered the chance to 'perform' on TV a short while back, as you may or may not have read (here). Unfortunately it fell through, but I was confronted with the kind of predicament that you may be thinking about. Would I accept the chance, I had to think about it for a while, but soon gave myself a mental slap, and jumped at the chance. The main worries that one faces are probably that you will 'fail' in one way or another, e.g. perform a trick wrong etc. or that you dont actually want tonnes of people to see you on TV. The show that I was planning on performing on had an estimated audience of a million people, and knowing that I would be performing in front of that many people spurred me on immensely. I wasn't to be performing a trick as such, but a demonstration, but it was probably a more difficult demonstration than many magic tricks so I was determined that I would nail it in order to have the confidence I would require. There were times that I did wonder whether I wanted the exposure, and I can understand how many people wouldn't. I think that if you have aspirations of fame and massive success then it should be a no brainer really, but if you are in magic just for the love of it then perhaps you would rather experience the thrill of the reaction of that one person you perform the 2 card monte on than million anonymous pairs of eyes that watch you on TV. It would be easy to argue that the latter would be far more rewarding in many cases.

hmmmmmmmmmm... i've always enjoyed the spotlight. but a whole t.v show for myself? and hour? half an hour long? i'd have to think it through.

a group of magicians and comedians such as the T.V show Max Magic, i would jump at the chance.
however, i feel that before you go into any media whether it's making your own home made magic film, or a big series production. you must be mentally and physically ready. i believe you must have you tricks nailed as in effortless to perform. you must know who you are! e.g. a funny comical magician, or a magician who appears to have a brain the size of a peanut (blaine). it's terrible when you watch some homemade videos where in one trick they're like this cool, genuine guy, and in the next they're tryin to be something different. i fined it very anoying when magicians try to be something they're not, serious, funny, you are who you are, and you should use that to your advantage.

but, i must admit, when you see a magician on TV and they do a effect, and u think, i can do that, it is annoying, or you know somebody who is "better" then magicians you see on TV, that is also a nut buster. but, it's a cruel world.