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Hi...Im Sam and I am 16 years old. I Have been studying and practising magic now for over 6 years. Over this time I have developed and redeveloped my skills in close-up (espeicially card magic), walk-around and stage magic. At the moment I am designing and making large stage illusions, that I have created, I think! I am also in a double act with a friend who is also a young magician (14) and we hope to be providing a magic service before september. Fingers Crossed! Anyway...thanks for reading and I wish everyone who reads this the very best of luck in their magic career,
Sam

if you need any advice on starting your own bussiness then please give me a bell.
we are always happy to help.

Hi and welcome to TalkMagic. I hope you enjoy using these forums, sounds like you will have a lot to give aswell.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Fish

Thanks that would be great...I have a couple of q's if that ok.
1) Do I have to cover myself for insurance and so on? (my double act uses fire magic!)
2) Do you know how i can paten an idea....such as a new trick I have designed?
Many thanKs
Sam

Hi!

Others will know more than me but I think you will need some kind of insurance. do a search on the forum as I think the topic has come up before. If it's in one of the restricted sections then just wait around and you will be allowed in eventually (if we like you that is!)

1) Do I have to cover myself for insurance and so on? (my double act uses fire magic!)

ok first question i can answer for you the hirer of you should cover you by public liability but in the long run you will need to carry it as you are not covered for accidents from your house to the venue and you will need it.
curently for entertainers its £3,500 or better join the musicsion's union at £9 a month like me.

you will need to check with the venue that fire products are covered as there are some nighmarish health and saftey rules regarding fire, if its self contained like a fire bowl you should be ok but if its a torch then you could come unstuck.

always ask what cover the venue provides before you accept the booking as liscences can affect your booking fee and I'm afraid ignorence is no defence.
that said as long as you cover yourself you will find most venue's have suitable cover for health and safety and if its a private individul you need to have them sign a waiver to cover yourselve's.

Just a few thoughts - your own insurance cover is a good idea if the cost is reasonable enough. That way you're covered for loss/theft/whatever of your props and all the materials you use in your act. If they get lost or stolen out of a car, then the car insurance will cover a certain amount but not all that much. Check round the showbiz papers/websites and see if there are specialist insurers who will take on this kind of thing.

Patenting an idea can be a long and tricky process - you'd need to be reasonably certain that the idea is original and hasn't already been used but perhaps the first thing to do would be to write down the full details of the effect, diagrams, photos, full text description etc and get a Solicitor or Bank Manager to date and sign it as proof that it existed at that date. Solicitors may also be able to store the papers and they may have advise better how to preserve your idea. In practice, if one of the big boys of magic saw the idea, changed it a little and used it, you'd be hard pushed to take them on in the courts so there's a chance that someone might steal or copy an idea if it's a good one. There are many examples of this from days gone by where levitation and optical effects were copied and stolen regularly!

thanks for your views everyone, ill try and get my ideas researched.....
Sam

another cheep way to insure the idea and as a backup is to post it to yourself by recorded delivery then when it arrives don't open but file it.

It doesn't even have to be recoreded delivery. The post mark should be proof enough.

Hi Sam, welcome to Talk Magic!
I hope you enjoy it here and find the forum useful!