talkmagic.co.uk

Any of you ever auditioned for BGT. Why do you think they find it so hard to make it in BGT when it comes to the public vote.

Illusionists have been successful in the past. You need to be big, bold and quick. Doing card tricks will get you the big X. Unfortunately some magic acts that have been on have only justified the image of Magicians that some people have; middle aged men with no personality wearing a 'funny' hat and 'comedy' glasses doing card tricks which no one can see.

yeah they get to the semi finals but that's been it, take this year james' act was the best of the night he was a good as a magician as the singers singing were that made it through to the final.

I may be just being very cynical here but I get the impression that the only performers likely to succeed are those who's talents can be managed and promoted to the financial befit of many people who already have a vested interest. Singers with record contracts, TV appearances and live concerts etc, dancers who can be seen at events as well as on TV. Somehow I just can't see a successful magician being controlled like that as few in the production side of the business know anything about magic. The days of the Paul Daniels TV shows are long gone but they were produced and directed by people he trusted and who knew about magic as an entertainment so it worked well.

These days it's very unlikely that, other than Objective Productions, you'd find people behind the scenes who are that knowledgeable and who can be relied on to treat magic with the respect we think it deserves. TV shows are mostly farmed out to independent companies who have to be profitable and, let's face it, other than Derren and Dynamo, there's no room for magic amongst the seemingly endless soaps, game shows, reality shows and all the other crud which clogs up the big channel TV schedules. As I said, i may be being overly cynical but I just can't see any magician, no matter how good, being taken on board by the big guns in entertainment. Far better to work regularly in clubs and perhaps the cruise ships rather than seek the nebulous fame and glory of things like BGT etc?

Mandrake wrote:I may be just being very cynical here but I get the impression that the only performers likely to succeed are those who's talents can be managed and promoted to the financial befit of many people who already have a vested interest. Singers with record contracts, TV appearances and live concerts etc, dancers who can be seen at events as well as on TV. Somehow I just can't see a successful magician being controlled like that as few in the production side of the business know anything about magic. The days of the Paul Daniels TV shows are long gone but they were produced and directed by people he trusted and who knew about magic as an entertainment so it worked well.

These days it's very unlikely that, other than Objective Productions, you'd find people behind the scenes who are that knowledgeable and who can be relied on to treat magic with the respect we think it deserves. TV shows are mostly farmed out to independent companies who have to be profitable and, let's face it, other than Derren and Dynamo, there's no room for magic amongst the seemingly endless soaps, game shows, reality shows and all the other crud which clogs up the big channel TV schedules. As I said, i may be being overly cynical but I just can't see any magician, no matter how good, being taken on board by the big guns in entertainment. Far better to work regularly in clubs and perhaps the cruise ships rather than seek the nebulous fame and glory of things like BGT etc?

Brilliant post.

Mandrake wrote:These days it's very unlikely that, other than Objective Productions, you'd find people behind the scenes who are that knowledgeable and who can be relied on to treat magic with the respect we think it deserves

And as soon as I said that, we get ftopic48766.php - so perhaps there's hope yet? Not sure about the hidden camera aspect but I won't prejudge!

There seems to be more and more televised Magic these days - Let's hope the trend continues!