Often I get comments from beginners and young magicians about their disappointment in watching accomplished commercial professionals doing the same routines over and over. They have problems understanding why the routines don't constantly change. The buzzword to beginners is "original". Of course, as they mature in magic they realize that you can go decades without seeing any "original" magic and that even then the commercial value of it is doubtful. But until you learn what already exist in the magic inventory, anything new to you is "original".

This is what has become my form letter (literally) response to that comment.

“One of the real differences between magicians with an act the ones without one is how often the same act is repeated before a paid audience and the quality of the audience. For years I owned a personal management and booking agency. Talent buyers like to get what they think they are buying. They expect consistency. Presentation is a much better mark of a professional entertainer than originality.

Even in the TV and movie industry, which employs many of the best-known and highly paid entertainers, there is little to no originality. Capacity for convincing presentation is the key. This is on purpose. The purpose is to entertain the audience. That includes drawing and holding the audience.

Rarely does a popular singer have to learn a new song as compared to a beginner, unknown, unestablished singer. Failure for the entertainer to have a consistent act is almost automatic rejection for good agency representation. Professionals in the business fully understand this. They deliver the goods! Until they do, they struggle with delivering a different mediocre routine nightly to the same mediocre audience. They both think they are original. They are both wrong.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Not having a real act is doing the something over and over (changing from one to another “not ready for primetime” presentation). The most successful pros have a real act.

Save the “original” stuff for magic contest. It’s a different venue with different expectations and different payoffs. They are fun for magicians. They are not a very good career path but they weren’t meant to be. They were meant to give the contestant a place to experiment and the audience free entertainment. They also are a great tool for increasing convention attendance.

For the contestant, it is a chance to perform, a chance to be seen, a little publicity among magicians, bragging rights, and a chance to document effects or presentations as part of his/her repertoire as of that date. The prizes are seldom enough to cover expenses of attending.

It is not the same venue as being contracted to perform for a paid audience. Expectations, payoffs, audiences and futures are quite different. Fit of the routines is critical. From my forty plus years of observation, a well-polished professional class act will usually fail miserably in a magic contest. However it will get repeat commercial bookings for decades. A winning magic contest routine is very seldom a commercial success beyond the first round of bookings, if any. They certainly don’t excite experienced booking agents. Professionals deliver consistency to the talent buyer and audience.”

PS --- Don’t think that being a commercial success means they are not creative and original. You are setting yourself up for a major embarrassment. The traits are not mutually exclusive and often travel together. They just know “when” to do “what”. That is an art too!

What is a better way to explain this to someone just building his/her magic databases?

Bob
Magic By Sander

All very, very true!

Here are few more points...

1) Sometimes the EXERCISE of being creative and original helps you as a performer to be able better understand why your routines work and how you can improve them. Much like an actor who gets together with his buddies and plays impro games. They might 'win' the contest and come with some great original ideas but they'd never perform the bits again. However, it keeps their brains ticking over.

2) The ability to create NEW acts is helpful when a client asks for something in particular. The other day a client asked me if I could come up with a fun way to remind their clients of their recent name change at a cocktail party. I thought about it for while and then came up with a routine where the client "makes a good decesion" by choosing the only card in the deck with the clients name on it.

http://www.funnybones.com.au/Senergi%20Logo.jpg

I then point out that it is the OLD company name. So I give the card a shake and the card changes to this.

http://www.funnybones.com.au/blur.jpg

I more shake and this is the final result.

http://www.funnybones.com.au/Tq3%20logo.jpg

The idea came from something I created many years ago that I KNEW wasn't commerical at the time but I created it anyway.

3)As a booking agent myself, I am also not impressed by awards, contests or even impressive client lists. However, I AM impressed by creatity, flexability and the ability to think outside the square.

I guess my point is that people shouldn't mistake Bob's advice to perform the same routines over and over with getting stuck in a rut!