Hello: I've used the basic scheme below for many years to routine out shows. If you find it valuable my name is Brad Burt. If not, my name is Leonard Smith. ;-)

bb


How to Get an Act Together
By Brad Burt
Copyright 2010 http://www.magicshop.com Productions

This essay was originally published in 2006. I’ve gone through it to see how it has stood up with time and made changes and additions where I thought helpful.

I think that it’s valuable to point out that there are probably quite a few “hobbyists” out there that could make some ‘extra’ income by entering the “semi-pro” or the “pro” ranks of magic performers. One fellow I have known for years was making $30,000 a year part time doing magic shows for a variety of venues!

But, the “business” of performing magic is like ANY business. First, you need a PRODUCT to offer to clients. Thus, you need an ACT to sell. There is no question that putting your first act together IS problematic. No question. But, then again, it’s not necessarily as tough as you may think it is either. What I offer below is a good, solid, workable method of getting started. When I was actively performing I used the techniques and ideas below to frame my own shows and routines.

The biggest hurdle that YOU MUST GET OVER is this: YOU MUST GET STARTED. YOU MUST …… DO ……. SOMETHING! Just get going. From your first experience with a truly PLANNED show you can work from there to increase its effectiveness and range. Get started.

O.k., let’s get going…………..

#1- Decide on the TYPE of show you are putting together. There are three basic performing venues: The Close-up Show or situation, Parlor work and Stage. For the purposes of this essay I’m going to stay away from side venues that take a different philosophy of performance. For instance Table to Table work in restaurants, bar magic, etc. I am also going to assume that each show above will be 30 minutes long. This time frame has served me well for over 30 years and it is easy to add or subtract from the basic framework to make the act longer or shorter.

So, you have to decide WHAT KIND OF SHOW you are putting together. This will determine the types of tricks and routines you will be using.

#1a- Close-up Show: This is the type of show that is now done both seated and standing. Your audience will be in close and usually surrounding you. Some may be seated and some standing, but the show will have your audience in close proximity.

#1b- Parlor Show: This is a Stand-up show in a smaller venue: A home perhaps or a small room in a club. You will generally be working on the floor or maybe a small riser of some kind. This is the show that is most often associated with a performance in a home living room or back yard. The Birthday Party show is probably the most common form of the Parlor Act or show.

#1c- Stage Show: Almost always the stage show will be done ON a stage of some kind, usually a full stage with curtain and wings, etc. This is the ‘big’ show. Although that same act that many magicians use in a Parlor show can work even on a large stage this performing venue is usually associated with the large Illusion shows of both the past and today.

You can see that the three forms have some crossover. Some Close-up routines work wonderfully in a parlor situation and I know of numbers of magicians who do illusions in their parlor work! But, for now let’s assume a fairly pure and unmixed conceptualization.

#2- Make a decision on WHAT routines or tricks you will be using for the type of show you have decided upon. If you have a lot of material you will need to have a way in which to cull down your material to make the decisions on routining manageable.

Although the following will seem obvious in order to keep this essay as complete as possible try the following: Use three pads of paper and label them Close-up, Parlor and Stage. Or, if you are only going to concentrate on one venue and know you have nothing that will work in the others then just use the one. But, let’s assume that you have a pretty hefty collection of material.

Next, begin to put down on the appropriate pad the names of the tricks and routines that you believe are correct for that venue. You can place crossover effects on more than one pad. For instance I use the Professor’s Nightmare in my close-up, parlor and stage work. But, I use Color Monte ONLY in my close-up work. Chinese Sticks is both a close-up and Parlor item and though it could be used on Stage I don’t use it there. You get the idea.

Now, once you have your tricks listed I want you to go through and using the numbers 1-2-3 rate your routines for their strength. One is the lowest and three the highest. Consider carefully the AFFECT the routines have had on folks over the years of casual or semi-casual performance. What ones REALLY stand out?

#3- Select a Venue to work on first and make a list of ALL THE THREES YOU LISTED. If possible you want at least 10 items. Note: If you don’t have enough material then move enough two’s etc., over to make the list complete.

NOTE: Remember! Many routines that start out as say a ‘two’ with thought and work can and often DO become 3’s!

#4- You are now going to perform each routine 3 times in the exact manner that you expect to perform it for real. RELAX. See the audience in front of you! Ask the help of a spectator if needed and wait for them to sign the card if that is part of the routine. In other words, do what ever you would do in a real performance. And, here is the most important part: TIME IT!!! Time each performance for the three times and then get an average of the time. I like to keep this info on 3x5 cards so that I can use the cards to make up an Act Order. Note: Even with all the nifty computer stuff available I would probably still use 3 x 5 cards as it is very nice to be able to lay them out on a table and easily see the order of the ACT as it takes shape. It is also very easy to switch the order of the routines around, etc.

#5- You now have exactly what you need to put together an ACT! You have selected your tricks and routines. You have timed them out so you know how long they go, etc. Now, you just have to select the effects you want to use and put them into a logical order of performance and then rehearse THAT performance.

#6- O.k., you’ve made it this far. Let’s lay down some rules for selecting tricks for our act and see what we come up with.

#6a- I personally try to look at my act pretty much the same way I look at a story. It will have a Beginning. This is the Opening of your show and should ALWAYS be a trick that you could do even if you were dead drunk. (Note: You need not test assertion…just really have your material DOWN!) This trick must also be one that reeks of magic. You want your opening effect to tell the audience that YOU are a serious magician and not some hack who spent $50 at the local magic shop a couple of days ago and now calls himself a magician. This opening effect will set the tone for your entire act and although it doesn’t need, nor should it be, the best of your act it MUST be a routine that fools and entertains the audience. I hate to put any pressure on you, but this is the trick you CAN NOT mess up. It just plain has to work or YOU will lose the confidence of those watching and make it more difficult to regain.

Note: Do not use a routine that needs a spectator for help, etc. This slows the pace of your opening too much and distracts from YOU. For me I use either a Rope Routine I have been teaching and doing for 30 years or I do the 6 Card Repeat. Select the routine that most closely fits the criteria above and place that 3x5 card first in line.

Note: Examples are from my Stand-up Parlor act.

#6b- The Last Trick or the Finale of the show should be some routine that plays BIG and that is easily remembered and STRONG. I love to use the 8 ring Linking Ring Routine that is on my Linking Ring DVD. It’s flashy, magical, plays big, uses folks from the audience in a nifty manner and ends with a defined and specific moment that ALWAYS gets mega applause. Can’t get better than that! You need to find that trick or routine in your repertoire. It’s there and if it’s not now, it will be. For now, select the very best routine YOU think fits the above criteria. Place that card down at the end of our imaginary act.

#6c- Now, we are going to fill up the center or Middle of your act. For the next routine I want you to pick something that is strong and USES a spectator assistant if you have a routine like that. If not, select a good solid LONGER trick. This is the place to put the longest routine on your list. Generally, they are long BECAUSE they do use an assistant from the audience. Place that routine in the middle of your queue of ‘act’ cards.

#7- You are almost finished. You have the Opening, the Middle and the Finale of your new act. Now, you need to do some filling. By the way if the three routines you selected come to 30 minutes …. You are done! If not, you now have to select the routines that will fit BEFORE and AFTER your middle trick. Go for it. Use common sense and place effects that seem right to YOU. When you are done you will HAVE an act.

#8- Let me warn you about something. DON’T over think this. When you have your act: STOP! Stop worrying at it and give it a try. Remember the process of developing an act is exactly that A PROCESS! Go with what you have and over time you can delete and insert one trick at a time to try for improvement. As a ‘general rule’ try to never change more than one routine in your act at a time unless you are just going to come up with an entirely new act. Take it slow. You now have a good solid template with which to work with.

Final Thoughts: I have an odd little rule that I use and I’m going to share it with you now. It’s not one of those rules that are hard and fast, but I have found that it has helped me in putting an act together. Here’s the rule: Always have an odd number of routines in an act. For instance, I HAVE to have at least three routines in an act. That’s the Opening, Middle and Closing of the show. I WILL go this far: If you do not have at least three routines in my estimation you do NOT have an act! I realize and admit this is MY arbitrary definition, but I have found that it works for me and for hundreds of others I have taught over the years. Here’s feedback from a former student on the, “Reading the Audience” essay:

Hey Brad!
Love this one. Think it's great!
Wanted to mention the possibility of you writing an essay on
how to properly structure your act. The advice you gave me
has proven to be a winner. Sticking to an odd number of effects as
opposed to an even number. Thank you for that advice.
Take care, Bro!
Lee

So what if you want to have more than three routines? Then the next number is five and after that seven. Consider that five is a very nice number. It gives you two routines to bracket the Middle of your show. Seven adds two one each side. My performance style is very fast using short pithy routines and moving on. It is not unusual for me to have 9 or 11 routines in a 30 minute act! Most performers though tend to a more relaxed pace with longer routines using multiple effects within each routine. Thus five is a very workable number.

Again, for better or worse, this “odd” little rule has allowed me to structure my act in a consistent and workable manner. Note also that the routines in the act can be all over the place time wise. My stand-up Opener is about 2 ½ minutes. My first Middle trick might be one minute long and the next one five minutes long. It is NOT the length of the tricks that determine the placement, it is the rules stated above. Generally, yes, the longer tricks WILL be in Middle placement, but not of absolute necessity. Personally, I always do put them in the middle, but this placement has worked for me for 33+ years. I know many performers who like to have the longest routine as the Closer.

Well, that’s it. I hope this was helpful. It is probably the most common question I get and one of the hardest to answer, because there is no short way do so. So this essay is my attempt to finally get all of this on paper. Understand that when I taught this the notes were bare outline and students got all the above in live lecture form! They were expected to take notes or to remember what was said. I am very relieved to have this all written out where it can eventually end up as a chapter in a book. You folks are just getting to see the chapters as they are written!

Another thought: There is great value in sitting down and putting an actual act together. A show that you will practice and rehearse. There is a kind of comfort as a performer in knowing that even as a hobbyist, that if you get asked to do a performance that you in fact have something to perform. Not just an assemblage of tricks with no rhyme or reason in the way they are placed together, but that YOU thought about what you were going to do in an attempt to do it better. I have this guarantee for you: Even the smallest effort in this area WILL pay BIG dividends. You will feel much, much more confident in what you are doing, because putting an act together FORCES YOU TO WORK ON THOSE TRICKS SPECIFICALLY! No more puttering about with this trick and that trick without ever really nailing them down. An act give you focus. It even gives you a renewed focus in what you will buy!!! Think about it. Now, you can look at new tricks, books, dvds, etc. from the view point of WHAT you might want to insert into your new act. Will what I am buying help or hinder?

Having an act, even one that you may not do that often if you are not working professionally, is a way to take what you do seriously and yet have MORE fun with it!

The above is not, of course, the only manner in which one can organize an show, but it’s a good one, a tested one. It’s also a logical one. It’s very easy to conceptualize the form and structure of the act and thus make it ‘real’ to YOU the performer. Even if you never perform for money you are still a ‘Pro’ in that you are attacking your performance in a professional manner.

That’s it. As always if you have any questions or comments I would love to hear about them!!! I’m at: bradburtmagic@yahoo.com.

Take care and all very best,

Brad Burt

Hi Brad
Thanks for the information!

A great essay Brad, thanks.

A general rule of performing that is easy for beginners to forget is that the best way to leave an audience is hungry for more. You want to impress them, entertain them, give them something to remember, and get the hell out.

This is one reason why it is good to start building "routines" and "acts" early. When I was in Junior Highschool and not yet performing for anyone but myself, I used to build routines and acts for myself in front of my mirror. If you think about ti this way rather then as discrete "tricks", when you do perform for people you will never be tempted to go on too long.

One of the major influences in my magic life was David Copperfield, and although I could never do what he did (among other things, I never had any dance training) I DID take away the idea that every routine should be a little story, and that an entire act should follow an arc like any other performance or story telling.

Don't know why, but that just does not get old. LOL.

This is a great essay Brad, and not just for beginners. We all need to “check our direction” from time to time to make sure everything is still working like it should. Thank you for sharing this. (And of course, when the book comes out, Café members receive a HUGE discount, right?)

One thing I try to keep in mind is looking for logical segues. If one effect leaves me holding a silk, I try to use that in the next effect. Sometimes it isn’t in the props, but in the story line, just trying to find some thread that will flow smoothly through the entire set.

Sometimes it just doesn’t work, so when “the thread breaks”, make it a complete change: pacing, tone of voice, intimacy, whatever will communicate that we’ve turned a page. I’ve used dusting off my hands (or even wiping them on a towel) to suggest this idea, and never had an audience who didn’t follow right along with me.

Great advice from a real professional! Brad, this one needs to be stickied!!

Ahimsa,
Vlad

A related idea is when one prop "introduces" the next. As a quick example when in was in higschool the opening of my stage act was a match to flower follwoed by a candle to silk. So the sequence was (1) Light match (2) Light Candle (3) Match turns to flower, pin to lapel. (4) Candle turns to silk, goes into breast pocket.

The candle justified the match and the match introduced the candle. Together they
were much stronger then either one by itself.

Bravo, Brad! This is an excellent post. By the way, I still have a number of your videos on VHS. They are such a great reference/resource. I miss visiting your shop whenever I visited my daughter in San Diego.

Brad,

When putting acts together I tend to over-think which effects I will use in terms of trying to plan (in advance) how one effect will flow into another, prop management and placement, etc. Do you have any suggestions regarding this?

Also, probably like most magicians, I just have a ton of material to work from and it gets almost overwhelming. Between all the DVDs, books and effects, I've probably got thousands of routines to choose from and that doesn't even take into consideration the almost infinite variations that can be done with the "off the rack" material. You've probably got ten times the material I have, so how do YOU decide which of your many "3's" you will use?

I'd like to thank everyone for the kind comments! And, follow-ups.

Dear Bagwiz....great questions. In one sense they cut to right to the core of what is progressively a more common problem. That is, that there is just so much great material available.

Let me answer the first question...well, first: I NEVER worry about props. Ever. I only worry about the routines themselves and let how the show will 'set' take care of itself. There is ALWAYS a way in which all your props can be worked with in a logical and workable manner. If you have to either make or have made a special table just for your act, etc.

I only ever, EVER worry over the trick or routine selection itself AND the order in which to present the material based on the original post.

Now, the second concern: JUST PICK SOME MATERIAL AND GET AN ACT TOGETHER!!!!! Don't think about it. Just get a basic set of lists together (not everything you have available, but what YOU DO NOW). Put together and act and go for it.

NOW...read the original post. Once you have "something" with which to work, you can, over time put new material in and take old out gradually over time. Don't over think this. Just get going.

Here is a guaranteed truth: THERE WILL ALWAYS BE GREAT MATERIAL YOU CAN PUT IN YOUR ACT. But, you can only do so much.

Corollary to above: The 'perfect' act for you at any one moment is the act you are doing NOW!

Corollary 2: Your act will NEVER be perfect! But, that's ok, because no one else's act is perfect either. If you work, practice and rehearse then your act will be as good as it needs to be.

Building and maintaining an act is a 'process' that goes on and on and on. If you perform it enough you will find that will get comfortable and professional with it. That's good. That's why guys who do the same act for years appear to be so much better than the rest of us! They bloody well should look good!

But, you have to have "something" to work ON. So get an act outlined. Don't worry about it being perfect otherwise you will never, ever get it done.

Best regards,

Great advice and great tips brad,, keep it coming!!

Excellent feedback, Brad. Thanks a million. I've put together my "lists" as per your original posts. There are a lot of "3's" on each list, which I suppose is a good thing.

You are so right that there is a lot of great material out there. So much great magic to do and so little time!

The different kind of shows you set out differ in distance to and size of the audience. How exactly is a close-up show different from tablehopping or bar magic?
It's a small audience, at a table who often surround you. The waiting staff might interrupt with the food, but that's about the only change in this particular venue you need to cater to.

In one sense you are correct there is nothing different between doing say a 30 minute close-up show and a five minute or more set at a table. They both have to be routined professionally, etc. And, everything written above will work for ANY venue.

That said, for the purposes of the essay I found it easier to stick to the broader categories of Close-up, stage, parlor. Everything else are simply variants that fall somewhere within those categories.

Thanks for the observation.

I could note in line with MacGyverMagic's observation that even the very smallest routines I put together I tend to conceptualize within the context of my original essay.

For instance I have a favorite 'carry around' routine that consists of the following tricks: Two Ones to a Two and Wonderland Dollar. If I want to add a little more I will add Misled to make it the 'odd' number I write about above.

But, even the two trick routine as noted is very carefully thought out. For instance: I always begin with Two Ones as it's gimmicked in a manner that does not allow for examination. I perform it and put it away removing the Wonderland Dollar and proceeding from there. Since I don't encourage the idea that folks should be 'allowed' to examine my props, especially by request I attempt to through in what amount to 'red herrings' by using effects that the audience will handle as part of the presentation. W.D. fits this admirably. Thus I begin the 'act' dirty, but end clean.

The basic components can be carried in my wallet and if I wish to make the 'act' bigger I can start with something like Tenkai Pennies from Bobo's, which I usually do with Two Pennies on the Knee from the same book.

Once you begin habitually looking at your material in the manner outlined in my essay you will begin to automatically categorize your tricks, routines, etc. in a manner that will allow you to place them quickly in an order that will work best for YOU.

All best,

Thanks Brad, great information

Hi Brad,

Great information. Thank you for posting!

Jeff