Hi everyone, how are we all?

I'm after a little bit of advice on how to go about becoming a young grand illusionist. I've asked similar questions before but I'd like to ask something a little different.

I was planning on performing as much as I could, meanwhile researching and purchasing illusions. I would focus all my energy on one premier show. With great marketing hopefully the show will be popular and the finances gained from that will go towards an ongoing show. Is this plan stupid? Will it work?
I was also thinking of gathering finances and illusions to put on a TV special as the premier. The last plan was simply to create a stand up act, and build it slowly adding illusions one by one.

Which is the best way to go about becoming a young illusionist. Any of the ways I mentioned? Any others?

Thanks for your help,

MJ

MJ,

Hey there. My best advice would be just to take it one day at a time. As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day, neither will a successful show. Work on your performance at a steady pace, you don't want to jump into things too quickly. Keep performing as much as possible, and gradually work your way up. Not considering practicality, YOU probably wouldn't want your first large production performance to be working on a television special. I know I wouldn't want my first show televised!

Building the show will be a long-term effort, spanning years of hard work, time, and improvement. Obtaining the physical illusions is just the first step of the marathon.

But if you keep working at it, and stay focused and dedicated to your goals and aspirations, there isn't much that can stand in your way.

JB

You do not need a full show to gain finances. Do one thing well and you will be ahead of the rest. Put together, if you haven’t already, smaller shows to play venues such as reunions, parties, fire halls etc. Build your show up. Putting on one big show will put you into debt faster than you can imagine.

Lance Burton worked on one act when he first started out in magic and that was his dove act. The dove act took him around the world and during that time is when he began to work on illusions and other pieces of his show.

Do smaller shows and build up gradually.

Well I think I'll do restaurant work, meanwhile building a small show with some larger props, i.e. Lumball Machine, Guillotine, Production briefcase, broom/chair suspension, subtrunk (if I have an assistant present) etc. I'm also putting together a unique manipulation act, but I don't know of any venues that would want to see an 8-minute act like that though. What sort of places did Lance perform his act at? Just competitions and on TV?

Jonathan, as an accomplished young illusionist, would you mind explaining the road that you took to become what you are today? I'd really appreciate it. Also I'm not sure if you received my PM awhile back but I was wondering if it was possible to purchase a Video/DVD of your performance as I live overseas and can’t get over to see your show for a year or two.

Thanks for all the responses, keep them coming, it's all useful stuff. Thanks everyone!

MJ

You can perform your 8-minute act as an opening act for play in theatres and schools, local bands or other entertainers. It is tough performing a manipulation act in certain venues however you can still perform different routines. Make your act adaptable for multiple venues while continuing to hone and practice your main act. Then when the time comes and you book a gig where there will be an adequate stage and settings you will be prepared.

Lance started performing when he was a little boy in a local restaurant. He performed, I believe, only one trick when he started, the cups and balls. Get your name out there, keep working and everything will work out.

WHAT?

There's a "road" to "Grand Illusions"? Why didn't anybody tell me this! I had to BUILD my Illusions!



Well, that wasn't funny. So...

Seriously, my young apprentice... The secret to this is... PASSION. It may sound incredibly cliché (especially to us,"the old folks") but it's the truth.

Do the best you can with what you have but do it passionately and you'll get there... illusions and all. Trust me on this one, keep your PASSION for performing Magic and you're on the right "road", as you call it. It won't be easy, nobody said it would be, but with passion for it, the journey will be one heck of a fun adventure!

So, keep the passion in your heart and you're on the right track or... "road"!

And everything else everyone else said here. That was good advice!

One of the nicest things about being an illusionist is that you will always be young! Enjoy it and take it to others.

The investment is you, not the equipment. Lord knows we spend plenty on paint and wood and at the machine shop. But it's because our minds keep working.

Tony Slydini knocked my socks off every time I saw him. The largest financial investment I ever saw him make was for a carton of cigarettes to use in his act. I’m sure the world of finance has been much kinder to me than it was to Tony. But I keep trying to be as magical as Tony. Work on the magic within you. The money part is really pretty easy. But the magic comes first.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) I came into the entertainment business through the record business back in the 60s. A once popular song down here in Alabama was "I Keep Gettin' Richer But I Can't Get My Picture on The Cover of The Rolling Stone". By the time I got out of the University of Alabama, I had learned that the people who really make the money in the entertainment business are also not street names. They are the ones with the vision to please audiences and usually develop those with the street names. Unfortunately, the financial side of entertaining is much like horse racing. The basics are that the horses are trained to run fast and turn left. We change the horses much more frequently than the rules of successful horse racing. And it is just a form of entertainment. This form just happens to use horses. The payoffs on the most popular horses are seldom any better than any other winner. The world is full of winners.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander