For those of you who've been on TV, what are the steps you take, the people you contact, and where do you go to make it on TV?
Also, what are the steps to producing your own demo?

Getting on television is different than producing your own video. If you want to produce your own video, you find a video production company listed in the yellow pages and start working with them. Main draw back is cost. This is NOT cheap to do.

Getting on television is a rather easy thing to do, especially on the local level. Find a reason that you are "newsworthy" and then you call the producers of the particular talk show and explain your angle/news worthy idea. If you have a big show in the area (I am not talking a birthday party at Mrs. Smith's on Saturday either), a book coming out, that sort of thing. They will slot you in and get you on.

Getting on television on the regional and national level is a little more tricky but works basically the same way. The other way of doing it is to contact your local cable company and ask about producing a community access show for yourself. In this manner, you get your own television show. Just make sure that it is going to benefit the community somehow.

Hope that helps,
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
http://www.stores.ebay.ca/abstagecraft

This is a great question, one that I wish I new the answer for. I am still searching.

I would venture to say a new fresh idea in the first place would be the first step to a "network" deal.

One part of me says, "Hey-If "....." can do it, certainly I might have a chance?" That is in essence what the American dream is all about. Right?

On the other side of the coin, I can think of other magicians that should be on TV and be household names like "Copperfield". Why don't I see them?

If you are good, Television is great exposure.

The best way to get started is to offer yourself as a guest on a local TV show.
They are always looking for special guests.

Be sure to make yourself interesting and fun!
Keep your magic simple but strong.

Know your limits, time, camera angles, and strong visual or easy to understand presentations.

I would suggest letting the camera man or the director know what you are going to do ahead of time before you perform.

After making my first guest appearance, I was able to pitch my own TV show. It was a success and a great learning experience.

Steve Hart
Cape Canaveral, FL USA

Television SUCKS material out of you! It is amazing how much material you can go through working television.
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
http://www.stores.ebay.ca/abstagecraft

You bet - I just found myself with a contract for the next forty weeks and they want three different appearances of famous stars every week - a total of 120 different appearances and I can't use bases!!

Yes, I have considered getting a spot on the local news channel (not really local.... more of a state wide news) and doing a few tricks, but haven't really had that much of a desire. As soon as I get a steady gig at the Olive Garden again I wil probably advertise on TV.

Jakks

Jakks:

Did you get the Olive Garden to hire you there?

Magi's,

There is a wonderful section on getting TV exposure in the "Millionaire Magician." The book is worth the price even if you don't use the TV section....

Working with a director, cameras, etc., even on a local shot is quite different than other performing. A great book on the subject is by Dick & Virginia Williams, "Lights! Cameras! Magic!". They produced their own show on local television for YEARS, and tell you exactly what to expect, who to talk with about getting on a local show, i.e. an appearance on the morning news or talk show, and a million other useful pieces of information.

Fredrick's suggestion is also very good.

If you aspire to producing a continuing program locally, I believe the pro's who tell us that you'll burn through material, and scramble to keep the show new and entertaining.

Best of luck to everyone who wants to be a television magician. Be the best, and everyone benefits.

If you want to be on tv you have to be beyond good or excellent. There are too many magicians that are just good. There are too many magicians that are a bore these days. That's because I was born into this career and made a smart decision to retire at age 20. hahaha.

Another way is to submit yourself to principal casting directors in your area or a national level. In the USA it would not hurt to be a member of AFTRA...
http://www.AFTRA.org
to do union variety and talk shows that book entertainers.

Another thing to think about is to join the American Guild of Variety Artist's (AGVA)...

AGVA handles, Magician, comics, Clowns, etc that work on stage, and nightclubs.

Go and be an audience member in a few shows.
Study everyone working on the show floor.
Get the feel for everything going on behind the scenes.

I arrived home one day to find the following msg on my answering machine.."We want you to be on our show call this number." As the person had a heavy Italian accent I was unable to make out his name. The television studio made several attempts to connect me to the person they thought had made the call. In the end I ended up speaking to the producer of the show who said he wasn't aware of anyone wanting to contact me but what I did sounded interesting.."Tell me what you do?" I ended up being the featured guest on the two hour breakfast show and as a result have done quite a few things for T.V. since. Ha Ha!!
They say truth is stranger than fiction..never did find out who had made the original call or even if it was a hoax. I've just finished a pilot project for a kids television show. Whether it gets picked up lies in the hands of the T.V. guru's. No matter however, as I'm just happy to have experienced it all. So.....that's how I got started on tv..:O)

You can submit a proposal for a show/ special to a TV station/network who will then produce (ie pay for creating the show) the show with a negotiated artists fee.
Alternatively, you can produce the programme yourself (ie pay for a professional production house to shoot and edit it), and then sell the finished product to the station/network.
For a series they might want to see a pilot before they decide to produce a season (13 episodes)

I work in the TV field, so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

Ric

Today I received one of the two videos of the show I was on last September, "Nuthin' Up My Sleeve",
[reference in MAGIC Magazine August or September 2002].

We did interviews for one cable station, with snippets of our act afterwards. The other video is the show in its entirety to be on another cable station.

I suppose sometimes it's being in the right place at the time, and making yourself avilable as well.

I can't tell you how you "get-in" the television business.
But when you have the possability to do an effect on television, explaine everything about your effect to the director and camera man/woman!

This person also wants you to make a good show and they are not your enemie!
If you do not want to tell how your effect is working, be aware that the camera man/woman and the director WANT TO KNOW how you have done the effect!!!

They shall do everything that is in their power to reveal the trick!! (make extreme close-up, make slow motion, etc)

Think about what you want.
Do you want that nobody knows how you did your effect or do you like making a good performance as a person with your effect(s)?!

I hope everyone understands my writing, I am a Dutch magician and my English is not that good.

We got our TV spot on The Travel Channel by always knowing what's going on around us.
We try to mingle everywhere we go.

Make connections with people everyday. Pry around and see what's going on in your industry as well as others. We go to trade shows and conventions totally unrelated to magic or any entertainment. Guess what, you will be the only entertainer there. You'll also learn principles and ideas from different industries, and you may find a gem that will work for you.

Through keeping our eyes and ears open we found out about the casting call for a TV show to be produced about Houdini and escape artists. We then contacted them, but found they only wanted existing footage. We did not have great footage of Kristen's Spike Escape, so I sold them on coming to one of our shows and shooting it live. However since they would need to be there the whole show I also sold them on shooting our entire show with 3 cameras, one of them on a 30' jib arm, and give us rights to all the raw footage. The total cost of what they provided was close to $20,000 and I got if free.

Anyways, just always know what is going on in your area and take advantage of any and all opportunities.

Kevin
http://www.livingillusions.com

Hi all.

There is a great book that I just finished reading by an award winning TV reporter. It is all about free publicity on TV and Newspaper. Check it out. It is available at http://www.jeffcrilley.com/

Let me know if you check it out.

Leon! cheers