So there I was starting a reply about comedy and magic, and then ended up with a string of replies about whether a script should be used for every trick we perform.

Should we use a script? A complete script? A rough idea of what we want to say? Or just go for it?!

Your ideas are welcomed...

...and kind of important otherwise it's all one way and it makes this entire effort pointless!!!

Yes.

See my many other posts on the subject if you want to know why.

-Jim

Yes.

If you think that you have a lot of talent for improvising, think of the confidence with which you will be able to improvise if you have a script! It's like working with a net versus without.

When I write my scripts, I work and rework them, try them out, toss material that doesn't work, and so on. I want to get everything just right. There is no way that I can be that good by just "going for it."

But who the heck am I? Eugene Burger says: a complete script for every effect.

Yes!

Yours,

Paul

Yes a script is a very powerful tool for powerful performances. Though I think the details in the script will depend from person to person. I personally like to script everything, from the words I'm going to say, the movements I'll do to what I'm going to think.

Other will prefer having a good idea of what they say but like to have a lot of freedom of what the outcome will be and like to improvise etc. But you know even knowing what effects you'll do in advance is kind of script...to his minimal but still a script.

But still a script is very important.

People like Aldo Colombini and Karrell Fox are/were great at improve, but, if it's not your bag, use a script. But, please write lines that don't seem contrived or insincere.

A script is very important, but can cause a performer to sound to canned. I do believe in writing out what I am going to say as I develop a routine. However, getting away from the script should be an important part of your performance if the time is right. A growing process if you will.

Often too, just as Dr. Wilson has pointed out, it is worth reworking your script and seeing what does and what does not work, but to add to this, that requires evaluation and critical thinking about your previous performances.

"The most important thing in acting is sincerity. If you can fake that, you've got it made."

Yours,

Paul

The script is the script.

When the performer follows a script from the outside, like a car going through a car wash... it will likely look mechanical to an audience. Think Disney Animatronics as performed by talented mimes.

The internal stuff has to be present in the performance. Not necessarily method here, just find the moments that are important and focus on getting there.

To add to Jonathan's words...

The blame of coming across as canned is not the fault of the script but the fault of the performer.

Look to music. It is scripted. The words are typically entirely determined. But the performers we all recognise are emotionally connected to those words in such a way that their presentation is always fresh. It is that connection which so many "magic" performances lack.

Cheers,

Tom

DOc brings up a good point. I am not a script magician on most of my effects, on bizarre I do a memoried patter. I write up what I am going to say then review it to get my thoughts strait. When I am performing I play off the audience. I do use key words to remind me of important facts.
WR

[quote]On 2004-09-13 15:46, jwilder wrote:
A script is very important, but can cause a performer to sound to canned.

More time should be spent on the copy and in acting classes. I've worked (more and more) with director's who tell the actor's to say it the way they would talk naturally. Even movie scripts are written several times.

I fully believe in a script. See my other posts on the subject.

BDC

[quote]On 2004-09-13 19:56, kregg wrote:


Yes, yes. You and Tom have more eloquently made my point. I have seen times that various performers, even one or two well-known, who gave no "soul" to their performance, and sounded like they were reciting the script almost as if they were reading it, rather than having natural flow to it. And though no one has accussed me of dismissing scripts, I state once again that I think scripts are important. I should conclude that it is more important in the manner of which they are used.

I think that Jonathan Townsend said it all with his wonderful post. Scrips are very important for the performance of magic. Leave yourself open to ad-lib with the audience and people that help you on stage when you are performing effects that use the audience...

Should I use a script? Is kinda like - should I read the instructions?

Have a framework, but it dosent mean you have to present it the same all the time. In fact challenge yourself and stray from it from time to time. people know when they are being talked at and they know when they are talked to.

Magicians,
Do you practice effects in front of a mirror?
Is every tiny nuance of motion thought out and practiced ad nauseum until it looks "perfectly natural"?
Why do the words you use deserve less attention?

All I will say is that every top working performer in magic will tell you to script everything - words, movements, gesture,- What does that tell you?

BDC

Use a script? Only if you want to engage your audience beyond "hey, look, I can do something you can't."

My partner and I are working on a new mentalism show for him. The story outline and the effects to use were easy. The hard part is working out the script. Even though this show is very tightly scripted, there is room built in to play with the audience. But it's the structure we've built that allows the freedom to play, and even playing with the audience will be somewhat scripted (well rehearsed ad libs and all that).

It comes off as natural because he is a great actor and knows how to engage an audience, not because he's making it up as he goes along.

If Big Daddy Cool hasn't convinced you already, watch a top working performer's show (magic or otherwise) two nights in a row. That will answer your question.

I have watched and sometimes you can tell that everything they do is so cordinated to the words that they do the moves and everthing to an exact moment. Interupt them in their patter and they cant remember what to next without stopping to think, I just don't want to be that robotic. I have a lot of people tell me that having a more personal style is better then having some guy yak at them, saying the same things he said to everyone hes ever done this effect for. Scripts are fine but atleast make them sound fresh, don't let them sound rehearsed.