Hi Derren,

I was just wondering what with having such a large crew of magicians working behind the scenes and the freedom that prerecorded shows offers, do you consider your work to still be your own and does it still adhere to your values?
Also I always wonder how much of what we see on the screen is actual mentalism and how much is clever editing, the later being something different altogether I suppose (more like special effects)

Clearly I am not asking for any idea of how things are done I'm just curious as to what you consider to be fair game to produce an effect.

Also I like the avatar picure certainly captures the feel of this place.

Given the unpredictability of the general public, I initially suspected that a lot of creative editing was involved in the TV shows. However, having seen Derren's live show, I'm happy to report that I'm now convinced that's not nearly such a significant factor as I thought. He really is that good.

Thank you - a rich question, I think.

We all know that non-magicians, when they don't understand a trick, like to fall back on phrases like 'It's all sleight-of-hand'. We also hear a lot that people tend not to trust magic on TV - which is why they like our close-up so much. Many magicians, because we are also lay-people when we something fools us, tend to do the same thing. I hear a lot that I rely on clever editing or stooges, which is really not the case.

It's absolutely vital that the spectator you see in the show has the same experience of the effect as when they watch it on TV. I can't go chopping bits around, or they'd have a good reason to complain. Equally, aside from how artistically replulsive it is, I can't go employing stooges. Whatever we could pay them would be nothing compared to what a paper would pay for their story. And also, we can't go filming a street routine a hundred times and then just show the few that work. We'd have 95 sets of people (in front of whom I had repeatedly humiliated myself)complaining that their bit wasn't shown because it didn't work; and financially and logistically it's not possible. It takes ages to set up and shoot these things.

I think these are good rules to work within. It also makes sense to use the medium and what it offers, of course, but you can't just create a fiction in the edit room. My career would be over the moment people from the show started telling their stories.

I don't have a large crew of magicians working behind the scenes: not sure what you're visualising there. Sometimes we'll get some people together to brainstorm ideas or half-ideas for effects to get the ball rolling. That's a lovely thing, as is the ability to discuss and throw ideas around. But after that the onus is on me. I work very closely with Andy Nyman here, as you probably know, as two heads are always better than one and we think very similarly.

So yes - the logistics of making a TV show, working with a director and so on are very different from performing close-up, and are very hard to compare. Unfortunately one difference is that people trust TV less. Ultimately this is why I prefer to perform live, so none of these issues arise.

Great question though, thank you. And thank YOU, 'contains mild peril'.

db

Thanks Derren!