professional magician – MagicShow.Tips

Raising Your Rates…

Ugh, people in Facebook magic groups drive me nuts. Someone asked about how much they should raise their prices for holiday party gigs in December. Then a lot of people chimed in that they don’t and they feel like it’s price gouging. I have a lot of thoughts about this, and the first one is that most of these people are idiots.

I’m going to assume that we all realize it’s already December, and that if you’re not sure of your pricing, you aren’t a professional magician. In that case get whatever you are comfortable charging. It really doesn’t matter.

The reason someone gave for not raising their rates was that they didn’t want a reputation as someone who raised their rates when there was high demand. Try to book a hotel or airline ticket during spring break and let me know how cheap you can get one. Raising rates when you have a limited number of spots available during a busy season is common in many industries. It’s just business. Now look at labor, every union worker in the USA charges more to work on holidays, so why shouldn’t you?

You raise your rates when it’s busy, either they pay it or they don’t. It’s that simple. I think everyone understands why a gig on a saturday night in December might cost more than a gig on a wednesday night in January.

Show Flow…

Frequently on internet magic groups people talk about set lists. I’m always amazed at how many people just make up the show order as they go. They justify this as selecting their show to what the audience will like in the moment. In theory this is a good idea, but your show will lack tightness, … Continue reading “Show Flow…”

Having a set list and following it allows you to work on your show as a show, your segues get better, your prop management is better. You will have less wasted motion, than if you are randomly grabbing a prop. This gives the audience a sense that you know what you’re doing.

I really feel like my show started to grow as a show, not as a collection of acts when I started doing it according to a set list. This doesn’t mean you can’t vary the list occasionally, but you strive for a consistent, preplanned show order. This has helped me enormously as my career has grown and from when I’ve started working in venues that want me to submit a set list for the theater crew.

Put your show down on paper and learn it like a show!

Be Easy To Work With…

One of the things I started doing this years is not letting other acts take advantage of me. What I mean by that is when I’m sharing a stage with another act, I’m very flexible…until they get demanding.

In the past when I would share a stage with another act, I would assume we’re all professionals and you wouldn’t ask for things not necessary. I just worked in a show with an act where we both were doing three shows each alternating every hour, with 15 mins change over time.

I asked if I could keep my gear off stage in a small wing unseen by the audience and in a space they weren’t using. They said, “NO”. That’s fine with me if you need that space, I have no problem keeping my gear in a less convenient place. This particular stage has stairs across the entire front of the stage. They started laying out props on the stairs. I asked if they were going to strike them between their shows. They said, “NO”. I told them they would have to as I use the stairs and I don’t want to dodge their props, and have to worry about stepping on them. They said they didn’t have time to move them, and I told them that “it’s not my problem“.

Now could I have dodged their props as I used the stairs? Yes. Should I have to? NO. In a show like this one I’m entitled to backstage space to store my gear, and in a space that was vacant the whole show. By them not being easy to work with, I instantly became less flexible, while still within what my show was entitled. I didn’t ask for anything more, I simply took what I needed.

Guess what, my show was better than it would have been with me or someone from the audience tripping on their props in the dark. They learned a lesson, that when you are working with other acts, you need to be able to do a full strike in between shows unless you’ve discussed it before with the other act.

It’s being a professional

The moral of the story is be flexible, but don’t let anyone take advantage of you.