Ed Sumner
15 Years Experience
Staffordshire, UK
Male, 28
I perform close up magic and stand up magic. I also run a children's magic company called Ready Steady Magic. You can find out more about me on YouTube! =P
As a professional magician and Member of the Magic Circle, I work hard to create incredible events.
Feel free to ask me whatever you wish and let me reveal the secrets of what I do (but not those secrets!)
That isn't a question, but thank you for your kind words.
Maybe you should start with a book from the library.
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As it's your creative output and I don't know anything about the rest of the story, I don't know if I should give an answer but if it's a dream then surely it can be actually impossible. I would go for, magician flips coin on the ground, when the coin lands it turns into a hippopotamus.
I'll take 10% of all royalties forwarded to me once a quarter. Thank you! =P
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I don't personally work with an assistant but although I think non-disclosure agreements are used, I don't know if they are enforceable. As I'm sure you're aware, unless it's actually tested by case law, it's difficult to say if it would be effective. I imagine that damages would have to be calculated based on loss of earnings, but again... how do you start to calculate that?
As much of magic's secrets have a long history and many people are adapting them for their own use, a better place to start would be with what is original to the show - trademarks, copyrighted performances and scripts, performance rights, can all be protected. And where there is a unique method, patents are worth looking at. You might want to read up on Teller's legal battle over his Shadow Act.
Here's one more thing to consider. I heard a great piece of advice once, which was "Never marry your assistant." It was at an event and was one of those throw away lines that got a bit of a chuckle, but actually has some reasoning behind it. Too many magicians decide to set up their show with their wife / girlfriend. If magic is your full time job, that can be a big mistake. If the relationship breaks down, and you don't want to work with your ex-partner, then how do you decide who owns what from the show. Magician's assistants these days aren't, or shouldn't be, just the pretty stage hand that brings on props. They have creative input too, even if their name isn't on the poster. Sooner or later there is going to be a divorce settlement where the ex wife says, I'm having the car, the house, the kids, half the magic props and worldwide performance rights.
My advice is hire a professional dancer and pay a professional fee. Then you can write a contract that says that the dancer is employed as part of the show, and has no right to claim any ownership of it.
Thanks for your question. Hope I got you thinking about the complex issues, even if I couldn't quite answer your question exactly.
Edit: I answered a similar question to this earlier too. I said the same thing! Good to see I'm being consistant.
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That's great, because I don't have an answer.
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Poet
Does being a professional poet pay the bills?
School Bus Driver
Do the kids treat you with the same amount of respect as other authority figures at school?
Swim Instructor
Do parents ever get angry at you personally if their kid isn't learning fast enough?
*Shakes magic 8 ball...
"The outlook is probable"
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I think that you should enjoy the performance. As I have said in multiple other answers - I do not reveal secrets. If you seriously want to learn magic, then I suggest you buy a book and learn it the same way everyone else did. As with anything, it takes time and effort to master it.
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A magician is someone who creates the experience of magic in another person. Magic is a feeling of fully knowing that what you have witnessed cannot happen, and yet you just did - the only possible explanation for it is magic! You don't have to believe it's sorcery, but you can't step off the fence easily either way.
The important points about my definition of magic are 'no other possible explanation' and 'fully knowing.' Some magicians are happy to tempt their audience by telling them that they are using distraction, fast hands or sleight of hand. This is all wrong if you ask me. If an audience feels as if they have been distracted or that the magician was just using fast hands, then that is not magic. Likewise magic should relate to the audience, they should be clear that what they will witness is impossible, because something similar does not happen in their everyday life.
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