Discourse in Magic

Jonah is joined by Nick Diffatte this week to discuss comedy, finding a style, and embracing your ideas no matter how stupid they might be. Nick Diffatte might be young, but his strong magic and comedy chops have allowed him to not only perform internationally but headline residences on the Las Vegas strip and on the Disney Cruise Line. His interest in magic came from his interest in juggling. Attending local library shows and fairs to see jugglers led to him seeing magic shows which eventually led to him getting into magic. In going to local magic shops and joining his local SAM clubs, Nick was guided along the way by local performers like Tyler Erickson. Starting out at twelve years old, he did local events and birthdays before realizing he wanted more stage time. At fourteen, he was snuck into bars to host burlesque shows. Having frequently flown out to Las Vegas to perform at local casinos and sleep on Bizzaro’s couch, Nick decided that it only made sense for him to move out there full-time. Not only was it a cheap city to live in, but it was where the action was. Vegas was where the shows and likeminded performers were. With a forty-five minute set, Nick moved from Minnesota to Vegas. Playing Around If you were to walk into Nick’s apartment, you would be greeted by vintage pranks, toys, and a suitcase of yoyos. To Nick, his whole existence is based on toys and by having everything out in the open he is able to have a creative space where the ideas are in front of him. As someone with multiple creative outlets, he is constantly playing with new thing acknowledging that he never knows what stupid, random thing will be the next big trick.  Really, you need to play. You need to play without being concerned that you’re going to create stupid material because you will. But you need to find out what you want to play with. The audience can tell when you’re being authentic. They know when you’re making stuff up because you want to show them specific tricks. You have to show them something that is real to you before they’ll buy it. That’s why Nick does tricks that he genuinely finds funny and come from his interests in juggling and toys. Creating Material & Taking Notes Nick always has a notebook or a piece of paper on him to write down ideas. I f he doesn’t, then that idea is lost. He explains that he writes down everything with the notion going in that he’s going to have shitty ideas. When he’s filled up a notebook, he’ll then sit down and find which ideas appeal to him and will write them into the front page of his next notebook, keeping them fresh in his mind. When adding material to his show, Nick will come in with a set of requirements that the trick must fulfill. With these in mind, Nick will then come up with a concept that fulfills these requirements while meeting his criteria for what makes a good image on stage while appealing to him. Going on stage and rambling out patter is not how he operates. Nick tends to script 70-80% before taking a trick to stage.  Stolen Material Having had his material stolen and performed in front of him basically verbatim, Nick knows what it’s like to have your work stolen. It sucks. Luckily, there were people who policed the issue, but Nick feels magic could do more, pointing to the fact that if you steal something in  comedy from a well-known comedian, you’re blacklisted in the community. There’s a fine line between using published material that people have willingly offered to the community, and taking someone’s full hour act to perform.  Remember, especially if you see it at a convention, it’s a performance, not a lecture.  If you’re new and you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, Nick recommends that you read and create and discuss your material. If someone recognizes that your material is similar to something else, great! Research it. Find the lineage. Reach out to the person who created it before you and ask if your idea is too similar. People are easy to get in contact with and are usually more than happy to help you…beforehand.  Wrap Up Endless Chain Paul Kozak Bizzaro What do you like about modern magic? What don’t you like? Nick enjoys that, after putting out his book, young magicians have reached out to him with an interest in pursuing comedy magic. There are only a handful of people his age doing good comedy and good magic. He doesn’t like that everything in magic online and on television feels like a prank show. There’s better ways to showcase magic with the medium.  Take Home Point Be open minded. Be open to play. Be open to new mediums. Don’t go into something with the idea that you’re only going to focus on the aspects that are immediately useful to your performances. Just enjoy a new medium for what it is.  Plugs Nick’s Book Nick’s Website Nick’s Instagram The post Writing Comedy Magic with Nick Diffatte appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah is joined by both Morgan & West this week to talk about scripting, creating an atmosphere, and understanding how character should influence your choices. Morgan & West are magicians, time-travellers & all round spiffing chaps who spend their time touring their shows around the U.K. Morgan & West met in University through theatre productions. Independently, the two of them had begun to learn card tricks, so they started to egg each other on to keep practicing. In 2008, they did a stage show as magicians. While it wasn’t very good, they were able to learn a lot from the experience. Their reason for jumping into performing was simple: sitting in their bedroom doing card tricks was going to help become performers. You have to start making what you want to do to eventually reach the vision you have in your head.  Creating Shows Morgan & West have six different shows under their belts. While the small U.K. touring scene is a factor as to why they have so many, they explain that, really, they just get bored and want a challenge. Writing a show is a skill and the only way to get better at it is by creating more of them. Everytime they approach a new show, their goal is to create something bigger, better and more ambitious than the previous one. And the creation of the show extends beyond simply what they’re saying on stage.  Morgan & West approach their shows with the phrase “pack large, play medium.” They don’t shy away from bringing in sets to set a mood before the show even begins. When the audience walks into the theatre and sees the sets on stage, hear the music setting the tone, and see the two of them bantering before the show, the audience is more likely to give the duo five minutes of their time at the outset. By improving the overall feel of the show, Morgan & West are promising their audience they’re going to have an experience.   Working as a Duo According to Morgan & West, working as a duo is a lot easier than working solo. As a duo, they can independently find material, pitch it to the other, and then have a conversation about how to best adapt the material to their characters. Through these conversations, they’re able to flesh out concepts and turn them into acts that better suit their characters. On the other end of it, the other acts as an editor, pointing out when certain concepts won’t work; these instances are often followed by long conversations to understand why one person doesn’t like a particular idea.  Scripting works the same way. While Morgan is better at developing material while on the stage, West is better at putting ideas down on the stage. Between the two of them, they’re able to edit the content down and find the moments that work. With this in mind, they are constantly shaping their performances, discussing what did and didn’t work after their shows.  Developing Authentic Characters You don’t need to be a time traveller or a dragon to be a character. A good character, simply put, is a combination of traits and shticks that establish who “you” as a performer are to the audience. Alongside giving you a foundation to follow while making performance decisions (i.e. blocking or effect selection), a character also helps to make magic less confrontational for the audience; they know that you know that this isn’t real, allowing them to swallow a bigger lie as you tell them smaller lies to pull off your effects.  The way of creating good bits for your character is to fundamentally understand your character. Write some lines. See how you feel about what you’ve written? What works? What doesn’t? Understand why you do and don’t like certain aspects, and then rewrite. With that in mind, don’t force a certain character on yourself; you have to enjoy it or else the audience won’t. At the end of it all though, you have to understand why you’re making certain choices.  Wrap Up Endless Chain Rune Klan Take Home Point The first is to know and understand what decisions you’re making and why. The second point is the only way to get good at something, is by constantly doing that thing.  Plugs Morgan & West’s new book: Parlour Tricks  Morgan & West’s Website Morgan & West’s Instagram The post Defining a Character with Morgan & West appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

David Ben joins Jonah this episode to discuss if magic is an art form, producing shows, and developing a curatorial eye to improve your magic. From being a performer to a producer to the founder of Magicana, David has spent the last 40 years shaping magic as an art in the public eye. While he tells many stories of how he entered magic, David’s journey started like many others of his generation; he saw Doug Henning performing on TV specials. Alongside seeing Vernon on various Canadian programs, David was influenced to begin his journey into magic. From Stein Day’s Handbook of Magic to Ross Bertram’s Magic and Methods, he dove into his studies. David grew up in Toronto alongside Jay Sankey and Gary Kurtz while he worked at Morrissey Magic. While working and performing, he attended thr University of Toronto for his undergraduate degree before attending Western for law with the intention of becoming a producer. Putting on a Show When selecting his material, David never chooses his repertoire based on “Will this make money?” By selecting material that he found interesting, he was able to convey through the pieces why the audience should be interested. His show, The Conjuror, came out of his desire to create a character that wasn’t just him. By doing this, he could play with a different style that would create a different show for the audience.  When it comes to producing, you need to be able to work on a team; a large show cannot be done by one person. If you’re the leader, you need to learn how to lead beyond telling people what to do. Find ways to draw out the creativity and expertises of those you’re working with. Additionally, learn the language of the industry so that you come across as knowing what you’re talking about.   Developing an Aesthetic Taste To anyone who wants to develop an aesthetic eye, David recommends looking beyond that magic world. Take in art and music to understand what moves and interests you. David believes that magic isn’t an art but a craft that, in the right hands, can be elevated to an art form. Aesthetic emotion, a term coined by art critic Clive Bell, is a concept that explains that at the core of any art form are certain fundamentals that move people.  When you’re creating your magic with this in mind, you should be focused on finding those universals that move people to tell your stories around – seeing snow for the first time isn’t a good emotional hook. You want people to feel what you’re saying on an instinctual basis rather than analytical, or else they’ll just try to work out how the tricks are done.  In terms of material, you need to set criteria for what you’ll need. Do you need it to be short and visual? Is the setup worth the payoff?  But, make sure you’re still choosing material that moves you in a way that you can convey it to the audience. You want to create texture in your magic by considering everything that you’re doing on stage and what the journey it is your audience is taking throughout the performance. Magicana Receiving funding for a magic production has always been difficult. After noticing that theatre and film had funds in place to support the industry, David put on his producers hat and decided to create his own charity to help magicians: Magicana. With the help of Patrick Watson and Daniel Zuckerbrot, the arts organization was established to explore and advance magic as an art form in the public eye. Later on, Magicana would recieve financial support from the Slaight family.  The foundation has focused on putting on public shows, making content accessible to the public with free online exhibits, has helped in curating art exhibits like the Illusions: Art of Magic exhibit at the AGO and has created an annual award that recognizes emerging magicians and those who have contributed to the development of magic.   Allan Slaight Covid-19 Relief Fund The Slaight’s are a community-driven family who want to support the magic community. With the recent blow dealt to the entertainment industry by Covid-19, the Slaight have set up a $150,000 fund to support professional, Canadian magicians for the next three months. All magicians who meet the requirements will receive $500 to be used towards expenses. You can apply here: https://www.magicana.com/allan-slaight-relief-fund-professional-magicians David hopes that other people who have done well by magic will step up and replicate what the Slaight have done in their own communities to support out-of-work magicians. Wrap Up Endless Chain Teller What do you like about modern magic? What don’t you like? While he enjoys that magic can be found online and accessed by anyone, he dislikes that people are able to flood magic with bad material, further muddying the waters for people trying to find material. Take-Home Point Broaden your horizons and don’t be afraid to be a lone voice. Plugs Magicana David’s Website David’s Email: david@davidben.com The post Aesthetics in Magic with David Ben appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Michael Ammar joins Jonah this week to talk about signature tricks, mentors, and leaving room for your audience’s imagination. From teaching to creating to performing, Michael Ammar has done it all, building his name in the magic community.  Magic never seemed like a viable career path for him. Sure, he liked it, but he always thought he’d take over his father’s steakhouse. The turning point came one busy day at the steakhouse where his father told him that the restaurant would one day be his. Realizing that the steakhouse wasn’t fun the way magic was, Michael made a deal with his dad; he had two years to do something with magic or he’d come back.  Knowing what would wait for him if he didn’t succeed, Michael started doing conferences and schools, alongside winning at a SAM convention which led him to doing lecture tours. Along the way, he’d perform some of the best spots on late night shows, create one of the most in-depth magic tutorial series, and become a mainstay in the community.  Signature Magic If you’ve seen any of Michael’s material, the word “visual” would most likely come to mind. The effects he chooses, Michael explains, are simple to explain and visual because it is a visual art form. However, over the years, he’s come to appreciate the cerebral aspects of magic.  Referencing the book Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, Michael explains that by leaving spaces for the audience’s imagination to fill in the blanks, you create a collaborative environment. Suddenly, the audience and performer are working together to create the magic. After they’ve filled in the blank, Michael will then hit them with the strongest visual possible.  Writing & Performing a Script  Michael approaches scripting by sitting down, writing too much to say, and then scrapping what doesn’t feel right when he’s on stage. He explains that he’d rather have too much to say while he’s performing on stage rather than having nothing while he’s performing.  That is the key, Michael points out. You have to find a safe stage to be able to perform material to find what does and doesn’t work.  Creating Magic Tutorials When he set out to create magic tutorials, there was always the temptation to teach more than what was necessary. But, knowing that they not only wanted to set but elevate a standard, Michael went into creating the tutorials by asking what they could to make it a more effective teaching device. He spent hours immersing themselves in material longer than other people because they could. The market was ripe for good learning material which is why the tutorials hold up to this day.  Nowadays, Michael says, the shelf life of this products is limited. Most products aren’t meant to sit on a shelf or become a mainstay in a collection. Putting the time and effort into products like they did back in the day isn’t necessarily worth it today with how quickly the market turns over.  Wrap Up Endless Chain Jeff Taylor What do you like about modern magic? What don’t you like? Not being able to predict trends, is what Michael does and doesn’t enjoy. Trends today are things that he wouldn’t have banked on being successful a decade ago.  Take Home Point It doesn’t matter where you are. You can benefit from the wealth of magic knowledge that is out there. Plugs  Michael’s Website World’s Greatest Magic Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page. The post Refining Your Magic with Michael Ammar appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Right now, we’re living through some scary, uncertain times. But, with everyone self-isolating, we’re flattening the curve and giving our healthcare system a fighting chance to get us back to some semblance of normal as quickly as possible. With all this time now, we should be focused on improving ourselves so that when we can come back, we can come back stronger than ever. The Discourse Team promises that in the coming weeks, we’ll have some fantastic guests to keep you occupied and thinking about your magic. Most likely, you’ve had gigs cancel or postpone on you due to Covid-19. Jonah, and TMC, has felt the impact and sympathizes with your circumstances. While getting through this time, Jonah offers some tips to performers: Get a deposit for future shows. Book shows a few months in advance. Include a Corona Clause to keep your current clients for the future. Make gift cards so people can still support your shows now. Whether you’re a professional or a hobbyist magician, there are activities you can be doing now to take advantage of the time. Recently, Jonah sent out an email with ideas on how to spend your time. If you’re not signed up for the mailing list and would like to keep informed, you can do so here. If you missed the email, here were the ideas mentioned in the email: Learn a new trick from the material you already own. Gather your marketing material together so that when you need it, you have it all in one place. Back up your computer. Clip out some of the footage from the shows that we’re sure you’ve been recording. Have a jam session over Skype. Transcribe your act or trick to clean up your script. Build better expense management processes. Fix your website. Listen to podcast episodes you’ve set aside (or binge some of your favourite Discourse in Magic episodes). Watch some magic online. This could be on Magicana’s Screening Room, Fool Us acts, or checking out some of the Magic Castle acts magicians have posted to YouTube. If you’re interested in joining some fans of the podcast and want to add to the discourse, you should join the Discourse in Magic Facebook group (Jonah knows. 208 episodes later and now he decides to create a place for his fans?! But! It’s here now). At the end of the day, we’ll get through this. Don’t give up hope. We’ll see you next Thursday. Peace! The post We’re In This Together. appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah joins Luke Dancy this week to discuss exposure online, consulting for Criss Angel, and the magic marketplace. Alongside being a magic consultant, Luke works with Murphy’s Magic Supplies and hosts a weekly livestream where he talks with magic creators about their recent product releases. At the age of eight, Luke saw David Copperfield performing on TV and, since then, he’s been a magician. While his journey into magic began with him dabbling with tricks, he began to take it seriously after attending a S.A.M. convention in Milwaukee when he was sixteen. Seeing so many magicians and masters of the craft in one room was an eye opening experience to him. He began to befriend people in the community, and he quickly developed a community around him.  He started out as a performer, polishing his magic at a high end sushi restaurant two nights a week. As he continued to attend conventions throughout his early twenties, he began to build a name for himself and, through the help of his friend Tim Trono, Criss Angel eventually reached out to him, inviting him to join his team. After working with Criss for seven years, he would eventually move on to working with Murphy’s Magic.  Consulting for Television Being a television consultant is more than just creating concepts for tricks. While you are taking old plots and making them fresh for a performer, you also need to recognize that you’ll need to wear various hats behind the scenes. There is a timeline with television productions, so if something goes wrong, you need to be ready to think on your feet and be ready to move on to the next effect if necessary. It’s a fun but extremely stressful job.  Luke’s strength with consulting was his ability to take effects and place them into a real world context. When he was plotting out new tricks for Criss to do, he would walk through the casino and figure out what effects Criss could perform based on the spots he passed.  The Magic Marketplace  The marketplace is flooded but you shouldn’t let that discourage you, Luke explains. If you have a trick you want to see become a reality and you’ve put months or years into perfecting it, you shouldn’t give up on bringing it to the marketplace. That being said, you shouldn’t expect to become rich from releasing material; to actually make money doing that, you would need to constantly be creating and releasing and it’s impossible to continuously release quality effects. But what makes a good effect? Based on Luke’s observations, he says that tricks that have a toy aspect, are built well, and are visual are often the effects that sell well in the marketplace. The tricks also need to be something you would perform. People can tell when a trick is released for the sake of making money.  Online Exposure If you’re sharing magic online when it’s not your material, Luke does not agree with it. He sees these people as wanting to gain views and monetize ideas of other people. Most of the people online sharing the scerts haven’t done anything for the community and are only damaging it by teaching other people’s material incorrectly. While he hopes that this is only a fad and will soon die out, Luke points out that if the people who stumble across these videos and gain a real interest in magic dig deeper, they’ll find the actual good material.  Wrap-Up Endless Chain  Ryan Schlutz What do you like about modern magic? What don’t you like? While Luke loves that the internet has given us the ability to connect with magicians and discover a deeper wealth of magic making it easier to cite sources, he dislikes how people abuse social media to get views and skip the hard work necessary to build a real name in the industry.  Take Home Point Luke wants people to know that he loves magic, and he is doing everything he can to inspire and guide the next generation into the art form.  Plugs Luke’s Facebook Group: All Things Magic Luke’s Murphy’s Live Show Luke’s Instagram Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page The post Releasing Magic with Luke Dancy appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Mike Pisciotta joins Jonah this week to discuss transitioning from close-up to stage, originality, and expressing your you through magic. Mike is an established bar magician at the Magic Castle, having won Close-Up Magician of the Year twice and Parlour Magician of the Year.   While his interest in magic started at a young age, he didn’t begin practicing it until after witnessing Copperfield performing live; the dancing girls and bright lights convinced him that magic was more than just tricks for children. Desiring to know how Copperfield did what he did, Mike picked up a copy of Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic and from that point forward he knew he was destined to become a magician.  Throughout his life, he strayed from his path to becoming a magician several times. At one point, when he felt at his lowest, he left behind a cushy life and moved to L.A. to learn and work among the magicians at the Magic Castle. Although not the easiest scene to break into, Mike’s passion eventually helped him land his dream job of being a Magic Castle bar magician, where he still works to this day.  Finding You If you’re struggling to find something to talk about on stage, you’re probably focusing on the wrong subjects. Mike explains that you need to find topics that you’re passionate about and bring you bliss. Those are the things people want to hear you talk about on stage; they don’t want to hear you reciting a script from an old magic book you found on your shelf.  Your ideas can come from anywhere. For example, Mike is a constant reader with an interest in philosophy, who has brought together the ideas of other people to build up his own take on the world. When he goes on stage, he is expressing his interests through the tricks, rather than just doing tricks for the sake of the tricks.  Confidence Through Comedy When Mike was starting out in L.A., he had a brief stint in comedy. Hopping from open mic to open mic, he experienced how brutal the comedy circuit was, but he gained the confidence to stand in front of a room and just speak. He knows that he doesn’t need to rely on his tricks to be interesting, which has elevated his performance. The best part of shows, Mike explains, are not the tricks but him. People book him for who he is, not because they’re looking for another magician.  From Close-Up to Stage There aren’t a lot of people hiring close-up performers for intimate sets which is why he developed stage material (alongside the fact he loves it). Mike notes that the biggest difference between the two formats is not only in the trick selection but how you are presenting the effects. Suddenly, you’re trying to give thirty to a hundred people the feeling of magic which means you have to make sure everyone can see and hear what you’re doing.  Wrap-Up Endless Chain  John Wilson  Modern Magic Mike likes that the art is coming back into magic and that stage shows are pushing magic forward. He, however, isn’t a fan of Instagram or YouTube magic that doesn’t work in the real world.   Take-Home Point  Follow your bliss.  Plugs Mike’s Website  Mike’s Instagram  Mike’s Twitter Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page The post Follow Your Bliss with Mike Pisciotta appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Tyler Erickson joins Jonah this week to talk about working with a mentor, finding the positive, and what to consider when scripting. Alongside being an extremely skilled sleight of hand artist, Tyler is a magic coach who works to improve the approach magician’s take to assessing their own magic. Tyler’s interest in magic started while he was watching Saturday morning cartoons and eating cereal with his friend as deep inside that cereal box was a trick based on the grandma’s necklace principle. Unimpressed with the trick, Tyler resumed watching TV, forgetting about the trick until that following Monday; his friend had gathered a crowd performing the trick, and it was then Tyler realized he wanted that type of attention and told his mom he was interested in magic. Growing up in the swampland of Minnesota, Tyler depended on the inter-loan library system for his access to magic. Reading books like The Magic Handbook by Peter Eldin and 3/4 of the Greater Magic series, Tyler developed his knowledge and skills alone. He had an opportunity to show off what he learned to fellow magicians after about a year when he visited his first magic shop. While he admits the vanish he did was rather meh, the magicians were impressed that his first bit of coin magic involved putting the coin into Down’s palm. As he grew more aware of the magic community, he began to work with other skilled magicians who welcomed them into their world, sharing their own knowledge and libraries with him.  Working with a Mentor A mentor is able to provide you with something that books, dvds or any other instructional text can’t provide you, Tyler explains, eyes on you. Material created by other people is created with the belief that the person buying is capable of performing exactly what it asks; the creator can’t take into account what you specifically are capable of. Whereas a mentor is able to see who you are and capitalize on the aspects that make you strong while pushing you in the directions you’re clearly passionate for. Alongside focusing on your interests, a good mentor will also help you recognize the aspects of your performance that are wrong so that you can begin to adjust and improve your performance.  Thinking with Context At the end of the day, when you’re planning your performance it all comes down to context. Where are you performing? A stage performance in a theatre and sitting down at a coffee shop are two very different settings. What tone do you want? Who is the audience? What are the forces that are going to affect your trick overall? If you fail to acknowledge that different contexts call for different requirements in your performance, you’re setting yourself up for failure.  Stories & Magic When it comes to telling stories with your magic, you have to step back and ask yourself: Do I like telling stories? If the answer is no, that’s fine; we’re not all born storytellers and you can’t force yourself to take on a role you don’t want to play. By forcing themselves to include stories with their tricks, magicians often cover their magic or overload the audience with information, lessening the impact of the effect. At the end of the day, Tyler points out, we’re human beings and we need to let our passions guide us for, when we express the passion we have for our interests through our performance, that’s what the audience will find entertaining.  Practical Sleight of Hand If you want to do strong sleight of hand magic you need to leave your ego at the door. Tyler explains that sleight of hand magic isn’t good if your sleights are seen; you don’t get points for trying hard material. He drives home the point that you should be looking for moves that are versatile, not angle sensitive, and are at your level. Some moves may be flashy and cool for Instagram, but if you’re terrified by the thought of someone viewing the sleight from the side, then it’s probably not the correct sleight to use. His primary advice, however is: Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice.  You can’t always spend your time always reading books and watching videos. While these are fine to learn from, you won’t get anywhere with your magic if your time is spent only viewing theory; you have to apply the theory to your practice and then actually perform what you’ve been working on to improve.  Wrap Up Endless Chain  Al Schneider  Nick Diffatte  What do you Like About Modern Magic? What Don’t You Like? Tyler likes that people are working harder than ever to make things better than they were in magic. However, these interesting ideas got leveraged into terrible effects because, somewhere along the way, we’ve seemingly lost clarity regarding what is classified as a miracle.  Take Home Point Tyler wants the audience to remember that it is the mindset with which you teach yourself and others. The framing of things in the negative is typically disempowering. If you don’t like something, ask why and press on these things to discover the reason you’re not a fan of them.  Plugs Tyler’s Website Tyler’s Spot in Reel Magic Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page The post Stronger Magic with Tyler Erickson appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Discourse is back from our break and, to kick things off, Kostya Kimlat joins Jonah to discuss balancing your business and art, considering various audiences, and the importance of building a community.  Alongside being a skilled sleight-of-hand magician, Kostya is also a business consultant and motivational speaker based in Orlando, Florida. To Kostya, he views his journey through magic as a series of episodes that have led him to his current point in life; the first episode was in Ukraine, where his father taught him two simple card tricks that sparked his interest. When his family moved to America, Kostya discovered the World’s Greatest Magic, which he would record and dissect. Between friends and mentors, Kostya continued to grow in his magic throughout his childhood until eventually his father invested in the Tarbell Course. His contributions to the field of magic started when he was young. Between newsletters and publishing in magazines, Kostya established a reputation for himself among magicians. He valued, and still does, sharing and teaching magic to help other succeed alongside him. Motivation  Losing motivation when starting out your business is all too simple due to the lack of a reward system. In magic and entertainment, you are rewarded for your practice through your audiences. In business, you may only see failure after failure which is difficult to get your head around if you don’t reshape your view of success.  To keep motivated, Kostya recommends starting your business with a friend. If you’re planning to go to restaurants to offer your walkaround services, pitch with a friend who shares your desire; you can keep each other accountable and give the person a nudge when they need it to continue.  Keeping Secrets Any answer is only a few key strokes away if you’re determined enough to discover the secret. While this access is great for the development of humanity, it is a hindrance for magicians as there is such a wealth of knowledge out there that they don’t know how to find the good material. Kostya points to YouTube as an example of the blind leading the blind; there are people online who have measured there success in view counts, so they’re sharing less than useful information.  Kostya has nothing against sharing material, pointing to his work on the cull as an example. His distinction, however, is that he studied the cull for years and has spent time teaching it in person to magicians. He goes on to refer to his YouTube video that breaks down his spots on Fool Us. He knew that kids and amateurs would be posting videos that exposed the technique, so he decided to change the conversation and post his own exposed video so that those who stumbled across it could truly appreciate the effort he put into his spot.  Creating a Business  For the last eighteen years, Kostya has been on his journey through magic, building the necessary skills and knowledge to start truly serving his audience’s needs and focusing on the tricks. His journey into business began with his work with tradeshows, where he had the opportunity to see how the world is much bigger than what he knew. His business views shifted when he began to learn about franchises. As he went from city to city, he recognized that there were the same magician types—with a few magicians in every city who had the same goals as him. Kostya realized that the model he built for his own success could be shared with other magicians to help them succeed. Starting out though, he knew he couldn’t treat his art like his business.  The EMyth Revisited inspired Kostya when he was starting his business. Mapping out the various departments he would need for his business to efficiently run, Kostya took on each of these roles until, over the course of three years, he could hire people to fill positions. Everyday, he would put on a different hat, shifting his perspective of what he was getting done; he recognized that he sometimes needed to focus on his magic to improve his services while other times his focus needed to be in marketing. By understanding that he could focus on different aspects of his business, he shifted his definition of a successful day.  Developing Magic There is a difference between practice and rehearsal. Practice is a personal thing where you work on the moves. Rehearsal involves actively working through your content and recognizing the aspects that need to be improved. Kostya rehearses alongside a team of people, all of them sharing the approach often seen in Spain; they are actively helping each other improve rather than smiling and keeping their criticism to themselves.  Much like his approach to business, Kostya likes to compartmentalize his rehearsal by breaking it down into sections. One of his rehearsal techniques is what he refers to as the Penn & Teller brain. One rehearsal he doesn’t talk but moves through the actions while the next rehearsal is the talking without the actions. By taking this approach, Kostya has been able to focus on the two aspects of his performance before bringing them together. When he began taking this approach, he watched his performance abilu multiply.  Wrap Up Endless Chain Ken Weber  Doug McKenzie Meraux Dantes Modern Magic  Kostya’s loves the fact that live shows and the popularity of magic has continued to grow and seems to be continuing on that trajectory.  He isn’t a fan, however, of people on YouTube who create a false sense of what success is for the viewers; the incoming magicians seem to have a sense that success is in view counts rather than overall skill. Take Home Point Create the reality you want. You have the means and the resources. If you can make the world a better place while doing it, even better.  Plugs Kostya’s Website Kostya’s Instagram Kostya’s Twitter Kostya’s YouTube  Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page The post Balancing Business and Art with Kostya Kimlat appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

One last bite-sized episode before we return to the interviews! This week, Jonah talks about the magic of scripting and why you should seriously consider it before going on stage. There’s a magic to memorizing your script. Not only are you able to focus on the moment, but you can listen to the audience and take in their feedback. Maybe someone says a line you know you can call back to later on. Or, someone derails your trick, you can immediately jump back into your presentation.  There’s also a confidence you gain when you know your script. No longer are you standing off to the side, thinking about what you’re going to say. Your focus can be on your breathing and taking in the performance atmosphere. Furthermore, having predetermined lines allows you to play with your delivery. Being able to play with your tone and volume allows you to better control the flow of your show.  Memorizing a script allows you to explore and be confident when you go on stage. You don’t have to fumble for what to say next or panic when something goes wrong. Scripting acts as an anchor for you and gives your show a reliable longevity as you continue to grow on stage.  The post Magician Appetizer #10: The Magic of Memorizing appeared first on Discourse in Magic.