Take Charge
We’ve all had the occasional unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances come up from time to time when booking a show. Many performers panic or blame a bad show on the circumstances instead of taking control of the situation and making it work.
- There is no microphone.
- The client’s not quite ready for you, would you mind waiting… an hour.
- The group of “maybe 100” turns out to be 400.
- The stage that was promised is not there, or is a 4 foot by 4 foot square, or is made from wood slats laid across the back of a pick up truck, or is 12 feet above the audience, or 20 yards away from the audience, or is filled with band equipment, etc… etc…
- The audience has been enjoying themselves at the open bar since 5:00, so now your 9:00 show has a loud drunken audience.
- The “adults only” crowd has at least a dozen kids. Or worse, is all kids.
- Your birthday party show for ten 7 year olds has closer to 25, and all the adults are in another room while you do your show un-supervised.
- Your show for 375 people is in a very long and narrow hallway of a room.
- Your indoor show had been unexpectedly moved to outdoors.
- You unexpectedly are performing in the round.
- The company president’s “quick little announcement” before you go on, is an hour long.
- The person who hired you for the church show gives you a last minute instruction, “No card tricks. The Reverend believes they are evil.”
- “The guy who has your check is… well where did he go?” (Followed by, “Oh wait a minute… This check requires two signatures! Wait here while I find the treasurer.”)
- There is a large group of attendees standing in the back of the room talking loudly.
- This same group includes the president of the company… who has your check.
- You arrive at your show and there is already another magician there who has started his walk-around. “Didn’t we call you and cancel?”
- You’re 1 hour comedy magic show follows 20 minutes of the company president giving a hearth tugging speech telling of the recently/tragic death of a beloved co-worker… who left behind 4 kids… and had no insurance… “And now to make us laugh here’s the magician!”
If you’ve done any amount of performing at all, I’ll bet you were nodding your head in recognition on at least a half dozen of these. In my 20+ years of performing I have had at least half of them come up myself, and I’m sure that the only reason that the other half hadn’t is because I had the foresight of another performer’s experience to help me avoid them.
The more you learn from your own experiences the more you realize that when most of the these unexpected little challenges arise, it’s your fault! Oh, you can blame the moron who was in charge of the event, I know I do, but the truth is that many bad situations can be avoided with a well-written contract. And if you’re one of the many, many performers who say that they never use a contract then here’s my first word of advice: always use a contract!
Contracts won’t scare away anyone, not even a nervous mom at a birthday party. If anything, a contract gives them the peace of mind that you are a professional, and that you will show up on time and conduct yourself professionally. If the word “contract” scares you, replace it with “Performance Agreement.” It sounds friendlier, but be aware that it is equally as binding. An easy to follow “Letter of Agreement” that will suffice for many programs can be found in Francis Marshall’s Success Books.
Your contract should, at the very least, have the following information spelled out:
• Name, address, and phone number of the company or organization that hired you.
• Name address and phone number of the venue.
• Agreed upon date, start time, and duration of your show.
• The fee for your show and when it is to be paid.
• Any travel costs billed to the client.
• Your cancellation policy.
• Stage, sound, and lighting requirements.
• Your name, phone number, and address.
• The type of show they are booking. (One man stand up? Two person illusion? Close Up? Etc…)
For almost all shows I also insist on a 50 % deposit with the return of the signed contract, and payment in full the night of, and prior to the show. You will be amazed how many companies will send the payment in full when you ask for a deposit. When that happens, make sure you keep track. It’s a bit embarrassing to ask for your check when they were nice enough to pay you in full weeks before the show!
For birthday party shows, family picnics, or church shows, I’d take a chance and do not collect payment until after the show. The odds of your getting an extra $20, $50 or $100 as a little bonus will go up if they pay you after they’ve had a great time!
Now I am fully aware that just because you’ve spelled out your needs in detail with a contract that it is no guarantee that everything will be done as agreed upon, and I’ll talk later of what to do when it doesn’t, but without the contract you are begging for something to go wrong.
Along with a contract I, and many other magicians I’ve talked with, include a “Helpful Hints” page. I’ve used one for years and it can help a lot with things that may sound too petty to include in a formal contract. My helpful hints page includes:
• Asking for the wait staff not to clear or serve during the show (if it’s an after dinner show)
• Have management on hand to quite or in worse case remove drunk or disruptive audience members. (When the boss asks you to stop, you stop!) When I did birthday parties I insisted that an adult that represented authority was always present.
• Do not announce the death or serious accident of a co-worker or family member before the show. (Yup! It happened to me… twice! After the second time I put it in the hints page.)
• The show will not start any later than 15 minutes past the agreed time. (Less leeway if I have another show following it.) A variation on this that I have seen is that the show can start later, but will be shorter, and end at an agreed time.
• The client is to check all sound equipment before the show. (I’ll double check it when I get there, but it saves time and helps insure that the microphone is set up and ready to go when I arrive.)
There’s more, but you get the idea. Now, what do you do if in spite of all your efforts something happens that could ruin the show? First of all I strongly recommend that for all your shows you arrive 30 minutes early. That is 30 minutes earlier than you need to set up. The old axiom “If you’re not early, you’re late!” applies even more in show business. Very often you’ll find that many corrections can be made just because you are early. If everything is running smoothly, use the extra time to meet the boss, the vips, or the hotel manager. Do a little shmoozing.
Next, stay calm and take control. They may be the one who signs your check, but this Is your show! And it‘s your reputation on the line. Your confidence in asking for what you need will be seen as professionalism by your client! Trust me, this works far more often than not. Preface your request by telling the client that, “We want your event to go as smooth as possible, and more important, that everyone has a great time.”
Now hit them with your changes! Here are some of the changes that I have been able to get. Notice that I always frame my request as being in the best interest of the audience, which of course it is. The tone of the request is always helpful, not demanding. When I first adapted this attitude, I thought some of my requests were quite ballsy! But by displaying the attitude of a professional who wants what’s best for the client, you’ll be surprised at what you can get:
Problem: No microphone, or the mic’s not working:
Tell the client, Since there’s no mic, and we want everyone to be able to hear the show, let’s move the two tables closest to the stage to the back of the room, and have the participants move their chairs right up to the stage after dinner.
This works very well and is one of my favorite solutions! The tight fitting audience always seem to have more fun, the laughter rolls like a comedy club atmosphere, and no-one chit-chats because everyone can hear them!
Problem: The stage is set at the end of a narrow room:
Tell the client, If we move the entire stage over to just off center the room, more people will be able to see the show.
That’s right! I got them to move the entire stage!
Problem: The audience is much smaller than expected, and spread too thin. This is bad, too few people spread out in a large area makes your show seem small and insignificant. Picture 40 people in a theater that seats 300. Yuck! But herd those people into a smaller section of the theater and it will rock! I‘ve even moved everyone right on to the stage before!
Tell the client, “Since there are so few audience members, why don’t we invite them all to come up close and I’ll come down and perform right up by the tables. I’ll even mix in some fantastic close up magic! “
Problem: The room you are to perform in is horrible in just about every way!
Tell the client, I noticed that the room down the hall would be perfect and would create a better atmosphere for the entire show. If it’s not being used, why don’t we switch rooms.
This happened to me at a college where many events were going on all over campus. My show was going to be at eye level with no stage with over 300 people attending in a narrow room. Because I was there early I took a look around and found a lecture hall that would work better, and we moved the show.
Not so hard is it?! Use a well written contract and hints list, arrive early, and be willing take control and make demands, I mean “suggestions”, and you’ll avoid many pit falls.
One more suggestion, and this may seem to contradict everything I’ve said in this article, but it doesn’t really, and that is to Stay Flexible. Sometimes you just have to deal with what’s handed to you and make the best of it. In such cases I smile at the client and tell them, “We’ll make it work!” And if it doesn’t work, if they didn’t listen and the show went south fast, try to laugh it off… all the way to the bank to cash their check!
Have fun!
Dan Paulus
copyright 2008, 2010 Dan Paulus all rights reserved.
There is no microphone.
The client’s not quite ready for you, would you mind waiting… an hour.
The group of “maybe 100” turns out to be 400.
The stage that was promised is not there, or is a 4 foot by 4 foot square, or is made from wood slats laid across the back of a pick up truck, or is 12 feet above the audience, or 20 yards away from the audience, or is filled with band equipment, etc… etc…
The audience has been enjoying themselves at the open bar since 5:00, so now your 9:00 show has a loud drunken audience.
The “adults only” crowd has at least a dozen kids. Or worse, is all kids.
Your birthday party show for ten 7 year olds has closer to 25, and all the adults are in another room while you do your show un-supervised.
Your show for 375 people is in a very long and narrow hallway of a room.
Your indoor show had been unexpectedly moved to outdoors.
You unexpectedly are performing in the round.
The company president’s “quick little announcement” before you go on, is an hour long.
The person who hired you for the church show gives you a last minute instruction, “No card tricks. The Reverend believes they are evil.”
“The guy who has your check is… well where did he go?” (Followed by, “Oh wait a minute… This check requires two signatures! Wait here while I find the treasurer.”)
There is a large group of attendees standing in the back of the room talking loudly.
This same group includes the president of the company… who has your check.
You arrive at your show and there is already another magician there who has started his walk-around. “Didn’t we call you and cancel?”
You’re 1 hour comedy magic show follows 20 minutes of the company president giving a hearth tugging speech telling of the recently/tragic death of a beloved co-worker… who left behind 4 kids… and had no insurance… “And now to make us laugh here’s the magician!”
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