When I was a kid, I FaceTimed a magic consultant in Vegas to ask for advice…

They were telling the truth. But while there are only a select number of full-time magic consultants, there are ALOT of part-timers. I’m sure you’ve seen the word “consultant” or “creator” in a thousand Instagram bios.

To be lucky enough to be booked, and booked again, you need to do two simple things; work hard & make friends. It helps to care, and talent is a plus but not at all required. With only a few consultants getting the work, you can’t afford to cause upset. In today’s post, let’s take a look at the world’s worst magic consultants and what we can learn from their mistakes.

Keeping things simple.

Here are pitch-perfect descriptions of the very worst magic consultants. I have at times been guilty of all of these except the first. But like Melania, I keep looking for ways to Be Best.

Bad Consultants Want to Be The Magician

I’ve seen consultants invent a great trick, then flip to their notebook's back page and write the trick down for themselves to keep. As a general rule of thumb, to be a great consultant, you need to rally behind the performer. For the entire time you are there, you need to drop any performers ego, and give your all to lifting the magician. This comes a lot easier for us non-performing consultants, but many brilliant performing consultants can do this too.

What we can learn from this…

Drop that ego when you’re inventing/writing/producing magic, even when you’re doing it for yourself. It is easy to think critically and creatively about others and clearly see what they’re doing right and wrong. Learn to drop your performer’s ego, and you’ll be able to think critically about yourself, as well as others.

Bad Consultants Point Out Problems

These consultants are ready to tell you every reason why an idea that came out of someone’s brain mere seconds ago will not work. These consultants slowly kill the creativity in the room and prevent new ideas and solutions being found. It’s hard to explain just how badly pointing out the holes in people’s “ideas” can be. They’re only ideas…

What we can learn from this…

The writer’s room is a place where every idea might be a good idea. I compare it to Improv, in which “Yes, and…” is encouraged over the words “No, but…” Keep things simple, add to each other’s ideas and encourage one and other. Remember, only one idea in a hundred is good, and only one in a thousand is great. You need to work through those 99 bad ideas to get to the good one, and that’ll happen faster if you keep that positive rhythm going.

Bad Consultants Can’t Make-Believe.

This always strikes me as odd, given our profession. A trick doesn’t invent itself in an hour. It can take days, weeks or years to be perfected. Some consultants lack the ability to simply “make-believe” until the trick is finished—this a hold-up. A simple way of explaining this is that sometimes you have the idea or routine for a trick before you have the method or vice versa. Maybe you want to rehearse and walk through the trick and refine the presentation, knowing full well that you have no idea what the method will be yet. You might want to prove it’s worth looking for a method by make-believing you have one and rehearsing the thing. The idea that you need a method to rehearse a trick, or props, or a script, or a spectator is utter nonsense.

What we can learn from this…

Use your imagination. Humour each other. Go with the flow and just “make-believe” until all the pieces of a trick fall into place. Sure, that joke is totally wrong, but you know there’s gonna be a joke at that point so keep that bad one there for the time being. MAKE-BELIEVE.

They Think They’re The Expert

I am very much guilty of this. I was only nineteen and suddenly felt a little like the smartest person in a lot of rooms. Magic consulting is often an odd scenario. When I was 21, I worked with a well-respected TV studio lighting designer of 40 years experience—it was the first time he’d ever lit a car appearance, and my third. You’re working with award-winning directors, but they have absolutely no idea which angles will expose the trick’s method. You’re working with incredible editors, who don’t realize they need to cut to a different shot to hide a flash caught on camera. Perhaps it’s a casting director, who has no idea what kind of person can be hypnotized.

What we can learn from this…

The thing to remember, is you’re definitely not the smartest person in the room, ever. You have a lot of knowledge on one particular subject. Be eager to work with others and to learn. Collaborate, always. Most people love magic, share their excitement and their wonder. Unless necessary, please do not run the show, let people find their way and offer guidance. Here’s my challenge to you, find a non-magician in your life who is an expert in a random topic, like engineering or puppetry, or make-up, and ask them to create a new magic trick with you.

Do you have a good story from creating a trick with a non-magician?

They Only Care About The Magic

A surprising number of magicians do not like that I care more about the show than the trick. I work on magic shows because I love magic shows; it’s not because I love magic. This issue is not exclusive to magic. At times, I have worked with directors of photography who only care about their showreel. They’re only in it so they can get the perfect dolly shot that’s well lit for their showreel, even at the detriment of the magic. Sometimes editors detest that you don’t want to cut during a trick because they want a sexy edit, even though adding a cut might make trick less fooling. And sometimes, consultants care more about the trick than the show. This is not a good stance to take. Sometimes telling a great story, building the magician’s character, or even just getting a trick past the channels compliance officer is more important than the silly little magic trick.

What we can learn from this…

David Blaine’s first TV special was a bunch of shop-bought tricks, and magicians still foolishly believe all that matters is the magic. And sure, it was great magic. But we didn’t fall in love with Blaine because of the magic; we fell in love with Blaine because he’s Blaine.

Make a great show, and tell a great story. A lot of magicians believe their profession is similar to being able to play chords on an instrument. Anyone can learn to play the guitar, just like anyone can learn to do a card trick. It’s the true artists who use that skill to craft a story and connect with people.

All of the most successful magicians in the world are interesting without magic, and they’re captivating storytellers. You can watch them on an interview show without them needing to perform a magic trick, and you are absolutely captivated. Invest your time in learning skills outside of magic. Believe in yourself, tell great stories.