C'mon Colonel...

So I thought I'd throw this one up quickly as it's something that I've been thinking about for a few days. Not too long ago a friend dropped me a message saying that a casting director is looking for a magician for a TV advert. So of course I popped them an email, explaining who I was, my previous credentials etc and asking for more information.

I got back a very generic email (where I clearly made it past the first cull) and was asked to send them a selfie video. I won't share the whole email but the first part of it made me cringe. I've copied it below:

Hey,

Please may the YOU

tape for us for FAST FOOD BRAND

Yes it was formatted like that. And had that ridiculous broken English. I'm not sure it was written by a native English speaker (or even someone with a good grasp of English in a job where clearly writing is an important part of it!) For any casting directors out there, a basic grasp of English is a must when putting out adverts because let's face it. It doesn't look that great when you sound like Starfire from Teen Titans when you are trying to recruit a professional.

I was about to bin the email when I saw there was an attachment, and intrigued as to what they would want me to film I opened it up. I won't copy the exact brief they sent, but it was better written (and probably not written by this casting company) but they wanted you to do a self tape of an advert that they want to create where a certain colonel opens a briefcase which contains various bits including a deck of cards where they do some fancy shuffles. Seems straightforward enough but besides only giving people 2 days to film this and return it - it throws a few other questions up in the air. (I should add for legal reasons these are only my speculations - I'm sure they have thought of this, but in the brief they sent out this isn't addressed)

Firsty I'm presuming that this horde of self-tapes they are expecting will not be used for ideas for the final piece, bar those by the chosen performer. i.e. I'd hope that if I was to submit something but not be cast, the flourishes or routine I made as a demo wouldn't be used in the final thing. I know it seems stupid to say this, but knowing what this industry is like, people do tend to steal from other ideas to create their final work, without accreditation or pay. I wouldn't want to put all that hard work into a piece and have it stolen from me by an unscrupulous marketing company.

Secondly, I would hope (and I can't confirm this isn't in place already) that the magician is paid to not only perform but also design a significant part of the advert. It's ridiculous that they could expect a magician just to pop in, do some flashy moves and get paid just to "act". As I said though, I don't know this isn't happening already but it should be clear to any client that the magician should be paid a design/writing fee as well as a performer fee. And the thing I personally, I don't think this will happen for one very good reason. Most magicians, especially those who would probably go for this wouldn't have an agent. They'd have no idea that they should be paid a minimum of £15k just to act in an advert, never mind the design aspect of it too. I'd hope that whoever they find for this advert knows how much they should get paid for this and not take what will probably be a ridiculously lowballed offer that will probably be thrown their way (as I said I'm hypothesizing from past experience here)

And finally, one point I would like to make is that magic is so much more than cardistry. I get that in many peoples eyes magicians are all card sharks who can throw cards around and do wonderful flashy bits with - but that on its own isn't magic. Magic is so much more creative so much more fulfilling than just opening a briefcase and doing some flashy card sleights with it. If they go ahead with this advert as it is, it will probably be another one where people don't really pay attention to it. It'd be a "yeah that's clever" but really forgotten within a few minutes of watching it. The advert isn't memorable, but open it up to a magician with the brief of say... "perform some fun magic with some of our food" you could do so much more. After 5 minutes thought I would come up with something like this (and if I see this performed by anyone else as an advert rest assured my identity wouldn't stay anonymous for long as I chase up relevant royalties haha!)

I'd open it up by having a shot of someone eating their delicious food, scrunching up the wrapper and throwing it casually into their drinks cup. Realising that they want to have more to drink they try to tip it out and the wrapper disappears, putting the cup down they pick it again where it appears under the cup. A variety of cup and ball sleights are then used to make the wrapper ball transfer under the cup, bounce around - you know the usual messing around that you can do with the C&B. And as for a final load - a piece of chicken/chicken wing etc. The big difference though would be that it isn't filmed on a sound stage, but on location, in a real restaurant. Why? Because I think there is something special about magic being performed for real people. It's a lot more memorable then the cliché of just flexing a few cards.

Undercover magic as it were is a brilliant concept for an advert. The whole point of advertising is to be memorable. Just look at the lengths companies go to at Christmas to advertise their wares. Hell, we know it's Christmas because of an advert of a HGV (or a train of them). And magic is a great memorable tool. I love a challenge and spent a while trying to figure out fun alternatives to the brief above. How would I as a magician make a 30 second advert using magic to advertise a famous fast food chain?

Well other than the above, you could work at the till producing items out of empty bags or change something small to large etc. Like the hidden camera trick shows you see. Or my personal favourite, using various ITRs etc to float popcorn chicken from behind the counter into your mouth. How cool would that be to watch it float across the room into their mouth. Seeing the reactions of the public around them would be priceless and I would watch that advert a few times myself.

Companies just need to be creative when it comes to advertising. Doing the clichés aren't memorable, but if you just put a little bit of thought into it you could make some really cool adverts. And if you do read this advertising executives then make sure you get in touch and I'll be happy to plan it with ya!

Hopefully I wont see these ideas on TV before getting my royalties :D