Track One: Casting Directors

Casting Directors are the most obvious route to securing more auditions. They’re definitely not the only route, but it is a good place to start.

Here’s a simple strategy outlining how you can become known by casting directors by utilizing workshops. I’m going to use the umbrella term of “workshop” to define classes, intensives, and seminars.

Step One: Create your target list. There are literally hundreds of casting directors in the business, so it’s pretty impossible to effectively apply the Rule of Seven to all of them. Not to worry – you don’t have to. Just select a small (less than 12) list of casting directors and target them specifically and consistently.

Step Two: Register for 3-4 different CD workshop studios if you can. Now, remember, not all studios are created equal. I recommend that you join a service that truly auditions their talent before accepting an actor. This insures that the caliber of talent is consistent and sets you up to really shine.

Step Three: Only workshop with those casting offices on your target list. This will allow you to maintain your sanity and your budget by attending a limited number of workshops with a purpose rather than taking a shot in the dark and workshopping with various CDs through a process of random selection.

Step Four: Apply the Rule of Seven. Try to see each target casting director seven times over the course of about 18 months.

Step Five: Follow up. Send a thank you card after each workshop specifically speaking to one thing you appreciated or learned in the class. Be real. Be authentic. Talk about one gem you took away from the workshop experience.

Step Six: Stay in the loop. Send a postcard update to your target list at least every other month. Keep in touch so you can truly develop a relationship with the casting directors on your target list.

You can implement this program regardless of your budget. All you need to do is adjust the size of your list. If you can only afford one workshop at the moment, then perhaps your target list consists of three or four offices. Remember, that this plan only works if you stick with it this for the long haul. Do not get discouraged after you meet with your list’s members 3-4 times without landing an audition. The magic number is seven.

Track Two: Producers

Unlike casting directors, producers are not inundated with calls, headshots, postcards, and requests from actors. Yet, they’re the people who are ultimately in charge of hiring you. A producer’s job is to take meetings and make phone calls. So, I find they are so much more receptive to an actor’s marketing than a casting director.

I’ve met many casting directors who feel frustrated by the fact that at the end of a long casting process, the actor who gets the job is someone who has a relationship with the producer.

Now, this may sound very unfair but I think it’s really great news because all you have to do is build producer relationships and get on their short list. You can do that by applying a lot of the same strategies we just talked about with casting directors. Let me walk you through it.

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For those of you who have been searching for a full, personally taught school of magic, your search might be over. This review is about the Street Magic Mastery Course which has now been fully revised and updated and is live for subscriptions.

I’ve been through all the materials on this course and I feel able to strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to follow a structured program of tuition in close-up/street magic.

The course is taught through several modules that include very high quality video instruction and text, combined with live telephone conferences and online support – you also get special access to a members area which is packed with bonuses worth the course fee in themselves.

It does come at a price but there is an option to pay by installments and when you appreciate just how much content there is here, and the quality of the tuition, you’ll see that you could spend this much on a handful of books and learn a lot less.

The course is broken down into a series of modules that cover essential areas of Street Magic in detail, with plenty of examples and specific tricks and routines to learn. The modules progress in a logical order, each one building on the last.

One of the cool things I really liked about this course is that it really is a course in how to perform to an audience, handle situations, use humor and misdirection and everything else – not just a series of tricks. There’s also detail about how to build those tricks into usable routines to make a show.

And the other great value is that you are being taught all this by a real magician who genuinely makes his living out of performing magic in live situations. I’ve seen him at work and he really is good. This course reflects that.

The serious intent of this course and it’s quality is also shown in the fact that you also get good, solid advice on how to start working as a magician, building your professional reputation and making some money from your craft.

By the time you finish the course, you’ll have the knowledge and the repertoire to start working. And all the way, the material is taught in such a way that it boosts your confidence and encourages you to success.

I know that in a review you’re supposed to give a balanced view and so mention some negative things about it but that is very hard with this. It’s just a great package, slick, useful, in-depth and with a great support package. It’s hard to criticize!

Perhaps the one thing is that they have the tag line ‘learn street magic mastery in 30 days’ which is perhaps slightly misleading. You could do that, but realistically if you’re going to practice and study everything in this package to a reasonable level, it’s going to take you several months. If you do a thorough job I’d say there was six months of learning material here.

The only other downsides (and I’m trying hard to find something) maybe that the consistently up-beat ‘hey kids’ style may not be to everyone’s taste and the ‘sales page’ seems a bit hyped and ‘scammy’ (I just think that’s the way that marketers do things these days) but it isn’t a scam at all, it’s excellent. It’s the content that matters. And the content is first class. Anyone who has it in them to be a good magician could take this and run with it to full-scale professionalism.

If you’re at all interested in Street Magic, or any form of close-up, I really think you should check it out as it’s totally secure and really worth it IF you want to learn to perform on the street, working restaurant tables and other close-up situations. If you want stage magic stuff or Vegas style glitz, this is not for you. This is the in-your-face, slick, street-credible cool of the modern urban wizard.

And don’t forget that you can sign up, get the first materials to validate what I’m saying here and then cancel your subscription automatically for a full, no fuss refund. This is totally for real. I contacted them and asked them why they allow this and they answered simply that the course is so good that most people who sign up, even if initially they do it just to test it, end up sticking with the course because they see how valuable it is. So they don’t mind giving some of it away to be transparent and demonstrate their honesty.

That makes sense to me. I’m so confident about this, that I’m happy to put my professional reputation on the line and add my personal guarantee to theirs. This is the very best there is IF you want to learn street magic / close-up style to a professional standard. If you want to learn stage magic, this is definitely not for you.

If you’re not sure, then you can try it out at no risk, so I don’t see there’s anything to lose. On balance, I think it’s the best there is and well worth every cent.