Price$34.95
Media TypeDVD
CategoryStage, Business, Philosophy
Date AddedAug 06, 2006
Highlights of Paul Daniels' Masterclass 2003
Daniels, Paul
(Based on 1 review)
Enjoy learning from this master magician. Whatever your current experience in magic, you will find some great advice as well as many delightful stories and anecdotes that you can apply to your own business.
Runtime is about 2 hours.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Cobbled together from a handful of live "Master Classes" given by Paul Daniels, this DVD is, ironically, a prime example of the very topic it addresses -- how to make more money out of the work you're already doing.
Recently, in Canada, McDonalds has begun introducing what they call McCafes at select restaurants -- small, self-contained coffee stands that are essentially an attempt to generate more income out of existing space. This is the same type of thinking that Mr. Daniels has applied to magic shows -- i.e. If you have to be there for the evening anyway, how can you increase your gross?
With that in mind, he discusses ways you can improve your show, and covers a bevy of classic marketing and sales techniques, some of which you will already know, some you wouldn't have thought of in a million years.
Much of the advice is sound (e.g. How do you make more money out of every show you do? Number one, ask for more money.). Some of the advice is questionable (e.g. On your business card, print "Stared at the Grand Theatre," using the name of a prestigious theatre in your city, misspelling "starred" as "stared," because most people will read it as the former, and the rest will laugh at the joke).
Some of the advice is absolutely deplorable. For example, Mr. Daniels suggests selling a basic magic book after the show if people want to learn a few tricks themselves. Fine. But then he goes on to say, if you "can't find any" (?), cut out pages from old magic books, paste them together, go to a printer, then say, "I can't really afford to do this, but if you'll print them for me, I'll give you a free show." This is wrong for more reasons than your computer can upload.
He also advises you to sell clients on tailor-made illusions. Excellent. Let's say they decide, in addition to your regular show, that they want their CEO to be produced magically. Wonderful! But then he suggests, in order to charge more money, you tell them that "this box has to be specially built," even when it's sitting in your garage. Is this really good business?
Along the same lines, he later relates a tale of how he made a company pay freight for handouts to their clients, then drove the materials up to the site himself and pocketed the difference. Ugh!
It's this sort of approach to marketing that leaves everyone feeling dirty. I don't even like hearing about it - I can only imagine how the clients would feel if they found out they were the victims of it. Furthermore, Mr. Daniels justifies these actions by saying, "You tell lies all the way through your act -- 'Here I have an empty tube...'" I think he knows there's a HUGE difference!
I concede that the problem here may be my own inability to put aside the artistic side of my brain and nourish the business side (I have a friend who owns a large company in Canada, and when this sort of discussion comes up, he just smiles at me like I'm seven and says, "David, it's business."). It just strikes me that if you spend your life weaving an intricate web of lies, it's all going to come crashing down on you at some point.
Back to the DVD. Is it entertaining? Not particularly. Is it informative? Yes, if only (in my case) to define what you aren't prepared to do. Based on that, I'm giving it two-and-a-half stars.
David Acer
Recently, in Canada, McDonalds has begun introducing what they call McCafes at select restaurants -- small, self-contained coffee stands that are essentially an attempt to generate more income out of existing space. This is the same type of thinking that Mr. Daniels has applied to magic shows -- i.e. If you have to be there for the evening anyway, how can you increase your gross?
With that in mind, he discusses ways you can improve your show, and covers a bevy of classic marketing and sales techniques, some of which you will already know, some you wouldn't have thought of in a million years.
Much of the advice is sound (e.g. How do you make more money out of every show you do? Number one, ask for more money.). Some of the advice is questionable (e.g. On your business card, print "Stared at the Grand Theatre," using the name of a prestigious theatre in your city, misspelling "starred" as "stared," because most people will read it as the former, and the rest will laugh at the joke).
Some of the advice is absolutely deplorable. For example, Mr. Daniels suggests selling a basic magic book after the show if people want to learn a few tricks themselves. Fine. But then he goes on to say, if you "can't find any" (?), cut out pages from old magic books, paste them together, go to a printer, then say, "I can't really afford to do this, but if you'll print them for me, I'll give you a free show." This is wrong for more reasons than your computer can upload.
He also advises you to sell clients on tailor-made illusions. Excellent. Let's say they decide, in addition to your regular show, that they want their CEO to be produced magically. Wonderful! But then he suggests, in order to charge more money, you tell them that "this box has to be specially built," even when it's sitting in your garage. Is this really good business?
Along the same lines, he later relates a tale of how he made a company pay freight for handouts to their clients, then drove the materials up to the site himself and pocketed the difference. Ugh!
It's this sort of approach to marketing that leaves everyone feeling dirty. I don't even like hearing about it - I can only imagine how the clients would feel if they found out they were the victims of it. Furthermore, Mr. Daniels justifies these actions by saying, "You tell lies all the way through your act -- 'Here I have an empty tube...'" I think he knows there's a HUGE difference!
I concede that the problem here may be my own inability to put aside the artistic side of my brain and nourish the business side (I have a friend who owns a large company in Canada, and when this sort of discussion comes up, he just smiles at me like I'm seven and says, "David, it's business."). It just strikes me that if you spend your life weaving an intricate web of lies, it's all going to come crashing down on you at some point.
Back to the DVD. Is it entertaining? Not particularly. Is it informative? Yes, if only (in my case) to define what you aren't prepared to do. Based on that, I'm giving it two-and-a-half stars.
David Acer