Dahih Biek.....yes, you can audition again. I contacted my producer from the show and we were discussing a second run on it.

Grasso made it the farthest, and he also didn't have to do as many sets since he left the show after Vegas. They did two or three more rounds and brought him back as a wild card. He also borrowed some props. I think he was one of the best acts ever seen on the show, and even he needed some outside help. I think that if a magician is going to win the show it will have to take a collective group of magicians helping out behind the scenes. The hardest thing to overcome would be the 90 second limit.

Thanks anderson best of luck .

I do not even watch the show anymore. I feel like what it should be is, what act would I pay to go see if I went to Vegas. I can't believe some of the stuff that people go crazy over.
I wouldn't go see some of these acts if they were doing their act next door to me and it was free.

Dahih Biek: Your welcome and thank you my friend.

When I auditioned through the producers I made it through, but they called me later and asked if I could do something different for the "judges" because they have seen similiar illusions and it won't impress them. Any trick that has already been done on the show won't make it through. That's the other problem with the judges on the show. The only reason they let me do the Modern Art in Vegas was because of the added effect of doing pull ups with the top half of my body.....though they edited most of that performance out and the T.V. audience didn't get to see the pull ups. My producer told me that if I didn't have that extra effect then they wouldn't let me perform that on the show. As far as music rights....we used "These Boots Were Made For Walking" to go with the Drill Sergeant theme.....they didn't even use the song they paid rights for. I think the kid doing the straight jacket escape will be hard pressed to get through since Criss Angel did it suspended "AND BROKE THE WORLD RECORD!!!" ;-)

Anyone who thinks it is a straight talent show will be sorely disappointed if the make it on. They want 1. Great T.V. 2. Drama 3. 90 seconds worth of talent. I have no doubt that my back story helped put me through to Vegas just as much as my performance. As far as your performance choice of the Compressed.....the producers could care less if you have the best peformance of the trick....they will pick the guy who has the trick and the back story. They still haven't put a Compressed performance on the show so I wouldn't count it out. I would be suprised if there was an illusion that the producers haven't seen yet.....they are not looking for the best act.....they are looking for the act with the best selling potential.

That show cost me thousands of dollars to make it on.....however I have made that back exponentially since then. I had a great time, I received some great promo from it, made a ton of money off of it.....yes it was definitely worth it. If you can play by their rules, you can definitely make it work for you. I think the biggest problem is the amount of magicians who think they have what the show wants and end up falling way short. Each year the show is on, the more difficult it will be for magicians to make it. If you do something that was done before you run the risk of being made out to look like a fool....like the kid who did the 1970's sword basket routine last season. I am sure it didn't look as bad as they made it out to look, but it was done a few seasons earlier by a magician named Eli Kerr and he gave a great performance of it. I knew it was a crap shoot performing the M.A. on the show since Kevin James did his sawing in half routine two season's earlier, and it did turn out to be a mistake because that was my last performance on the show. Honestly, how could someone do a M.A. or a Thin Model Sawing after K.J.'s routine? It's like someone doing a subtrunk after the Pendragon's and C.A. already performed it.

This show is like most reality shows to me, ridiculous. It's not about some magician doing a fantastic job,somebody I'd want to see in Vegas.
No, I guess in 5 years time they'll have a 4 year old doing an escape routine in the finals.

Bottom line is DON'T go on AGT. At all...


It's a horror show for working acts.


The bright side is, you are 14... they won't make you look that bad....

I wouldn't bet on it...

Tell that to Michael Grasso and Fighting Gravity. Just sayin'

They had to go on tour with the show and get paid 1500 per week.....imagine splitting that up with fighting gravity. 1500 between 13 people, barely over 100 per week. At least Grasso only had two assistants to pay for....lol.

While that money may not be amazing for Fighting Gravity, do you think the publicity of the tour will boost their ability to sell themselves? Didn't Kevin James (and I may have him confused with someone else) say that his appearance on AGT allowed him to add another "0" to what he charges?

Anderson, are you absolutely sure about the $1500/wk for Fighting Gravity? Do you consider it a "horror show for working acts"?

FG appeared on Dick Clark's New Year Rockin' Eve recently Can't say for sure but my guess would be that they are grateful to AGT and happy to have been a part of it.
Although granted, they are the exception and not the rule.
Bill

I am 100% sure about the 1500 per week. Anyone who knows Murray Sawchuck can ask him, we both were given the same contract. Murray even told me that he didn't want to really win. In the contract I was given it stated that if I was to work on TV after the show then AGT would be the ones who negotiated the deal and that I would be paid by AGT. That being said....no I do not think of it as a horror show. I have done more illusion shows since my time on AGT then all illusion shows previous to it! It has brought me great success in my show, and to the lay audience or potential client it gives you a lot of "street cred." If I already had a successful touring show, and/or was making a ton of money then I wouldn't do the show. I guess if the show is responsible for your success than they are entitled to be compensated for a few years. I really enjoyed my time on the show, and have been contacted by them about another shot. I know I won't make it, but you can't beat the exposure. So, is it a horror show?....only if you let it. Terry Fator sure didn't think so, and had nothing but good things to say about them when I met him in Vegas. Although I heard that he had to sue them to get out of his contract. All in all it was a great opportunity for me and I have benefited exponentially from it, while other magicians who are much more successful than I am have left the show quite bitter about their experience on it.

Good thread, Season 7 almost here.