The Problem Facing Chinese Magicians
Ways to avoid being accused of using a stooge
In 2016, a magician friend asked to meet for a meal while he was visiting London. I picked a half-decent restaurant and didn’t think much of it.
When I rocked up, I was met by my friend and also six important business people from a large Chinese TV network. I was not expecting important business people, and it was as I shook each of their important business people hands, that I began to regret my choice of restaurant.
And so the eight of us perched on our bar seating, and they pitched me their big television show on their extra-large iPad, while I tried ever so carefully to eat my burger without making a mess. I was 21, and I wondered what on earth they thought of me and my baby face and my terrible dining decisions.
The show was ridiculously ambitious—too ambitious. It was a worldwide talent competition of sorts, but for magicians. I had just finished my role as lead consultant on The Next Great Magician for ITV, which was a Sunday evening primetime TV show but somehow still way smaller than their pitch but similar in terms of production challenges.
This Chinese show, dubbed “The Olympics of Magic,” sounded gigantic and totally impossible—it wouldn’t even fit on an iPad mini.
I offered polite advice, jotted a few notes down on a napkin, gently pointed them in the direction of my agent, and departed the restaurant fully convinced that the show was far too ambitious to ever actually be made.
A year later, I’m in Melbourne, Australia, and my agent calls to tell me the Chinese magic show is, in fact, happening. If I could get a work visa in the next 48 hours, I’d be ending my Australia trip early and flying first class to Nanjing on Monday. I got the visa, and I flew to China; and am forever thankful and lucky to do the things I do.
I learned a lot about writing on the ambitious Chinese television show. I met incredible people and worked with a great magic team who led the way and carried the magic over the finish line long after I left. My role was solely writing, as it often is. It was an immense experience, in and outside of the offices. Today, I’m going to discuss the biggest problem we faced as a team…
“Must be Stooge”
We protested, “no, no no no, there’s no stooge. We assure you, there’s no stooge. We’ll perform the trick right now, in this room.” But protesting didn’t help. It felt like the entire room rolled their eyes, and then all those eyes moved down the line towards a translator, perched at the very front of the room, who turned to us and reiterated…
