I showed them to anybody who would watch! As far as getting 'big names' to endorse my stuff... I guess I was lucky. I would contact my favorite magicians that I learned from, and ask for their feedback. The fact that they let me use their quotes is truly encouraging. I love to give stuff away for free! Not for the advertising, but for the sheer enjoyment of sharing. I can't explain how it makes me feel when I head to a city I have never been to, and some kid comes up to me and performs one of my tricks! It is a strange blend of pride/humility.
I wanted to get
www.seanfieldsmagic.com going so that I could provide my people with my material, IMMEDIATELY. You wanna learn Tome; why should you have to wait 3-5 days for the DVD to arrive? Why not learn it right then, right there? The sooner you start learning, the sooner you can perform.
For the most part, my production is done completely in house. I direct, produce, edit, 3rd gaff, the whole nine yards by my lonesome. My girl does my art though. As far as duplication, I have several different companies that I use.
I did read Peter Duffie's review of B&B in Genii. Here it is folks, the first official response!
...
Ready?
If I can be completely honest, when I read his review, I was crushed. I was almost brought to tears. Seeing someone loath my material so wholely, dude, it f***ng hurts.
But, after sulking around the house for a couple months, not believing in any of my new material (Tome, Benz, etc.), I came to a realization. That realization came in the form of 2 words.
F*** 'em.
He is entitled to his opinion, and in some cases, he was right. I was not aware of the chapter links being goofy. They made sense when I laid out the menu, so I assume my PC is acting a fool.
But as far as him saying how derivative the material was, and the inference that I should be more well read.
Magic is a HUGE art. There are INNUMERABLE books, lecture notes, video tapes, DVD's, etc, by INNUMERABLE artists. Especially in the realm of card magic. I consider myself to be for the most part, extremely well read in the art of magic. I fully admit to not reading every book, or watching every video, but I try. I study material that interests me, and I study the sh!t out of it. I try to get my hands on as much material as I possibly can. But lets face it. B&B is a collection of card tricks. A collection of card tricks displayed and taught in a artsy fartsty avant garde fashion to make it more enjoyable to watch, but still card tricks. F****NG CARD TRICKS! We are not talking about some revolutionary effect or method that will revolutionize magic.
They are all my brainchildren, developed independently, after researching as much as I could, and having shown these effects to countless other magicians from around the world, I felt they were unique/original/altered enough to warrant publication. If I stepped on some toes, I apologize, but no one can be expected to know everything about cards, and it is absurd to think that one could. I have met and jammed with the BEST card magicians in the world, and even though they have devoted their entire lives to the mastery of the pasteboards, they would agree with the previous statement.
The fact is, his review was effective. He panned the product, which he is entitled to. He did so with reasonable diplomacy, which is refreshing to see in a magic review. The sales of B&B reflect his attitude towards the product. I am not saying he caused the low sales numbers, rather I am saying, maybe he is right. I still think for those that 'get it', B&B is a fantastic series. But for people of a similar mindset to Mr. Duffie, this is probably not a sound choice.
Ultimately, I will continue to develop, and produce new illusions. His review does not affect me, my magic, my business, or my life. I have no problems with him, or his review. So as I said earlier:
F*** 'em.
Sean
