Presto's Blog

I remember hearing that a good routine of magic should be scripted. How do I go about writing a script?

Presto is a firm believer in leveraging the work of others, right up to (but not crossing) the line of violating their intellectual property rights. When Presto wishes to script a routine, Presto generally thinks of a movie that has a theme similar to the routine he wants to put together, sends away for a copy of the movie script, and uses it as a template for his act.

For example, let’s say that Presto is putting together a linking rings routine. Lord of the Rings might be an obvious choice for script inspiration, but Presto thinks it would be better to go with something less obvious like Rocky. After rewriting the srcipt to suit Presto’s purpose, Presto could start out with dull but functional rings, do some simple linking and unlinking, and then, after a spectacular polishing of the rings set to energetic montage music, do some exceptionally spectacular stuff with the shining rings gleaming in the stage lights until, exhausted, Presto just can’t go on any longer.

This was a speculative example, but Presto has put this theory into practice many times. Presto has a thrilling illusion show based on Jurassic Park (including a tooth-lined cabinet into which assistants violently disappear and are never seen again), a dove production routine that is an amalgam of John Woo films, and an exceptionally difficult bullet-catch routine inspired by Scarface.