Catch Phrases for Scripts

Script­ing is very import­ant for magic. It is an art for itself and depends largely on good ideas and nov­el slants story wise.

When writ­ing a script for a magic trick, it is some­times not so easy to find an effect­ive intro line. Some­times a ques­tions can be used, some­times a state­ment, some­times a little joke. What to use depends on the trick in question.

Here is a little hack, which could be use­ful. I dis­covered this many years ago when sit­ting in front of the blank paper at the begin­ning of the script.

Here is a sug­ges­tion. Try to start your writ­ing with the ‘The trick that …’ or ‘The most …’ tech­nique. This could sparkle even­tu­ally an enter­tain­ing present­a­tion. It goes along these lines:

• The trick that nev­er worked.
• The trick that I couldn’t mas­ter to this day.
• The trick that made me fam­ous in (name any small village).
• The trick that nobody was inter­ested in.
• The most bor­ing trick in the world.
• The most dif­fi­cult trick in the world.
• The most expens­ive trick in the world.
• The cheapest trick in the world.
• The trick that needs no words.
• The trick that is the most fun to do.
• The trick that is no fun to do.
• The longest trick in the world.
• The shortest trick in the world.
• The old­est trick in the world.
• The trick that isn’t one.
• The trick no one can buy with money.
• The trick I stole/​borrowed/​learned from …
• The trick that was forgotten.
• The trick that no one is allowed to talk of.
• The trick that ruined XY …
• The trick that was giv­en from one gen­er­a­tion to another.
• The trick that every­body could do if he only wanted to.
• The trick that XY con­sidered her/​his favorite.
• The trick that every­body is doing.
• The trick that nobody could bring to an end.
• The trick that is done backwards.
• The trick that nobody ever has tried.
• The trick that split the world.
• The trick at the end of the rainbow.
• The trick that was stolen/​lost/​rediscovered.
• The trick that got lost.
• The trick XY held back for years.
• The trick that was cursed.
• Find your own …

You will find that many of these lines imme­di­ately get your brain work­ing in the right dir­ec­tion. Com­bine this with some inter­est­ing char­ac­ter in your script. Tell a story. Find a mor­al of the story. Find the under­ly­ing plot (motiv­a­tion, emotion).

Many times insert­ing a prom­in­ent per­son into the line gives you new ideas for amus­ing and inter­est­ing patter.

“I would now like to show a very spe­cial trick. It is the trick that Dav­id Cop­per­field always wanted to know and learn, but I did­n’t let him in on the secret.”

“This is the only trick that Don­ald Trump ever mastered: van­ish­ing money.”

“I am going to show a very dan­ger­ous trick now, and the reas­on for Jay Leno not put­ting me on his talk show.”

“The Trick That Fooled Houd­ini” is an example for an intro­duc­tion to Ver­non’s mini ambi­tious card trick (with which he fooled Houd­ini indeed).

I am sure you got the idea.