By Tim Ellis
(Originally published in the lecture notes '24 Years of Living Next Door to Ellis')
Our entourage will require ten (10) dressing rooms decorated in orchids, white muslin, silk and lace.
In each dressing room, at least ten (10) vases containing arrangements of lillies and yellow roses and plates of fresh mango, papaya, and passionfruit.
Coffee must only be stirred anti-clockwise.
Venue staff must not make eye contact with the star.
They are just four of the multitude of "requests" Jennifer Lopez makes before she'll agree to do a concert or a personal appearance. Mariah Carey sent 20 assistants to redecorate the toilets in a music store before a recent album signing... to ensure the toilet paper was in her preferred shade of pink. Even Christina Aguilera, who demands a police escort to venues, requests a large sofa, armchairs, two 1.8m long tables and special carpets to be backstage ready for her.
The documents outlining these "requests" are called "Riders". (ORIGIN OF TERM) Virtually every performer has some kind of request, and usually the more famous they are, the more outlandish their demands. I'd like to take a look at the bottom end of the scale - the magician.
I'm sure there are probably some magicians who insist on a champagne bucket filled with only green M&Ms, but most magicians are more concerned with the technical side of the show. Their "riders" might be as simple as "We need a 3mx3m floor space at one end of the room", or as complex as a 20 page document outlining a specific type of sound system, a particular lighting rig, or a special audience seating configuration. Whatever requests you have, the aim of this article is to make sure you get them... even if you're not Jennifer Lopez or Mariah Carey.
Every magician has horror stories about turning up to the venue and finding their performance space in the darkest corner of the room. If they get a stage, they often have to fight the band for space on it. Even after attending endless meetings with clients and specifying exactly what we needed, we've turned up for the 500 person gig to hear the booker say: "Oh... we didn't think you really needed a sound system..."
After sending our rider to one client I was enlightened when he said to me "Yeah, we got your 'wish list'." It slowly dawned on me that along with "Pass", "Faro", and "Bottom Deal"; "Rider" is not only a foreign term to the average booker, it's a completely misunderstood concept.
We are represented by the top agencies in Australia, and even they complain that they can't stress enough to the bookers the need to take the rider seriously. Sue-Anne and I decided to put our heads together and try to come up with a solution to this problem. We got riders from several of our fellow performers (many didn't have them) and put ourselves in the position of the company secretary who had never organised an event before in his or her entire life. He or she would baulk at the pages and pages of text written in technicalese, having no idea about RCA cables, profiles, D.I. boxes, or even what a MiniDisc is. He or she would have no PCO (Professional Conference Organiser) to pass the rider on to, and probably no audio or lighting technician. The best he or she could do would be to pass it on to the caterer, the venue organiser, (who may or may not act on it) or maybe just file it away because it's too difficult to understand... as most bookers seem to do.
The answer seemed to be a simple matter of educating the booker. Many bookers assume that their role ends as soon as they employ the magician. Often they think the magician will come complete with lights, audio, and a stage! Others, who are used to employing speakers or comedians, assume the same format will work for a magician: a microphone on a lectern at one side of the stage.
How will they understand, for example, that it's not a good idea to have a dancefloor in front of the stage until after they've seen the show... which is, of course, too late. We decided the best solution was to give them a little "preview" of the show.
First, as plainly as we could, we listed our absolute minimum requirements to stage a successful show:
STAGE 60-90cms high if possible. If there is a band, we will perform in front of them but need a totally clear space of 3mx4m to do the Microphone Illusion Show or 4mx5m for the Trunk Show or the Squash Show.
STEPS For audience members to use.
AUDIO SYSTEM You need to provide speakers and an amplifier beside the stage. We will plug our MiniDisc, Radio Lapel Mic, and Hand Held Corded Microphone into it.
DRESSING AREA If you cannot find a private room very close to the stage where we can change costumes during the show, we can bring our portable dressing room for an extra charge.
DANCEFLOOR If you have a dancefloor between us and the audience, they can't have as much fun. Either 1: Move the dancefloor. 2: Place a portable stage on the dancefloor, which is removed after the show for dancing. 3: Bring guests up to sit on chairs on the dancefloor immediately before the show.
DECORATIONS Large decorations make it hard for the audience to see the show. Have the waiters remove them immediately before showtime.
WAITERS ARE NOT PERMITTED to walk around during the show. This is very distracting.
LIGHTING General stage lighting is required on the stage so the magic can be seen, and a followspot light will enable everyone to see the show.
BAD TABLES If you have any tables beside the stage, they won't see the show very well at all.
Then Sue-Anne drew a simple cartoon-style illustration of us performing at their event. Each of these points was incorporated into the drawing and highlighted in a cartoon bubble. Suddenly the booker could start to see what was going to happen "on the night". There was no need to explain why waiters or table centrepieces would be distracting, they could see for themselves. They could see how to lay the room out, and why they should do it that way. They understood where the follow spot should be (indeed, even what a follow spot is and why they need one!)
Finally, we added the following checklist to our drawing:
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