Jonathan Bayme is the CEO of theory11. He sees hundreds of demo videos from prospective, young magicians every month. Some are great, most are not. So we asked him which one surprised him the most.
In August of 2010, we got a video via email from our submission form. It was a guy doing a trick he called a “quick change.” Dan White saw it first and he sent it to me with a note asking if this was something we’d be interested in.
First thing I saw was that the guy wasn’t wearing a shirt. Topless. Nipples exposed on a webcam. I was waiting on Chris Hansen from Dateline to walk in the room at any moment. He says he’s going to do a trick. I’m thinking: ‘this is not good, if anyone sees me watching this, I’m gunna have some explaining to do.’
The topless male starts setting up the effect. I watch the entire three minute video. Eventually, he put a shirt on and once he did… I was absolutely blown away. He went from a green shirt to a Coca-Cola red shirt in the blink of an eye. It was AMAZING. That topless male was Calen Morelli, and the trick was Dresscode.
A few weeks later, he was in Battery Park in New York City filming the DVD. A few months after that, he got hired by David Copperfield as a creative consultant. Dresscode became one of, if not the, best selling effects on theory11 of all time.
But in the beginning, there was that topless webcam video. You can actually see that original clip for the first time, right here. Just kidding, Calen.
Bonus: Marcus Eddie’s effect Splinter is another one I had a strong reaction to, but this was more recent. It was submitted to our marketplace (The Wire). When I first saw the effect, I was absolutely disgusted and nauseous. Like nails on a chalkboard. Then a few seconds later… I was in love. I texted him immediately and told him it was great. Creative, unique, and memorable. Sometimes good magic just makes you want to throw up. And that’s why I love Marcus Eddie.
