I recently purchased Luke Jermay's Skullduggery, and one of his effects explained how Pre-Show Scripting was a very basic skill in mentalism, and that he wasn't teaching it on th DVD. Now, being the first piece of mentalism I purchased, Skullduggery was quite difficult for me, so I purchased 13 steps to mentalism. However, looking back at my purchase, I realized that Pre-Show Scripting wasn't something the book came with; so my question is, is there a book that goes in-depth in Pre-Show Scripting?

Jermay recommends Psychological Subtleties by Banachek, but the cheapest I found was 100+ dollars on ebay (which i can't really afford). Thanks for the advice!

P.S. I don't know what pre-show scripting is, so if you could point me in the right direction with a basic book on it, and then a more experienced book, that would be great. If there's a book that encompasses all degrees of skill, that would be best! ^^~

There's also a pre-show script in Banacheks PS2 under the chapter Subtle Pre-Show. If I remember correctly it's an actual script and he explains how and why it works. The book is practically brand new so it's not that expensive...yet.

I too have just got myself Skullduggery. And am interested in knowing the same answer. If you find out please let me know. By the way, just out of interest. How are you getting on with the tricks in Skullduggery?
Thanks.

The tricks for skullduggery have been working wonders for me, especially RGM and for Andruzzi. However, the only tricks that I find practical in Skullduggery, at least for a performer like me, are RGM, for andruzzi, 7th Deception, Synchronicity, and a twistied Palm (this one is hard for me..); the others I don't see myself using. Syncrhonicity, although a great effect, is somewhat unappealing to me because of the rate of failure that I seem to hit when i try the effect on people with common sense, and that aren't as prone to the suggestion of bolded numbers (mod please delete if this is exposure). I do use it, but not as much as RGM (i love this!!!). 7th deception is amazing, although I have only used it three times. The reactions were excellent =]

RGM is by far my favorite trick (yes I love it ^^), and I have only failed once out of dozens of performances! ^^

Buy thoses books:

Before the curtain rises

14th step to mentalism : The gift by Paul Brook
(availiable here http://www.paulbrook.co.uk/thegift.htm)

Pre show scripts is often keept secret and made by it's own creator, learn the basics and then create your own.

Hope it helps
~max

You migth also want to learn a bit about psychology in art, as well as NLP for your own personal culture.

If you strive for the '' Psychological Illusionist '' persona, then it's essential, On the same website (Paul Brook's) you can buy Alchemist tools, this book is full of great secrets, it's what absolute magic as done to magic but for mentalism.

Paul sold the first 1000 copies run in the first week.

For NLP you can buy the book Sleight Of Mind by Ian Harling and Martin Nyrup.

If you can find The Encyclopedia of Psychology (from yale university) in a library, find the 3rd book about psychology in art. Also social Psychology (book 2).

If you want to buy the complete collections they usually go for 500-1000, so good luck

I can't find the book before the curtain rises. Anyone knows where it's avaliable?

I'd like to see the Saskatchewan spin on this topic.
I wonder if pre scripting is just a fancy term for the process writing method of the 1990's?
rono

An easier way to get him to post on this would have been to PM him instead of contributing a useless post to this topic. That way he could PM you back his response.

Before the curtain rises is a very hard book to find,

But if you can get yours hands on it, even for 100$ do it.

The normal price would be 25$, but the out-of-stock price is around 50$.

But if you can buy Paul Brooks The Gift,
It's just as good or even better.

~Max

also if I say the full name

Before the curtain rises by Mark Strivings, maybe you will have more luck finding it.

~max

I appreciate the tip. I did what I did because I do not contact folks personally and do not wish to be contacted the same way. My second reason is that I respect Caffeinator's prowess as a writing coach and I was hoping others would recognize my public respect. I see that you are an Ontario resident yet I do not know if you're in high school, college or university. Accordingly, I went to your Ministry of Education guidelines and looked for Language and then writing. I first determined that if you're in grade 8 then you learned process writing in at least grade three and this was reinforced in the junior grades. Now according to your strict, government regulations it's possible you did not learn the continuation of process until Grade Nine. If you're into shaving then you have been taught these concepts. Now the next thing is to determine if you're in Basic, Applied or the highest level Academic (university bound). Now if you're a senior, then Kate Turabian's universal style has to be part of your life. I would like to know your status as an entertainer and how you have used process writing in your scripts. Thank you for your suggestions. ron0

I don't live in Ontario, I live in Québec,
My native language is french,

I'm 17 and I have 30 years of experience.

Pre-show work is simply preparing something before the show, EX: hypnotising people before the show so they will be more easily ''hypnotisable'' during the show.

Anything that falls into ''work before the curtain rises'' is considered pre-show.

Pre-show script are script that gives the illusion of nothing being prepared in advance, or in different way cueing the person that has participed to the Pre-show into doing something.

~Max

For one rono, I was giving a tip and do not need to be bashed for doing so. I'm in university and not in english since I hate the subject. On internet forums I do not need to prove my grammatical skill by reviewing my post before I submit it. You seemed to have done a lot of research just to try to prove that I am not the best at typing the english language. Can you please explain to me what "process writing" is? I've never heard of it...
My status as an entertainer and how I go about writing my scripts is none of your business. TheCaffeineator is much more experienced than me so it was a good idea to ask him. However, he also has about 30 years of performing experience on me, so that helps. Again, I do not appreciate your sarcastic remarks towards my intelligence and I do not deserve (or did not since this is past-tense) this insult. I gave you a tip because he may not read this subject and PM-ing him would have been an easier way to get him to notice it. Just because you do not want to be personally contacted, doesn't mean he doesn't want to either. From now on if you can keep your opinion of my intelligence to yourself, I'd appreciate it. After all, I wasn't insulting yours, you shouldn't insult mine. I'm done with this topic, no matter how badly you insult me later (if you do).

Sometimes people have pre-conscripted ideas about people intellingence and they use it when they are out of insults.

When you ask for tips you don't normally insult people that are trying to help you.

~Max