On Crediting in Magic, Bill Goodwin, etc.
Posted: June 25th, 2016, 12:32 pm
Many I’ve corresponded with publicly and privately know my feelings on crediting and attribution in magic. The rapidly growing pool of minor variations, short-run productions, and (to a much lesser degree) legitimate innovations flooding our market presents a daunting hurdle for anyone attempting to trace the evolution of a plot, effect, method, or sleight. To complicate matters, we often find ourselves squabbling over the extent to which things like finger placement modifications constitute “new.” Some of magicdom’s primary challenges boil down to:
1) Differentiating first-to-publish from suspected origin and verified originator,
2) Codifying the degree and extent to which minor and obscure variations must be credited,
3) Establishing a robust, continuously updated, and easily accessible source of known credits, and
4) Formalizing professional crediting/attribution standards.
Professional organizations ranging from IGDA (International Game Developers Association) to AIGA (Professional Association for Design) to AIA (American Institute of Architects) have developed – to varying degrees – their own trade-specific standards. Why not us?
Nevertheless…
Challenge #3 is, of course, being addressed in a very significant (and much-appreciated) way by Denis Behr and friends at The Conjuring Archive and Conjuring Credits. Both resources provide researchers, developers, and armchair explorers with an invaluable base of information. But in my personal journeys down their many fascinating rabbit holes, I’d never encountered a reference to my own work… until two weeks ago.
Imagine my shock upon discovering the inventory of Bill Goodwin’s Notes from the Batcave (1993) on Behr’s Archive. Contents include a likely-brilliant spin on my sludgy late-80’s Copper/Silver Metamorphosis*. [The Batcave notes being long out of print, I have yet to see the material!] Goodwin is, in my estimation, something of a magical Yoda – so this is akin to having John Prine or Guy Clark (RIP) cover a tune you wrote in high school. Exceedingly cool. How has this escaped me for 23 years?
So… bottom line on all of this… BIG THANKS to Behr, Minch, Maven, Kalush et al for this labor of love. A very important piece of the puzzle… and one where surprises await the intrepid reader.
* Unfortunately(?), CSM missed the cut for Magnum Opossum...
1) Differentiating first-to-publish from suspected origin and verified originator,
2) Codifying the degree and extent to which minor and obscure variations must be credited,
3) Establishing a robust, continuously updated, and easily accessible source of known credits, and
4) Formalizing professional crediting/attribution standards.
Professional organizations ranging from IGDA (International Game Developers Association) to AIGA (Professional Association for Design) to AIA (American Institute of Architects) have developed – to varying degrees – their own trade-specific standards. Why not us?
Nevertheless…
Challenge #3 is, of course, being addressed in a very significant (and much-appreciated) way by Denis Behr and friends at The Conjuring Archive and Conjuring Credits. Both resources provide researchers, developers, and armchair explorers with an invaluable base of information. But in my personal journeys down their many fascinating rabbit holes, I’d never encountered a reference to my own work… until two weeks ago.
Imagine my shock upon discovering the inventory of Bill Goodwin’s Notes from the Batcave (1993) on Behr’s Archive. Contents include a likely-brilliant spin on my sludgy late-80’s Copper/Silver Metamorphosis*. [The Batcave notes being long out of print, I have yet to see the material!] Goodwin is, in my estimation, something of a magical Yoda – so this is akin to having John Prine or Guy Clark (RIP) cover a tune you wrote in high school. Exceedingly cool. How has this escaped me for 23 years?
So… bottom line on all of this… BIG THANKS to Behr, Minch, Maven, Kalush et al for this labor of love. A very important piece of the puzzle… and one where surprises await the intrepid reader.
* Unfortunately(?), CSM missed the cut for Magnum Opossum...