For event planners
You are the one who chose the entertainment.
An excellent performance earns you no thanks. A poor one attaches to your name. That asymmetry is the whole reason this company exists, and everything below follows from it.
You can see what you are paying for
A traditional agency quotes one number. You do not know what the performer receives, what the agency keeps, or whether the recommendation was influenced by which performer pays them most. We show both figures and charge a flat fee set before the shortlist exists — so the recommendation cannot be bought, including by us.
We take a position, and you can hold us to it
Not a list of everyone available. Two or three options, a stated recommendation, and written reasoning against your brief. If it is wrong, there is a named person who was wrong.
We are responsible, contractually
MAGIQ contracts as principal. If a booked performer cannot appear, we source a replacement of equivalent standard or refund our fee in full. An introducer cannot offer that.
Our standard is published, and can be withdrawn
Every agency says it curates. Ask them what their criteria are, who applies them, and whether anyone has ever been removed. Ours are written down and published in full, including the appeal route.
We will tell you when we are wrong for you
We decline briefs we cannot serve well rather than fill them. An agency that has never turned down a brief is telling you something about itself.
Three things we are genuinely worse at.
Scale and range
They cover every category and can fill anything. We cover magic and mentalism. If you need a string quartet we are not useful to you.
Established venue relationships
They have booked your venue before and know its quirks. We may not have.
Name recognition with your stakeholders
“We used [known agency]” is a defence in an internal meeting. Ours is not yet, and pretending otherwise would be the first dishonest thing on this site.
How we select performers
Five gates, and most applicants do not pass them
The expensive step — assessment by someone who performs at the level being judged — comes last, after the evidence has been checked. Of roughly a hundred applications we expect eight to reach the roster.
The criteria are published in full, including what Verified does not cover and the route to appeal a decision.
Self-selection
The criteria are published before anyone applies. Most of the wrong applicants remove themselves, which costs us nothing to operate and is the strongest filter available.
Structured application
Verifiable performance history with real buyers and dates. Two contactable buyer references. Current public liability insurance. Live footage with a real audience — not a studio reel, because the audience's face is the evidence and the performer's edit is the claim.
Evidence check
References contacted against a fixed question set. Insurance verified. History spot-checked against venues. How a performer behaves while being assessed is itself recorded, because it is the closest available preview of how they will behave with you.
Craft assessment
Assessed by someone who performs at the level being judged. This is the one gate where subjective judgment is not only permitted but required — and it is why MAGIQ launched deep in magic rather than broad across categories.
Conversation
Not an interview. How they think about the buyer, and whether they treat your requirements as the job or as an inconvenience. That is usually clear within ten minutes and predicts more than the showreel does.
A roster nobody has ever left is a list, not a roster.
What happens after you press send.
You describe the event
Eight questions, including the one that matters most: why you are booking entertainment at all. It takes a few minutes and it is what the recommendation gets written against.
A few minutes
We reply, and quote our fee
Within one working day, from a named person. We clarify anything unclear, confirm the brief is one we can serve well, and tell you what our fee is — before any shortlist exists, so you know the cost of the advice before you receive it.
Within one working day
We build a shortlist
Two or three performers, never one. Availability and fee confirmed before we present them, so nothing on the list is theoretical.
Two to three days
We recommend, in writing
Each option with the reasoning against your brief, a stated recommendation, and the conditions under which each alternative is the better choice. If the founder is among the options, they are presented unranked.
With the shortlist
You decide, supported
Questions answered, a call if you want one, and no closing behaviour. You are being helped to make a decision you can defend internally, not sold to.
Your timeline
We contract and take responsibility
MAGIQ contracts as principal, so we are responsible for delivery as a matter of law rather than of goodwill. Both figures appear on the same document: what the performer receives and what we receive.
48 hours
We handle the logistics
Technical, space and timing requirements are collected from the performer and sent to you unprompted, seven days out. From here your job gets easier, or our proposition is false.
7 days before
We attend, or we debrief
We observe the placement in person, or run a structured debrief within 48 hours. Either way the outcome is recorded — that record is what Verified is eventually issued from.
On the day, and after
The eight we are asked most.
- What does MAGIQ charge?
- A flat placement fee, set by the brief's budget band and complexity, quoted at qualification — before we build a shortlist. It does not move with which performer you choose, which is the entire point: we earn the same whether you take the €3,000 option or the €7,000 one.
- Do you take a commission from the performer?
- No, and we never will. The performer's fee passes through whole and both figures appear on the same document. In a market where representation is funded by compressing performer pay, this is not a better deal — it is a different relationship.
- Why only two or three options?
- Because a single option is selling rather than advising, and a list of twenty is a directory that hands the decision back to you along with the risk. Two or three options with a stated recommendation is the smallest set that lets you overrule us on the merits.
- What if the performer cannot appear?
- We source a replacement of equivalent standard, or refund our fee in full and assist at no charge. It covers performer non-appearance and performer cancellation. It does not cover force majeure, venue failure, cancellation by you, or dissatisfaction with an act that appeared and performed as briefed.
- Is Verified issued yet?
- No. The criteria are published in full and issuance begins in 2027. Every placement between now and then is the evidence it will be issued from. We would rather say that plainly than show you a badge invented last week.
- How quickly do you respond?
- Within one working day, every time, from a named person rather than a shared inbox. If you have a short lead time, say so — under seven days we compress the process into a single call and quote at a higher rate, because speed is the service.
- Do you work outside your listed territories?
- Sometimes, and we will tell you honestly when the answer is no. A brief we cannot serve well is one we decline rather than fill.
- Can I book a specific performer directly?
- You can ask for one, and we record it and consider them first. We will still return two or three options, because that is what we are for. If you have already chosen and want a booking clerk, we are an expensive way to get one and you should say so.
Buyer guide
How to choose a performer when you cannot judge the craft
The framework we use, published in full. It is genuinely useful to someone who never books through us — which is the point, and the reason no agency representing everyone can publish one.
Enquire
Or speak to Matteo Cammisa directly — management@matteocammisa.com. Some briefs are faster said than typed, and short lead times almost always are.