Unless you are exclusively performing for friends and family, you should have a contract for each engagement. Of course, the best is to have a lawyer in your home state write up a contract specifically tailored to your needs and circumstances. But before you contact your lawyer you should sit down and read this ebook to learn more about contracts. The better prepared you are and the clearer you can present your needs to your lawyer the less time it will take and the less money it will cost. Your lawyer will also respect you more if you have a better understanding and know what you want and why you want it.
Although I wouldn't recommend that you go it all alone, this ebook has many contracts for various situations ready for you to copy and use. Jim provides many useful explanations which will help you understand and use contracts a lot better. These contracts were created with magicians in mind, but are applicable for other performance or entertainment jobs.
(This material was first created in 1988 and makes practical suggestions that reflect the printing technology available at that time. Computer design, layout and printing has almost completely replaced such items and procedures as "paste-up," "rubber cement," "carbonless forms," and "white-out." When creating and using contracts, consider these comments and suggestions as historical, and alter your actual methods to today's current technological standards.)
1st edition 1988; 51 pages.
word count: 15347 which is equivalent to 61 standard pages of text
