Where NOT To Find Voiceover Scripts

New to the industry? Wanting to refresh your demo? Looking for scripts?

I've got three words for you: DON'T GOOGLE IT!

I know, crazy right. Google is usually the answer for everything. And that's exactly why you SHOULDN'T go there for scripts. Gabby gives you the low down on how to stand out from the VO crowd with original and creative ways to find scripts that will make an impact AND highlight your unique voice!

Where NOT to Find Voiceover Scripts - 6:13

Hey everybody, thanks for joining me on another edition of the "Gift of Gab." I get a lot, a lot of questions from all over the world, from people who want to know more about the voiceover industry and from aspiring voice actors. Dog lovers as well. There's quite a few of those. And... have you met Aria? Have you guys, have you guys met my dog? [laughs] You are an [beep] Yeah, you're a total hole, I hate you. Why? [laughs] Thanks for the b-roll. Oh [beep] me, everybody's here. [laughs] This is Dorian, and this is Ragnar the Viking Kitty who doesn't know his own name but he's a very sweet cat. Yeah, I'm only missing one. I'm missing one cat right now. But yeah, this is everybody. So hi.

I get asked a lot of questions from aspiring voice actors, working voice actors, all over the globe. And one of the most constant and common questions is "where do I find practice voiceover scripts?" There's a couple of great answers to that. First I'm gonna tell you where you should never, ever get practice scripts from: Google.

If you go to the Internet and type in practice voiceover scripts, you're gonna find a couple of libraries of practice voiceover scripts that come up. Here's the thing, they're really common. Pretty much everyone in the industry knows them, and everyone who's aspiring to become a voice actor is also finding those same scripts. Guys, they're overuse, crazy overused. See because the thing is, even though they're labeled as practice scripts and it's really clear that they really shouldn't be used for anything other than practice, we see so, so many people grab those scripts and try to use them in demos or sample recordings. You don't want to do that. You want to try for not only originality, but you want to pick scripts that are good for you, that mean something to you, that are the right fit for your voice. Just a random assortment of sample scripts probably isn't going to supply a lot of that.

So where do we get sample scripts from? Great question. Magazines. Magazines are a fantastic way to find potential scripts. You can modify articles, advertisements, any number of pieces of content from inside magazines you that like, enjoy and read, are perfect to extract copy. Brochures. You know all this brochures of the doctor's office? Grab them, grab bunches of them. Because if you have any interest of doing medical or pharmaceutical narration, or corporate narrative, or any of the more industrial, technical types of voiceovers, these are going to be the answer. These brochures pretty much read exactly like a voiceover script. Owners manuals and safety and reference guides. Yeah, I'm not kidding, literally the manual that came with any appliance, any electronic in your house, these are fantastic for e-learning type training and again educational type voiceover content, because basically you're gonna read them like you're teaching someone how to do whatever the guide is suggesting or recommending.

Novels, fiction, nonfiction, again kind of depends on what you're aspiring toward. If you are looking for content to really sink your teeth into, to get a very believable performance from a first-person perspective, then a nonfiction book or a biography or things like this, like business books and self-help books, are going to be a great resource. If you are aspiring to be an audiobook narrator, pick your favorite novel. That's a great way to do it. And as silly as it may sound, guys, anything can be a practice voiceover script, even a cereal box. Seriously I can't stress this enough. Anything can be a practice voiceover script. It doesn't have to be an exact script that is labeled specifically for voiceover purposes. Most voiceover scripts are converted from other content anyway.

I was a voiceover script writer for a number of years in more than a couple of different applications, and I can tell you firsthand that all of these things that I'm pointing out to you, all of these ways potential ways to extract practice material is exactly how we would write the scripts. I can't tell you how many times we were handed a company sales brochure and told "make a commercial," "make a message on hold," "make something out of this." And it's really common and sometimes it's almost word for word. So top stressing out about making sure that the practice content you have says "voiceover copy" at the top. Instead focus on just reading aloud, getting comfortable with sight reading, speaking and reading at the same time. Focus on the acting abilities. Focus on the technical aspect of the recording. The words, well, they're not as important.

Thanks for watching, guys. Dorian appreciates it too. If you want to learn more, check out my book, VO101. This guy is jam-packed with everything you need to know to get started on your voiceover journey. And of course, for more on me and my book, and classes, and opportunities to work with me, please visit www.GabrielleNistico.com. Thanks!

704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com

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