A good audition script saves everyone time and gets you, the show creator, what you need. Vague or non-specific audition copy will probably mean having to start over again with a second round of auditions.

A voice actor is fundamentally an actor. And an auditioning voice actor typically has one shot at creating a character that feels right for your project. Remember, this actor doesn’t have costuming, a set, mood lighting , other actors or even a director to support or inspire their acting choices. They have only the words on the page to indicate what their performance needs to be.

The more fully you set the stage, they better shot you have at getting back from an actor what you want.

Get it right from the start!

Why is voice acting so important for video games? It breathes life into the spine of your game. It makes your story feel authentic, believeable, drawing players into the reality of your game.

Vague or non-specific characters render a game’s feel generic or uninvolving. All of the game’s elements must weave together to support story and environment and nothing is more personal or central to this than the voices of your game!

When you get it right:

• Memorable characters come to life.
• Storytelling becomes more compelling.
• Your game delivers an immersive cinematic experiences.
• Ultimately…it will save you time, money & energy!

Set the stage with these helpful specifics!

• Keep it simple. Less is more!
• Provide artwork. This can be a generic image from another project, movie, etc. that suggests the character and tone you are shooting for.
• An audition script should have a succinct description of the heart or core of the character (cruel emperor, a lost soul, conflicted hero, scummy opportunist, rogue with a good heart, an undercover princess, etc.). A quick description that evokes both character and tone is best. Try describing the character’s place in the story in one sentence.
• Describe the character’s motivation and stakes in the scene (Actor’s love to know their character’s motivation!!)
• What is the character’s story arc?
• Description of any action before, during or after dialogue.
• Dialog lead-in can be very helpful, if responding to another character.
• Proximity & presence of voice: Is the character speaking to someone nearby or far away? Yelling or “sotto?”
• What is the character’s status with regard to other characters?
• What is the tone/energy/pace of the scene or overall game?
• You could suggest perhaps an iconic reference to shoot for: e.g., “Alien 2,” Hannibal Lecter, Spaghetti Western, Carpenter’s The Thing, “Das Boot,” Lord of the Rings, Nicholson in “The Shining,”etc.
• Less is more!

Examples of unhelpful specifics:

• Imagine if someone were to ask you to create a game and all they tell you is, “Make me a game with spaceships.” You don’t know where to begin because you don’t know anything about the heart and soul of the game. You don’t know the story or the stakes or tone of the game. This same need for some salient background details applies to character description for your game.
• Overwhelming or incidental info can tell very little of what is needed (e.g., lengthy back story, description of scenery or story elements that have little or no bearing  on the character’s core.)
• Details that are extraneous to the character’s motivation. (E.g., she’s drinking blue tea, he is driving a giant cat-mobile, every morning he wakes up to read the newspaper and wash off the front porch)

Examples of what is helpful/useful script for an audition:

• A script could contain a few dynamically distinct acting beats, each differing from the others in tone and urgency. Each could be a sentence or two.
• Action! Make the audition copy active: Action scenes, have something happening as character speaks, even the character preparing for an immanent event give useful stakes and subtext for an actor to work with.
• Interaction: A scene where the speaker is speaking to another is more interesting than a monologue or pontificating or merely describing something.
• Desire: Have the character want or need something. (e.g., asking something of another, commanding, pleading, conniving, etc.)
• Objective, Subtext, Obstacles, Secret These are things that are the raw fuel for a good acting performance. A good actor will create this, if not provided.

These ideas hopefully show you that well-considered specifics yield great characters because they conjure a three dimensional character that is part of the world you have created. These specifics are what an actor can work with and give you an amazing performance!