
Ep. 318 - Improv for Voice Actors: How to Give More Than One Take, with Gabby Nistico
Send us Fan Mail How do you give more than one take that actually works? Gabby Nistico and I talk about the tool that helps most, improv, on this Open Forum Friday at VO Journey Academy. You won't be improvising the words. The script is the script. What you improvise is your reaction to the words, and that's what keeps a read from sounding like you've done it a hundred times. We go through the improv games we use with voice actors, like the boat scene and the question game. Gabby's favorite is New Choice. You can play it alone in your booth, and it's a great way to get real variety into your ABC reads. Gabby explains why voice actors get married to their first idea so fast, and how stage actors avoid it. I share the three questions I ask myself before every script, starting with "who am I?" We also talk about the "yes and" rule, and why selling a product you've never used is pure improv. At the end, we talk about narrating spicy romance, and why most of the romance genre is a lot milder than people think. (00:00) Open Forum Friday with Gabby Nistico (00:06) How do you give more than one good take? (01:21) Improv and the illusion of the first time (02:55) The boat scene: an improv game for voice actors (04:52) We improvise the reaction, not the words (05:24) Storyline and the question game (06:01) New Choice, an improv game you can play alone (07:09) Use New Choice on your ABC reads (07:27) Don't get married to your first idea (08:31) What's the multiverse in this script? (09:05) Voice actors get less time to build a character (10:27) Backstory, and the different versions of you (11:29) Why improv matters, beyond being fearless (12:24) "Yes and": accept what you're given (13:15) Selling a product you've never used (14:12) The pizza and the manhole cover (15:16) Should we run an improv workshop? (16:45) Narrating spicy romance: is it for you? (19:12) The business side can be overwhelming (20:06) Get out there and audition Narrating Spicy Romance, live workshop, Sunday 25 October at 7pm ET ($27, replay included): https://www.avosjourney.com/spicy-romance-workshop?src=podcast Train with us live every week at VO Journey Academy: https://www.avosjourney.com/join?src=podcast Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/R-Neccu187U Support the show Social Links: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/anthony_pica_vo/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/AVOsJOURNEY Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/avosjourney/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonypicavo/













