Joe Wakeford sat down with British voiceover and broadcasting legend Greg Scott for a Bourbon Cream and a small glass of Horlicks. Greg has been a national television audience warm-up guy for over 25 years, a TV and radio presenter and has established himself in this phase of his career as a venerable talent in the voiceover world.

Joe: How did you get started in voiceover?
Greg: Ah, well, yes…. I’ve come in to it late, and in all honesty, haven’t been doing it that long. That said, I’ve picked up a few meaty morsels along the way, so have regrets about having not started far sooner! In my other lines of work over the years, people regularly said to me, ” Your voice is ace – you should go and do voiceovers”… perhaps so I’d get a job elsewhere and they’d be rid of me – I don’t know… but I was happy doing what I was doing and had plenty of that work. A couple of years ago, however, all that seemed to come to spectacular halt for whatever reason – so I finally decided to act on the advice of others and try to use my mouth to earn money.

Stop making up your own jokes. I bought/borrowed the money to buy a natty PC, software and a condenser microphone, set up a “studio” in my cellar and now spend more time in there than I do with my therapist.

J: Are there any specific voice artists you admire?
G: It was the lovely Chris Marsden who pushed me and gave me the confidence to leap into the business. Confidence wasn’t (and to a degree, still isn’t) something that I’ve been blessed with in abundance, so Chris gave me all the reasons that I should give it a go and gave me the push that I desperately needed. He’s also a mighty fine VO and all round geezer. Whenever I need help or advice, I always turn to him.

J: What recent projects stand out for you?
G: Ah – Well, there’s always little bits and bobs to be done – but the latest sizeable jobby was for Camelot – the lovely lottery people… in fact, here it is:

The biggest job so far was landing the role as voiceover for The Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV… 50 episodes, and with the show being usually live, there was always the chance of a change or two up to 30 minutes before transmission. Loved that. Would love to do lots more similar gigs.

J: How do you love this crazy little world of voiceover?
G: Working from home is very handy – I have a daughter with a health issue, so to be with / near her as much as possible is a huge relief. But as far as the work itself is concerned, I love being creative – and what job enables you to be as creative as this, particularly if you write the piece too? Also never knowing the type of job that’s around the corner (or who it’s going to be for!) makes it very exciting.

J: What’s all this chit-chat about you not having always been a voice artist (I’m playing Devil’s Advocate… I loved you on Quizmania!)?
G: Blimey – There’s been tons of non-voiceover stuff – from being an audience warm-up for telly shows, to hosting corporate gigs, presenting TV programmes, being a radio host (I don’t like being called a “DJ”!), a writer, question writing for quizzes… best to look at gregscott.tv for the whole story – ahem… that’s gregscott.tv!

J:  What do you get up to in the outside world?
G: Not a lot, really! Watching telly… eating unhealthy but tasty junk… and watching junk on the telly – that just about sums everything up.

J: Have you any voiceover industry goals?
G: Well, I’m just around the corner from my 46th birthday – A bit late to be setting goals – I have always wanted to host a primetime gameshow on one of the major channels – Not sure that’s ever going to happen now, though. I do HAVE a new goal, though – And that’s simply to earn a good enough living to take sufficient care of my family! Anything else is a bonus!

J:  What advice can you give to a budding voice over?
G: Ask for advice, take advice, take criticism from experienced VOs, and learn from what they have to say – Never take ANYTHING personally. Oh – And practise, practise, practise.

J: Well Sir Greggles, it’s been a pleasure. Can you pass me that bottle opener and we’ll get this evening started.
G: Absolutely. Brilliant – thank you, Joseph

Greg Scott is a professional voiceover artist who can be found on VoicesUK here and on Twitter at @GregScottTV.

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