A BigMouth Voices Guide

"Give me the freedom of a tight brief."

- David Ogilvy

It’s one of the most accurate lines ever written about creative work. And it applies just as much to voice casting as it does to advertising. At BigMouth Voices we’ve cast thousands of voiceovers across TV, radio, brand, animation, character and corporate work. And after all of those bookings, one pattern is impossible to ignore:

The best voiceover outcomes almost always come from the clearest briefs.

Not the longest.
Not the most detailed.
The clearest.

A great voiceover brief doesn’t restrict creativity. It focuses it. It tells your agency exactly enough to come back with three voices that nail it - instead of twelve that nearly do.

This article walks you through how to write a voiceover brief that gets you the right voice the first time. There’s a free template at the end you can copy, paste and use today.

WHY MOST VOICEOVER BRIEFS MISS THE MARK

Most clients write voiceover briefs the same way:

“Female, 30s, warm and conversational.”

Fine. That’ll get you a shortlist. But it almost certainly won’t get you the voice. Because “warm and conversational” describes about 70% of the working voice talent on the planet. It says almost nothing about what the voiceover is actually trying to do. Was it ever about the voice? Or was it about the audience leaning in, trusting you, picking up the phone, buying the thing? The brief is the difference. And once you understand what a brief is really for, writing a good one gets a lot easier.

WHAT A VOICEOVER BRIEF IS ACTUALLY FOR

A voiceover brief has one job: get everyone - you, the advertising agency doing the casting, the voice agency and the voice artist - aligned on what good sounds like before a single read is recorded.

That alignment saves you three things:

• Time (fewer audition rounds)
• Money (fewer re-records and revisions)
• Energy (less back-and-forth with stakeholders)

It also gives your casting partner something to push back on. When the intention is clear, a good agency can tell you when a voice you’ve fallen in love with isn’t quite right for the job - and why. That’s the freedom Ogilvy was talking about. The tighter the brief, the more freely your creative partners can work inside it.

HOW TO WRITE A VOICEOVER BRIEF: 7 THINGS EVERY GREAT BRIEF INCLUDES

These are the seven sections every great voiceover brief covers. Hit all seven and your brief will sit in the top 5% of anything an agency, producer or voice artist receives.

1. The outcome (not just the script)
A script says what’s being said. The outcome is what it needs to do. Are you trying to build trust? Drive urgency? Sound premium? Feel relatable? Make someone laugh? Make someone calm? The same script can land six completely different ways depending on the intention behind it. Spell the intention out.

A simple test: if you can answer the question “How should the audience feel after hearing this?” in one sentence, you’re already ahead.

2. The audience
Who is actually listening? Not in marketing-speak (“ABs aged 25–54 with disposable income”). In human terms. A dad scrolling Instagram at 9pm. A nurse on their break. A CFO in a Zoom waiting room. The clearer the picture of the listener, the closer the shortlist can get to a voice that sounds like it’s speaking directly to them.

3. The voice direction (descriptors plus contrasts plus what you don’t want)
“Female, 30s, warm” is a starting point. It’s not a direction. Better is to think in contrasts and nuances:

• Conversational vs. authoritative
• Polished vs. raw
• Energetic vs. grounded
• Big and broadcast vs. close and intimate

Even better - be clear about what you don’t want. “Not slick, not announcer-y, no smiles in the voice” is often more useful than any list of adjectives. It rules things out fast.

4. References (used carefully)
A reference voice, ad or video can shave hours off casting - if you explain why you like it. Don’t just send a link.
Spell out:

• Is it the tone?
• The pacing?
• The attitude?
• The age, accent or texture of the voice?
• The way they handle silence?

Without context, references can mislead more than they guide. With context, they’re gold.

5. Context (platform, brand, usage)
A 30-second TVC, a TikTok ad, an explainer video and an in-store radio spot all need very different reads - even with the same script.
Spell out:

• Where it will live (TV, digital, radio, social, in-store, internal)
• What brand it’s for, and how that brand normally sounds
• Whether there’s music, sound design, talent on camera, or it’s voice-only

The voice doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The context shapes the delivery as much as the script does.

6. Logistics (budget, deadlines, usage rights)
These aren’t admin. They directly shape which talent gets shortlisted.
Be upfront about:

• Budget range (it determines which talent gets shortlisted)
• Usage (where it runs, in which territories, for how long)
• Deadlines (when you need auditions, when you need final files)
• Is this going to be a self-record or a direction session?
• Buy-out vs. renewable terms

Vague logistics lead to voices you can’t afford, or voices that are technically available but legally complicated. Concrete logistics get you the right shortlist first time.

7. The decision process
This is the one almost everyone forgets. Who’s approving the voice? Is it a fast internal call, or a six-person stakeholder sign-off? Sharing this upfront lets a good agency:

• Pitch the right range of options (one safe, one bold, one wildcard if needed)
• Anticipate the feedback you’ll get
• Avoid sending shortlists that get stuck in approval limbo

If three rounds of stakeholder review are coming, your casting partner needs to know that before round one goes out - not after.

THE VOICEOVER BRIEF TEMPLATE YOU CAN USE TODAY

Copy this, paste it into a doc, and fill in the blanks. That’s it - that’s the template.

Project basics
Main Contact:
Client:
Campaign Name:
Advertising Agency:
Production Company:
Deadline for auditions:
Deadline for final files:

The project
What is this voiceover for?
What are the outputs? (length of spot, how many spots, are there cutdowns, will alts be recorded)
Usage: Where will it run? (TV, digital, radio, social, in-store, internal, OOO, CTV)
Territory: Where will it play? 
Term: How long will it run for?

The audience

• Who, in human terms, is listening?
• What do you want them to feel after hearing it?
• What do you want them to do after hearing it?

The voice

• Gender, age range, accent preferences:
• Three to five tone descriptors:
• Three things you don’t want:
• Reference voices or ads (with notes on what you like about each):
• How many voices do you want us to send you?
• Do you want custom auditions?

Creative

• Brand personality in a sentence:
• Music / sound design / on-camera talent context:
• Anything weird or specific worth flagging:

The script

• Paste or attach the script
• Approximate read length:
• Any tricky pronunciations:

Logistics

• Budget range:
• Usage / buy-out terms:
• Who is approving the voice?
• Do you want to direct the recording the session?
• How many rounds of feedback do you expect?

That’s it. Seven blocks. Maybe one page. Tighter than most briefs that get sent - and dramatically more useful.

COMMON VOICEOVER BRIEFING MISTAKES (AND HOW TO AVOID THEM)

A few patterns that come up again and again:

Confusing detail with clarity. A three-page brief with no clear intention is harder to cast from than a half-page brief that knows what it wants. Detail is good, but only when it serves the direction.

Describing the voice instead of the result. “Smooth and authoritative” is a voice description. “Make the listener trust the brand enough to click the link” is a result. Either can be cast for, but the casting is sharper when both are on the page.

Sending references without context. A Morgan Freeman clip on its own doesn’t reveal whether it’s the gravitas, the age, the warmth, the slowness or the American accent you’re chasing. Pick a couple of references and explain why each one is in there.

Burying the brand. If the voice is going to represent your brand for the next three years, whoever’s casting needs to know what the brand sounds like everywhere else. A link to your brand guidelines or one good example saves a lot of guessing.

Hiding the budget. No agency can shortlist accurately without it. There’s a voice for every budget; there isn’t a voice for every budget plus every brief. Be honest about the number and any decent partner will work backwards from there.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What should a voiceover brief include?
At a minimum: the project, the audience, the desired outcome, voice direction (including what you don’t want), references with context, brand and platform context, the script, and logistics - budget, deadlines, usage and approval process.

How long should a voiceover brief be?
As short as it can be while still being clear. One page is usually plenty. The clearest briefs are rarely the longest ones.

Do I need to send a script with the brief?
Ideally yes - even if it’s a draft. A script lets the casting team match the voice to the actual rhythm and language of the read, not just the description of it. Approximate read length helps too.

Can I just say “female, 30s, warm and conversational”?
You can, but you’ll get a generic shortlist. Add the outcome, the audience, what you don’t want and one or two references with notes, and your shortlist transforms.

What if I don’t know exactly what I want?
Say so. “We’re between two directions and want to hear both” is a perfectly valid brief. The worst briefs are the ones that pretend to know what they want when they don’t.

BRIEF US WELL AND WE’LL DO THE REST

The better the brief, the better the voices. That’s the whole equation.

Ready to brief your next voiceover project? If you’d like, you can skip starting with a blank page and head straight to our briefing form

Complete our Voiceover Brief Builder

It’s built around exactly the questions in this article and captures everything we need to send you a shortlist that actually fits.

Or mail us [email protected]

Because clear brief, clear options, clear winner. Easy.