Stefan Schwartz and Idris Elba, a likely duo. The two of them have Luther in common and ... dyslexia. They both freely admit that reading scripts is a necessary chore, which is why they collaborated on developing Talking Scripts, an app for hearing scripts read out loud. But it turns out it is not just for dyslexics.

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Stefan explains,

As a freelance director I often get sent a pile of scripts to read by the end of the week which, as you’ll know if you work in this industry, is very time-consuming. 

My dream for years was that I would be able to use the time while I was commuting to the production office, sitting on a plane or exercising (which wasn’t often) to listen to scripts. If an app could read them to me automatically, I could get through my pile of scripts without eating into my quality time at home with family and friends. Talking Scripts was born out of that dream. 

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Idris says,

I have a tough time reading scripts and have sat in too many traffic jams listening to scripts with Voice Over.  It was a painful experience - hearing the watermarks, page numbers and headers being read on every page, with only one voice. I was desperate for an app that could read me scripts in a simple easy way, dumping all the stuff I didn’t need to hear and getting me into the story.