diff --git a/tools/buildzip.pl b/tools/buildzip.pl
index 59c32d3e3d..65aca59e13 100755
--- a/tools/buildzip.pl
+++ b/tools/buildzip.pl
@@ -388,9 +388,12 @@ sub buildzip {
         }
     }
 
-    # create the file so the database does not try indexing a folder
+    # create the file so the database indexer skips this folder
     open(IGNORE, ">$temp_dir/database.ignore")  || die "can't open database.ignore";
     close(IGNORE);
+    # create the file so the talkclip generation skips this folder
+    open(IGNORE, ">$temp_dir/talkclips.ignore")  || die "can't open talkclips.ignore";
+    close(IGNORE);
 
     # the samsung ypr0 has a loader script that's needed in the zip
     if ($modelname =~ /samsungypr[01]/) {
diff --git a/tools/voice.pl b/tools/voice.pl
index 2c966cb0df..9efc844c10 100755
--- a/tools/voice.pl
+++ b/tools/voice.pl
@@ -582,13 +582,13 @@ sub gentalkclips {
         if ($file eq '.' || $file eq '..' || $file =~ /\.talk$/) {
             next;
         }
-        # Element is a dir
-        if ( -d $path) {
+
+        if ( -d $path) { # Element is a dir
 	    $enc = sprintf("%s/_dirname.talk", $path);
-            gentalkclips($path, $tts_object, $encoder, $encoder_opts, $tts_engine_opts, $i);
-        }
-        # Element is a file
-        else {
+            if (! -e "$path/talkclips.ignore") { # Skip directories containing "talkclips.ignore"
+                gentalkclips($path, $tts_object, $encoder, $encoder_opts, $tts_engine_opts, $i);
+            }
+        } else { # Element is a file
             $enc = sprintf("%s.talk", $path);
             $voice =~ s/\.[^\.]*$//; # Trim extension
         }