1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Let's say good morning now to the author of Burn 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: in the Water, LA Zone Award winning screenwriter Billy Ray. 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 2: Good morning, Billy, Good morning Amy. 4 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:10,760 Speaker 3: How are you. 5 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 2: I'm doing great? Okay. 6 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: So on the cover of your book, it says that 7 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: you believe in democracy, justice, and the Dodgers. I think 8 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: because of that we can probably be best friends. 9 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:24,279 Speaker 3: Those are the Big three. 10 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 2: Yep, go Blue. You know, opening days, like just three 11 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 2: weeks away, three and a half weeks. 12 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 3: I know, you know, it's funny. I'm doing a number 13 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 3: of radio shows this morning, and I just speaking to 14 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 3: Boston and then Green Bay, and with them, I felt 15 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 3: like I could complain a little bit that, you know, 16 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 3: I'm up at four forty in the morning, but I 17 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 3: really can't complain to you. This is your job. 18 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 2: This is this is and it's a great job to have, 19 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 2: great job to have. Okay. So, Billy Ray, let's talk. 20 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,480 Speaker 1: About before we jump into your new book. I wanted 21 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: to acknowledge your past accomplishments in case people aren't familiar. 22 00:00:55,560 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: So you're a Writer's Guild Award and OSCAR nominated man 23 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: for your screenplay Captain Phillips, which was a fabulous, fabulous movie. 24 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: Thank you past works as a writer or writer director 25 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: include The Hunger Games and The Upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping, 26 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: which I'm reading now. 27 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 2: Love those books. 28 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: So you have some criends here, so tell me. Then 29 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: you've gone from screenwriting to now you're writing a book, 30 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: and you know, kind of doing it the opposite way. 31 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:28,559 Speaker 2: So why do this? 32 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 3: Well, this is an idea that I had had for 33 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 3: fifteen years, and it had always been sort of kicking 34 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 3: around the back of my head. I thought of Burning 35 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 3: the Water as a movie first, and I thought of 36 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 3: Burned the Water as a TV series, but it was 37 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 3: just too expensive in either of those formats. And then, 38 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 3: if you remember, in twenty twenty three, my beloved guild, 39 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 3: the Writers Guild, went on strike, and all of a sudden, 40 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 3: I couldn't write a TV show or a me and 41 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 3: I thought, oh, what if we turned this idea into 42 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 3: a novel that I can do? And I started on 43 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 3: day one of the Writer's Guild strike and I finished 44 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 3: on the last day of the sad after strike. So 45 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 3: it took one hundred and thirty three days to write, 46 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 3: and then you know, it takes a year to make 47 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 3: it good after that, and then I went into the 48 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,639 Speaker 3: world of publishing to see if there was anyone there 49 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 3: that would be interested. And it turns out I got 50 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 3: the best publishing house there is, which is Scholastic, and 51 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 3: now we publish today. 52 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,359 Speaker 2: I love. So the book is releasing today today. That's great. 53 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 2: Oh then I have an advanced copy. I feel very special. 54 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: Think is it harder to write a book or a screenplay? 55 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 3: Well, I'm certainly more familiar with writing screenplays. But what 56 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 3: makes a book good is different than what makes what 57 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 3: makes a screenplay good. And I had to learn that interwards. 58 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 3: In screenwriting, you're trying to be so lean and so 59 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 3: spare and so muscular in the way you write. But 60 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 3: when you when you write a novel, as I learned, 61 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 3: you're the camera, you're the actor's faces, you're the production 62 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 3: desig You have to fill in all that stuff and 63 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 3: you don't have to do that in the screenplay. And 64 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 3: matter of fact, that you do, it's it's. 65 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,240 Speaker 1: It's boring, right because you're letting the pictures tell the 66 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: story in a screenplay exactly. And with this there, you've 67 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: got to paint the picture in a book exactly. 68 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 3: Okay, cool, But once that lesson never goes away. 69 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 2: Okay, So I didn't get the book. 70 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: I have to full transparency, I didn't get it until yesterday, 71 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: so I haven't read all of it. But I'm about 72 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: halfway through, so it's a good read and I cannot 73 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: wait to see what happens with Jewel and Raef, which 74 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: are your main characters. But tell us a little give 75 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: us a little preview of this since it's just released today. 76 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: Tell us what tell us wake up call people, you 77 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: know something enticing that's going to want us, make us 78 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: want to read it. 79 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 3: Well, picture the London of the year twenty four twenty five, 80 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 3: and there's no power, there's no communications, there's no connection 81 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 3: to the rest of the world because ninety percent of 82 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 3: the English Isle is underwater, as is most of the world, 83 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 3: and we, in a weird way, have gone back to 84 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 3: medieval lifestyles, except we have the modern London of today 85 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 3: still standing. So you have buildings covered in vines, and 86 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 3: the water level in London is sixty higher than it 87 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 3: is now, and you have two rival gangs essentially killing 88 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 3: each other for the ten percent of dry land in 89 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:52,679 Speaker 3: London that's livable. And in that war, which is gone 90 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 3: for a hundreds of years, you know, with knives and 91 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 3: maize and clubs. The greatest soldier on one side the 92 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,239 Speaker 3: road is a captain named Rafe, and the greatest soldier 93 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 3: on the other side, the crowns is a captain named Jewel. 94 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 3: And what would happen if they fell in love? Could 95 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 3: they stop this war? That's what the book's about. 96 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: So it's kind of like a Romeo and Juliet meets 97 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: the Hunger Games kind of scenario. 98 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 3: If you're going to steal, steal from the best. 99 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,160 Speaker 1: Well, like I said, I haven't read the whole thing, 100 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: I've read about half of it and it is really interesting, 101 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: and with Rafe and Jewel, who are the main characters, 102 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: it's fun to read about talking about painting the pictures. 103 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: It's fun to read about like that first love, that 104 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: first moment when you see somebody, because the whole premise 105 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: of the book is that these sworn enemies are going 106 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: to meet and fall in love. And like how you 107 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,599 Speaker 1: describe that feeling when you first meet somebody, And I 108 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: think you do such a good job with that. So 109 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: I love your explanation too of the difference between the 110 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: screenwriter and the book writer, because I think it really 111 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: Thank you helps paint. 112 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:04,480 Speaker 2: A good picture. 113 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,200 Speaker 1: For us, But I can't wait to see what happens 114 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: with Jewel and rape. The story's really getting good and 115 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: it's an interesting setting, you know, three hundred years or 116 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: I guess four hundred years ahead of where we are. 117 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: The book is called Burn the Water, written by Billy Ray. 118 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: And where can we get at Billy Ray? 119 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 3: Well, today's our publishing day and which means you can 120 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 3: walk into any bookstore and get it. There are a 121 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 3: million ways to get it online. And there's also an 122 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 3: audible that Scholastic is releasing. Great, so there are all 123 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:42,359 Speaker 3: kinds of ways to get this book. 124 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: Okay, again, the book is called Burn the Water. Thank 125 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: you so much for taking some time. Like I said, 126 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:48,840 Speaker 1: I can't wait to finish reading it. I know where 127 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: I'm going to be this afternoon. 128 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 3: Aby, I really appreciate it. A KFI listener for a 129 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 3: very long time. 130 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 2: Oh we love that. Well, we'll have you on again 131 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 2: when this hits number one. How about that? 132 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 3: That is a date? 133 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 2: All right? Thanks so much, have a great day, Billy Ray, 134 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 2: Thanks you too.