About this episode

The episode features an interview with Billy Ray discussing his new novel and his career in screenwriting.

Send us Fan Mail Billy Ray is an American screenwriter and film director. He has written numerous successful films, including the first Hunger Games movie, Captain Phillips, and Richard Jewell, earning an Oscar nomination for the second film. Burn the Water is a new YA dystopian romance novel by Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray, released on March 3, 2026, by Scholastic Press. It is a "Romeo and Juliet" style story set in a submerged 2425 London, where two teenagers from rival, warrin...

People in this episode

Host: Erik Alexander

Guest: Billy Ray

Topics covered

• YA dystopian romance
• screenwriting
• film adaptation
• literature
• parenting

Keywords

• Billy Ray
• Tui Sutherland
• Burn the Water
• Hunger Games
• YA literature
• dystopian romance
• screenwriter
• Oscar nomination

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Scholastic Press

Books & works: Burn the Water, Hunger Games

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