September 9, 2025 • 31 mins
Our guest this episode is Kay A. Oliver — a dynamic storyteller with decades of experience in Hollywood as a producer, writer, and director. With degrees in Radio/TV/Film and an MBA in Business, Kay built a successful career in entertainment before taking the leap into writing novels.
She’s known for creating strong, imperfect, and relatable women — often professionals like archaeologists and anthropologists — who face life’s challenges with humor and resilience. Her debut novel Disturbed Tombs kicked off the Dr. Kaili Worthy series, followed by Grave Disturbances and the upcoming Disturbing Remains. She’s also the author of Road to Elysium and the heartfelt Ice Cream Moments, which explores family dynamics in a deeply human way.
Recognized in Marquis’ Who’s Who in America 2024, Kay is passionate about telling stories that matter — stories that entertain, inspire, and highlight women’s voices in ways Hollywood too often overlooks.
Kay A. Oliver Website https://kayaoliver.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorkayaoliver
She’s known for creating strong, imperfect, and relatable women — often professionals like archaeologists and anthropologists — who face life’s challenges with humor and resilience. Her debut novel Disturbed Tombs kicked off the Dr. Kaili Worthy series, followed by Grave Disturbances and the upcoming Disturbing Remains. She’s also the author of Road to Elysium and the heartfelt Ice Cream Moments, which explores family dynamics in a deeply human way.
Recognized in Marquis’ Who’s Who in America 2024, Kay is passionate about telling stories that matter — stories that entertain, inspire, and highlight women’s voices in ways Hollywood too often overlooks.
Kay A. Oliver Website https://kayaoliver.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorkayaoliver
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
All right, Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the program.
If you are new here, we are primarily an interview
and a commentary based podcast. My name is Billy Dees.
With me on the studio line is Ka Oliver. Now
how should I say your name? Should I say kay
A Oliver or just k Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Because there's another writer just goes by Kay Oliver, so
I like to you put the A in.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
There, k A Oliver. All Right, that's fantastic. Kay is
an author and we're going to talk about her writing.
She's got a Hollywood background, and what I find interesting
is she's really a champion of women's resilience. So just briefly,
(00:48):
she's been working. You know, she's had a journey going
through Hollywood. What I want to say she was reignited
with us a different figure by this journey through Hollywood
for a passion and for storytelling. And despite facing rejection
from studio executives who said female centric screenplays don't work right,
(01:11):
female heroines and things like that, they don't sell. Is
that what they basically told you.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yep, they're not marketable, strong intelligent action. The hero females
are not Actually they're not marketable.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Okay, it's interesting. So she went on to write a
novel which was Disturbed at Tombs. She went on to
write a couple of others. Before we go get into that,
let's start with you. Are you from California? Is that
how you got involved with that area?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well? I lived most of my life in California. Then
I got my degree in radio, TV, Film, So that's
how I got into entertainment.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, okay, that's good. Is that something you obviously always
wanted to do?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Right?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
You always had a passion for storytelling.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Always had a passion for storytelling. Absolutely that the different
formats doesn't matter, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Was champion women's stories something you always wanted to do?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I think after working experience it became vital to me.
So not at the beginning now, but I like a
lot of action. I read those kind of books and
I just feel that there is a space for that
strong female woman. And having gone through many things in Hollywood,
(02:36):
I think that is just part of who I am now.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
When you say many things, I sent something. Yet we
hear all the stories about men behaving badly in Hollywood?
Is that something that is true? Is that something that
you experienced?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yes? Yeah, some of them who have now been brought
to the limelight. I will agree they need to be
brought to the limelight a long time ago. But when
you're making money for a studio and you're powerful in
that sense, you get away with a lot. Yeah. Yeah,
(03:17):
studios themselves. You know, if you look at the history
of studios, they used to you know, hire quote unquote
actresses to attend parties, to be there for the men.
You know, you could get a contract with the studio
and you'd be required to be at these parties. So
it's you know, it was in the culture to begin with,
(03:37):
and it still hasn't totally changed for sure.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
You know. One of the things that I would want
to ask is, I think one of the things that
may be affecting change in Hollywood isn't so much Okay,
we need to we need to behave better. That's probably
not happening.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That's not it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
But what is happening is hollywod it is now being
impacted by a lot of other things that is drastically
changing it. For one thing, in my opinion, just to
give you a few examples here, in my opinion, I
think they overinvested in streaming. They put way too much
in it. You know, the COVID what it did, for
(04:18):
better or for worse, no matter what your politics are
on this. And I don't know how a disease became
a political thing, but it did. But the lecturing from
a lot of stars about how to behave during the
lockdown and everything, when they did something else and they
talked down to a lot of people, don't I don't
think that served the Hollywood star system that well at all.
(04:40):
I don't think it's served them well at all. And now,
another thing that the lockdowns did was they got people
focused on the device that's in the palm of their hand.
And you look at some of the things that are
going on on TikTok now in other places. You know,
for one thing, there's some very talented people on there.
I'm very talented people. And the other thing is that
(05:05):
I would imagine if you are under the age of
twenty five, if I asked you who Denzel Washington was,
or Brett Pitt or any of these people, they might
know the name, but they are much more likely to
know somebody like Logan paul On, you know from from
yes the influencers so broadcast television. I tell you, I
(05:29):
got to be honest with you, I don't know that
I could name a sitcom on TV right now, whereas
when I was, you know, young. I mean there's you
could name a off whole bunch of whether it be
Cheers or this or that other thing, you know, the taxi,
all those. It's just not happening. So how do you feel, Well,
let's talk about Hollywood just a little bit before we
(05:50):
get into your books. What do you think? What do
you think the condition of Hollywood is at this point?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Well, a couple of things. First of all, producers writers
strike needed to happen. Equal pay needs to happen. And
when women are paid the same amount as they're counter
partners on a film, they can then also make studios
and then have their own films go out. So equal
(06:18):
pay is important there. People theaters are kind of dying.
It would be nice recently somebody, you know, if you
release a film, they do the old fashioned advertising, which
is television, and people aren't watching television or they're fast
forwarding through commercials and they're not doing social media. The
(06:41):
ones that do social media do well in the box office,
and they don't understand that because you know, the upper
echelon of movie theaters is older, and I don't think
they realize how much of an audience is on social media.
How much cheaper it is to run social media ads
doesn't make it less influential. And your ads are live
(07:06):
for a long time. They don't it's not a thirty
second commercial there and gone, well what was that movie?
You know, you can go back and look at it.
It sits there forever unless you delete it, And they
don't really use it properly. I think the last one
that kind of did was Deadpool and Wolverine. They were
all over the internet and they had a fantastic box office.
(07:30):
So you know, there are manufactors at play that you know,
they don't step into the new world or try new
things sometimes. Well, Hollywood's notorious for not trying new things.
How many remakes have we see content hasn't helped. Yeah,
they're always scared to try new content because they don't
(07:52):
know what the outcome is going to be. So you know,
but then you have you know, boobies that take off
that are you know, completely different, that do very well.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So yeah, it seems like most of the really big
hit movies are either some kind of a superhero which
are loaded with special effects. They quite frankly, they look
like very expensive video games. I don't know that artistically
they have the respect that they once did. And where
(08:27):
I was leading to, whether it be a female centric
character or otherwise, it just don't seem like character driven,
story driven scripts are getting made. I mean that's from
my observer as a casual observer of what's been coming out.
I just don't see those types of movies coming across
unless they're independent, small.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Films or the Lego strikes to streaming, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Then they go straat to streaming. So I think that
Hollywood has a lot of challenges everything that I just mentioned,
and I think you know the way that they the
studio system with the addition couch as it was quite
often put. I think the only thing that's impacting that
here again isn't the ability to do good, but the
(09:13):
fact that the industry is dying and it has to
make a change. So we'll see, as they say, we'll see.
I think the magic of Hollywood as it was referred
to in the fifties and sixties is.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Gone, oh absolutely. In fact, I don't know if you
remember this, but when DVD players first came out, Hollywood
was against them and lobbied against them and thought for
laws against them.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
So you know, and actually that was the least of
their worries. At least they could make up some revenue
by selling the DVDs. Now everything goes straight to streaming
and you don't have the package to sell. So yeah,
interesting times as you made your way through the Hollywood scene,
(10:02):
and obviously it has its challenges, but you decided to
go write your own thing, carve your own path, and
that kind of led to your first book, which is
Disturbed Tombs. So talk about the evolution of how that's
kind of happened.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
For you, well, Disturbed Tubes. Yeah, so I at one
point in my life, I had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
I lost my job, but you know, because they just
let me go, lost my insurance, and I had to
survive on my own because I'm single. And I made
it through that. So the last time that I, yeah,
(10:41):
you know, presented a script and heard the same remarks,
I thought, well, you know what, I made it through
that without planning. I'm going to start writing books because
now I'm in charge of what decisions I make, right,
And I started writing that while working a little bit,
you know, in the evenings and stuff like that. And
(11:04):
they came from a question I always have, which was,
why do we uncover every mommy we find right pig
them up in Sudan or Egypt or wherever. Yes, we
don't touch our graveyards because they're sacred. So what's the difference?
Tell me, you know, are we disturbing their peace? And
that was the crux for the inspiration that ignited that book.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Interesting. I've talked to a lot of people that write,
and they all have a different wave of approaching it.
Some of them are very disciplined. I've had people tell
me you can't wait for inspiration. You have to through
the course of a week. You have to put this time,
this time, and this time. I'm going to be writing
whether I'm inspired or not. And then I've had other
(11:49):
people telling me, you know, I just write when i'm inspired.
If it's four o'clock in the morning and I wake
up and I have an idea, you know, I get
over that type wayer and record it before I forget
it or keep head. Now that's much typewriter, But what's
it like for you?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I am not a plotter, so I don't go and
say in chapter one, I'm going to talk about this
and chapter two. I think also because of my background,
I can kind of see it as a movie in
my head, so I know where I'm starting, I know
where I'm ending, and I know what I kind of
want in the middle. Sometimes I shocked myself that I
put this twist here and there, because I love twists,
(12:26):
and so I just I write a lot. I have
not had a time where I didn't have inspiration. I
use a couple of tricks. I never finish at the
end of the chapter and close down for the day.
I always leave it in the middle of a chapter
and sometimes in the middle of a sentence. And that
is so when I go back to it, I start reading, Okay,
(12:47):
that's where I was, that's what I was thinking, and
I can start writing. So I've really not ever had
a so called writer's block. I have taken days off.
You have to sit back and think about the story whatever,
and something happens and you go, oh, well, I got
that improving for the book. So you know the shirt
that people say that you know, if you're a friend
(13:08):
of mine, I'm a writer, you'll probably end up in
a story, So that is true. I use a lot
of true life, which I've never stressed over being blocked
because goll lee life, you're pulling from life. You know,
characters are quote unquote real people, but they're characters, so
you know, something happens, you go, oh, need to remember
(13:30):
that and put that in. So but by the see
of the pants, I guess is the kind of writer
and one might classify me in But since twenty twenty one,
I've written fourteen books, so I've not really having an
issue writing.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah with this. Are you happy with the success that
you've had with your books?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Oh my gosh, I've had over thirty awards. My first book,
deal with a strong female action Woman, I got four awards,
so I knew I was on the right track. And
this year I made a Fiction Author of the Year
by the International Organization of Top Professionals. So yeah, and
(14:15):
I like them. Comments I get back from readers, I,
you know, sometimes surprised me. Either it's you know, they
really love the characters. They're really you know, really human,
they really feel like you know, they're people they know,
and or I learned something every time I read one
of your books. Because I like to throw stuff into
(14:35):
my books that is actual and real. You know, even
if I'm writing about a pi in Michigan. You know,
I brought up things from history in Michigan in the story.
So I love research too, So I do both.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Was that being said the obvious questions kind of leading
you have these action characters. Have you ever pursued the idea,
especially since your books have gotten some intention which Hollywood
seems to like successful books to extract stories from. Have
you ever pursued the idea of one of your books
getting written into a screenplay and then possibly produced.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, well, so Grow to Elysium is the book that's
one of the most awards and one ten and ten awards,
and I think two or three one two, three or
four production companies have asked to look at it. So
we'll see.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I wish you the best of luck there, and remember
me when you get famous, make sure you come back.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I mean really, just give me the money. Just give
you the too long.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
That's funny. Yeah, that's a good thing. Money is a
good thing. With that being said, it seems like we
have a new, let's say, structure in Hollywood, And I
would have to say the publishing business is also all
over the place. You know, you have publishers now that
(16:10):
are all over the place in terms of what they'll
take and what they won't as independent publishing now, there's
so many ways to get your books out now. That's
a good thing on one hand. The other thing is
is that, well, maybe it isn't so good because there's
fifty thousand books out there, and some of them are good,
some of them aren't so good. What advice for any
(16:30):
new writers? And there's a lot of writers and people
who are inspired by writers that listen to this program,
how would you begin navigating that if you had to
start your career all over again, How would you approach
the publishing business right now?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I enjoy doing independent publisher I find it hard to
really find a literary agent who you know, would melt
together well with my style of writing. I don't stick
to one genre per se, which is normally what they want.
(17:12):
You know, if you're a cozy murder writer, which I
have books on, you know, that's where they want to
to stay. I but that I do historical fiction, so
you know, all over the map. Whatever intrigues me at
the time, whatever question I have in my mind. I've
done a Western trying to explain why you can't find
(17:34):
any of the loot from the all the western heights.
I had an idea there and whispering lessons as too,
while you can't find that because it's already been stolen
and you know, so I don't. I don't fit into
one genre for me. Yeah, And it takes a lot
of time and energy to hug down and find an
(17:58):
agent that you can work with, works with you. It's
it's the same thing for an editor. By the way,
I have a great editor, but you know, finding the
right editor for your book is very important. So I
you know, it's up to them if you want to,
you know, do the long road of a query letters.
And there's some sites that you can join to teach
(18:19):
you how to do query letters. I was on those sites,
very informative. Then they have days where you can actually
meet people looking for books, and I would highly recommend
you know, searching those out and getting on some of
those legitimate ones. You know them are people and they
(18:39):
all cost but you know, you get a lot of
information that way.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah, sometimes you get as you pay for. As we've
often said, AI, you know here again this parallels Hollywood now,
because you know, you mentioned the strike and one of
the concerns was the idea that AI could do a
lot of the stuff that actors do. This is especially
in regard to where you have extras and crowds and
(19:07):
the things of that nature. It's very easily done now
to replicate you know, actors, and sometimes it's hard to
tell the difference, especially in a wide shot where you
got people in the background. You don't have to hire
extras anymore. You don't need a prop department, you don't
need costumes, you don't need all that stuff. Well, it's
(19:27):
creeping into how people right now. I've talked to musicians,
you know. One of the things I asked musicians is
you could take all the number one songs of the
last fifty years and ask AI to pick the most
popular basslines, the most popular hooks, the most popular themes,
and essentially write what would be a mix of all
(19:52):
the best elements of all the number one songs. Now,
that doesn't necessarily mean that that's going to be a hit,
but you get where I'm going. Really artificially create something
that has the best chance of becoming successful. How is
that impacting writing Is that going to be an issue
(20:13):
or is it not?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I think in the future, Like when I started in
Hollywood thirty years ago, I always said that at some
point you'll just also you'll need to do is buy
someone's likeness and you can make a movie. So I
always knew that was coming. I could see it.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So with AI, as it gets more intelligent, as we
tweak it and stuff like that, I think it would
be able to write full novels or books. I'm not sure.
I mean not now. What I see it's good for
right now is an instruction book, but with regards to
(20:50):
fiction and being human and have human things happen in
the book. Someone's walking along on the trip. You know,
you just add that kind of stuff. You know. AI
doesn't do that. It doesn't give you that character feeling
of being human. It's it's kind of, you know, still manual,
kind of you know, auto on autopilot, and it creates
(21:14):
things out of nowhere that you know, it still makes
some people say it lies. Some people says it makes
up its own imagination that that's not where you're you know,
you use a writer want to go now for ideas,
you know, if you're stuck somewhere. Yeah, you know, ask
ask Ai for ten ideas or something. For blog writing, absolutely,
(21:38):
but you still need to go in and check everything
because it's you know it, it will make up things
that never existed. So that's you know, but in the
future probably if you know, if they tweak it enough
and it starts to learn on its own. Yeah, but
I don't use it for writing at this time. Maybe
(21:58):
for a post, a content post, yeah, but nothing else. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, I've used it for editing my own stuff, you know,
just a double check grammar and things like that. I
haven't asked it to compose anything from scratch, but I have,
you know, used it for editing, and I'm guessing that's
where writers could probably use it, especially when it comes
to doing research and things like that. I can see where,
(22:25):
you know, asking ai'd at least point you in the
right direction before you start a big research project. And
here again you have to double check everything. But a
lot of the busy work could be done for you.
So I mean it's we'll just have to wait and
see how that evolves. I would hope. The humanistic thing
to say is that human emotions are best portrayed and
(22:48):
presented by human beings, but we'll have to wait and see.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Us and all of that that you put into a character,
we still have to put it. I still do so.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yes, being an author carries a certain prestige, I think.
I think when you tell people you've written a book,
especially when you've gotten accolades, I think there's a certain
amount of pride that would come with that. What's your
favorite part about being an author? When you tell people
that's what you do.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
When I tell people that's what I do, them saying
where can I buy your books? Yeah, but my favorite
part about being an author is going on the journey
when I'm writing, and I will tell you so I
have two series going, two different series and deserved terms
(23:39):
turned into a series. Sometimes I'll be writing, writing along
and I'll write, I know it's not me, it's the character,
you know, So I have to remember I'm not the
one on the journey, but you know, it feels like
it for me. So I enjoy that. I lose myself
in my books as I'm writing. You don't really get
(24:01):
the joy out of writing and creating stuff and then
sharing it because I know a lot of people's fear
is and I have a I write blogs on free
writing tips on my website, and you know some of
the things that people well, why should I write it?
Who's going to read it? No one cares about my
story or you know that kind of stuff, and you'd
(24:23):
be surprised when you put it out there there are
people who care who want to read it, so you know,
and if anything, write it for yourself. So my first
book I wrote for myself. I never thought I'd get
any awards, and you know, never thought it would sell,
but so I was wrong. So it all depends on
(24:46):
you know that you need to just test yourself and
do it and not be infectionist because some people I
know want to know everything they're going to write and
how they're going to write it, and then every sentence correct.
Great novels are made in the edit stage. They're never
made in the first draft. So just right, don't worry
about mistakes because it's a live, living animal that you
(25:07):
can go in and change. It's not like you're working
with marble and carving, and if you do the wrong cut,
that's somebody else. So you know, people have to know
that too. But give yourself patience and just write and
get the story down and then work from them.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Suppose someone is interested in learning more about your work,
what would you recommend to get them started? Well, how
would they start get to get familiar with your work?
What book would you recommend first?
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I guess I would still recommend my first book, Disturb
Tubes that or Rode to Elysium because everybody loves that book.
That one's based on a true story, so a lot
of people enjoy that. And it has to do with
redemption and hope, and it's you know, pretty much about
how I need jerk reaction to something can change everything
(25:58):
down in the Doves lost everything. We say yes to
something or not to something, it can change everything. So
that's what that looks kind of based on.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
The author's name is ka A. Oliver? Where can people
find out more about you? First of all, website, social media?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yes, I am on social media, all of it. I'm
on Facebook under my name. My website is my name
k k A y A Oliver dot com. There also
has all my social media listenings. I'm on Instagram under
Hollywood Underscore gal and I'm on Blue Sky and Interest
(26:46):
and so I'm I'm out and.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
About good good. Where can people buy your books and
I would think the obvious is Amazon, but.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Barnes and Noble.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, well, I really think that if we were to
capsulate this interview, I would think that the key message
is strong female characters. That's that's kind of the common
thread that's in your work. Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
That is correct?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay, So talking to kay A Oliver, do check her out.
Author a lot of books, a lot of holly. Have
you been wanting to write about any of your Hollywood
experiences good and bad?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
No?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
No.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
The funny thing that you say that is because there
was a lot of times I would not speak about
the things that went on in Hollywood because one, I
don't think people would have believed me if I told
them about some of those people that have now been
arrested and the things that happened. But as things come out,
they're like, oh my gosh, I go, yeah, you know
(27:53):
I was told this and this about that person, And
why'd you say anything I said? Because nobody would have
believed me back then, you know, so writing about it
now that really, you know, I kind of take that
with me. You know, Lou Osterman, who used to own
Universal Studios, once said, and I got to work with him,
(28:16):
you know, you don't. You don't write about things like that.
You just take it with you. I'm going to agree with.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Him than with Yeah, I have. I have had a
few friends that have been successful in Hollywood. I was
never out that way. I did work for a stand
I did work as a stand up comedian for a
number of years. I was never a headliner. I was
usually one of the opening acts. I did meet quite
a lot of headliners, and when I had private conversations
(28:43):
with him and so on and so forth. The one
thing I heard very consistent, this was like two thousand
and four, two thousand and five. The one thing I
heard very consistently was that one number one, Bill Cosby
was not a good guy. I heard that a lot.
And the other thing. The other thing I heard was
that Robin Williams as much loved as he was with
Steel Material. I heard that a lot. As a matter
(29:05):
of fact, one of them told me that they had
a Robin Light and some of the clubs out in
Los Angeles, and what that Robin Light was was when
that came on, that meant that if you were on stage,
you better go to b Material because Robin was in
the room. And of course you would do your act
and a couple of weeks later you'd be out on
the road and people would come up to you and say, oh, yeah,
(29:26):
I saw Robin Williams on HBO and he did the
same thing. Yeah for me. So yeah, So I think
that there's a lot of there's a lot of bad
things that come out hot. I don't think Robin Williams
was sinister for doing that, like like Bill Cosby, but
(29:47):
I did hear that very consistently, and how true it was,
I don't know, but I heard those things very consistently,
and it's funny how those stories go around.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'll back you up on that because I have a
girlfriend who's a comedian also up comedian, bad actress, and
yes that happens, Yes, yes it is.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Well, Kay, it's been interesting talking to you. You've got
a good series of books, and strong female characters are
something that you don't see too often. I mean, there's
there's still the roles for like the Angelina Joe Lee's
of the world, but I'm going to say they're not
as common as you know, the the male driven stories.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
So absolutely, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
You're a voice that needed to be heard. Thank you
very much, Kay, for being on the program.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
And my name is Billy D's. You can find the
Bility's podcast anywhere you find podcasts. We've got about a
ten year history doing this, so we're real easy to
find on your favorite podcasting platform. I'm on most social media.
Probably my social media home is the former Twitter now
known as x at Billy D's there. There's links in
(30:57):
my bio to other places you can find me, so
do check us out. And by the way, when you
subscribe to the abilities podcasts on your favorite platform, there
are no paywalls. We don't do that. We value our listeners.
Our revenue streams come from by the places. Now you
might have to listen to a few commercials here and there,
but we do not charge listeners. Subscribe please. There's no
(31:17):
paywalls and won't run in Denny. The more content you find,
it all free. Thank you very much for listening to
the program today, and we will talk to you again.
I'm very very sooner.
All right, Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the program.
If you are new here, we are primarily an interview
and a commentary based podcast. My name is Billy Dees.
With me on the studio line is Ka Oliver. Now
how should I say your name? Should I say kay
A Oliver or just k Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Because there's another writer just goes by Kay Oliver, so
I like to you put the A in.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
There, k A Oliver. All Right, that's fantastic. Kay is
an author and we're going to talk about her writing.
She's got a Hollywood background, and what I find interesting
is she's really a champion of women's resilience. So just briefly,
(00:48):
she's been working. You know, she's had a journey going
through Hollywood. What I want to say she was reignited
with us a different figure by this journey through Hollywood
for a passion and for storytelling. And despite facing rejection
from studio executives who said female centric screenplays don't work right,
(01:11):
female heroines and things like that, they don't sell. Is
that what they basically told you.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yep, they're not marketable, strong intelligent action. The hero females
are not Actually they're not marketable.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Okay, it's interesting. So she went on to write a
novel which was Disturbed at Tombs. She went on to
write a couple of others. Before we go get into that,
let's start with you. Are you from California? Is that
how you got involved with that area?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well? I lived most of my life in California. Then
I got my degree in radio, TV, Film, So that's
how I got into entertainment.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, okay, that's good. Is that something you obviously always
wanted to do?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Right?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
You always had a passion for storytelling.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Always had a passion for storytelling. Absolutely that the different
formats doesn't matter, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Was champion women's stories something you always wanted to do?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I think after working experience it became vital to me.
So not at the beginning now, but I like a
lot of action. I read those kind of books and
I just feel that there is a space for that
strong female woman. And having gone through many things in Hollywood,
(02:36):
I think that is just part of who I am now.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
When you say many things, I sent something. Yet we
hear all the stories about men behaving badly in Hollywood?
Is that something that is true? Is that something that
you experienced?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yes? Yeah, some of them who have now been brought
to the limelight. I will agree they need to be
brought to the limelight a long time ago. But when
you're making money for a studio and you're powerful in
that sense, you get away with a lot. Yeah. Yeah,
(03:17):
studios themselves. You know, if you look at the history
of studios, they used to you know, hire quote unquote
actresses to attend parties, to be there for the men.
You know, you could get a contract with the studio
and you'd be required to be at these parties. So
it's you know, it was in the culture to begin with,
(03:37):
and it still hasn't totally changed for sure.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
You know. One of the things that I would want
to ask is, I think one of the things that
may be affecting change in Hollywood isn't so much Okay,
we need to we need to behave better. That's probably
not happening.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That's not it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
But what is happening is hollywod it is now being
impacted by a lot of other things that is drastically
changing it. For one thing, in my opinion, just to
give you a few examples here, in my opinion, I
think they overinvested in streaming. They put way too much
in it. You know, the COVID what it did, for
(04:18):
better or for worse, no matter what your politics are
on this. And I don't know how a disease became
a political thing, but it did. But the lecturing from
a lot of stars about how to behave during the
lockdown and everything, when they did something else and they
talked down to a lot of people, don't I don't
think that served the Hollywood star system that well at all.
(04:40):
I don't think it's served them well at all. And now,
another thing that the lockdowns did was they got people
focused on the device that's in the palm of their hand.
And you look at some of the things that are
going on on TikTok now in other places. You know,
for one thing, there's some very talented people on there.
I'm very talented people. And the other thing is that
(05:05):
I would imagine if you are under the age of
twenty five, if I asked you who Denzel Washington was,
or Brett Pitt or any of these people, they might
know the name, but they are much more likely to
know somebody like Logan paul On, you know from from
yes the influencers so broadcast television. I tell you, I
(05:29):
got to be honest with you, I don't know that
I could name a sitcom on TV right now, whereas
when I was, you know, young. I mean there's you
could name a off whole bunch of whether it be
Cheers or this or that other thing, you know, the taxi,
all those. It's just not happening. So how do you feel, Well,
let's talk about Hollywood just a little bit before we
(05:50):
get into your books. What do you think? What do
you think the condition of Hollywood is at this point?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Well, a couple of things. First of all, producers writers
strike needed to happen. Equal pay needs to happen. And
when women are paid the same amount as they're counter
partners on a film, they can then also make studios
and then have their own films go out. So equal
(06:18):
pay is important there. People theaters are kind of dying.
It would be nice recently somebody, you know, if you
release a film, they do the old fashioned advertising, which
is television, and people aren't watching television or they're fast
forwarding through commercials and they're not doing social media. The
(06:41):
ones that do social media do well in the box office,
and they don't understand that because you know, the upper
echelon of movie theaters is older, and I don't think
they realize how much of an audience is on social media.
How much cheaper it is to run social media ads
doesn't make it less influential. And your ads are live
(07:06):
for a long time. They don't it's not a thirty
second commercial there and gone, well what was that movie?
You know, you can go back and look at it.
It sits there forever unless you delete it, And they
don't really use it properly. I think the last one
that kind of did was Deadpool and Wolverine. They were
all over the internet and they had a fantastic box office.
(07:30):
So you know, there are manufactors at play that you know,
they don't step into the new world or try new
things sometimes. Well, Hollywood's notorious for not trying new things.
How many remakes have we see content hasn't helped. Yeah,
they're always scared to try new content because they don't
(07:52):
know what the outcome is going to be. So you know,
but then you have you know, boobies that take off
that are you know, completely different, that do very well.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So yeah, it seems like most of the really big
hit movies are either some kind of a superhero which
are loaded with special effects. They quite frankly, they look
like very expensive video games. I don't know that artistically
they have the respect that they once did. And where
(08:27):
I was leading to, whether it be a female centric
character or otherwise, it just don't seem like character driven,
story driven scripts are getting made. I mean that's from
my observer as a casual observer of what's been coming out.
I just don't see those types of movies coming across
unless they're independent, small.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Films or the Lego strikes to streaming, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Then they go straat to streaming. So I think that
Hollywood has a lot of challenges everything that I just mentioned,
and I think you know the way that they the
studio system with the addition couch as it was quite
often put. I think the only thing that's impacting that
here again isn't the ability to do good, but the
(09:13):
fact that the industry is dying and it has to
make a change. So we'll see, as they say, we'll see.
I think the magic of Hollywood as it was referred
to in the fifties and sixties is.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Gone, oh absolutely. In fact, I don't know if you
remember this, but when DVD players first came out, Hollywood
was against them and lobbied against them and thought for
laws against them.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
So you know, and actually that was the least of
their worries. At least they could make up some revenue
by selling the DVDs. Now everything goes straight to streaming
and you don't have the package to sell. So yeah,
interesting times as you made your way through the Hollywood scene,
(10:02):
and obviously it has its challenges, but you decided to
go write your own thing, carve your own path, and
that kind of led to your first book, which is
Disturbed Tombs. So talk about the evolution of how that's
kind of happened.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
For you, well, Disturbed Tubes. Yeah, so I at one
point in my life, I had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
I lost my job, but you know, because they just
let me go, lost my insurance, and I had to
survive on my own because I'm single. And I made
it through that. So the last time that I, yeah,
(10:41):
you know, presented a script and heard the same remarks,
I thought, well, you know what, I made it through
that without planning. I'm going to start writing books because
now I'm in charge of what decisions I make, right,
And I started writing that while working a little bit,
you know, in the evenings and stuff like that. And
(11:04):
they came from a question I always have, which was,
why do we uncover every mommy we find right pig
them up in Sudan or Egypt or wherever. Yes, we
don't touch our graveyards because they're sacred. So what's the difference?
Tell me, you know, are we disturbing their peace? And
that was the crux for the inspiration that ignited that book.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Interesting. I've talked to a lot of people that write,
and they all have a different wave of approaching it.
Some of them are very disciplined. I've had people tell
me you can't wait for inspiration. You have to through
the course of a week. You have to put this time,
this time, and this time. I'm going to be writing
whether I'm inspired or not. And then I've had other
(11:49):
people telling me, you know, I just write when i'm inspired.
If it's four o'clock in the morning and I wake
up and I have an idea, you know, I get
over that type wayer and record it before I forget
it or keep head. Now that's much typewriter, But what's
it like for you?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I am not a plotter, so I don't go and
say in chapter one, I'm going to talk about this
and chapter two. I think also because of my background,
I can kind of see it as a movie in
my head, so I know where I'm starting, I know
where I'm ending, and I know what I kind of
want in the middle. Sometimes I shocked myself that I
put this twist here and there, because I love twists,
(12:26):
and so I just I write a lot. I have
not had a time where I didn't have inspiration. I
use a couple of tricks. I never finish at the
end of the chapter and close down for the day.
I always leave it in the middle of a chapter
and sometimes in the middle of a sentence. And that
is so when I go back to it, I start reading, Okay,
(12:47):
that's where I was, that's what I was thinking, and
I can start writing. So I've really not ever had
a so called writer's block. I have taken days off.
You have to sit back and think about the story whatever,
and something happens and you go, oh, well, I got
that improving for the book. So you know the shirt
that people say that you know, if you're a friend
(13:08):
of mine, I'm a writer, you'll probably end up in
a story, So that is true. I use a lot
of true life, which I've never stressed over being blocked
because goll lee life, you're pulling from life. You know,
characters are quote unquote real people, but they're characters, so
you know, something happens, you go, oh, need to remember
(13:30):
that and put that in. So but by the see
of the pants, I guess is the kind of writer
and one might classify me in But since twenty twenty one,
I've written fourteen books, so I've not really having an
issue writing.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah with this. Are you happy with the success that
you've had with your books?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Oh my gosh, I've had over thirty awards. My first book,
deal with a strong female action Woman, I got four awards,
so I knew I was on the right track. And
this year I made a Fiction Author of the Year
by the International Organization of Top Professionals. So yeah, and
(14:15):
I like them. Comments I get back from readers, I,
you know, sometimes surprised me. Either it's you know, they
really love the characters. They're really you know, really human,
they really feel like you know, they're people they know,
and or I learned something every time I read one
of your books. Because I like to throw stuff into
(14:35):
my books that is actual and real. You know, even
if I'm writing about a pi in Michigan. You know,
I brought up things from history in Michigan in the story.
So I love research too, So I do both.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Was that being said the obvious questions kind of leading
you have these action characters. Have you ever pursued the idea,
especially since your books have gotten some intention which Hollywood
seems to like successful books to extract stories from. Have
you ever pursued the idea of one of your books
getting written into a screenplay and then possibly produced.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, well, so Grow to Elysium is the book that's
one of the most awards and one ten and ten awards,
and I think two or three one two, three or
four production companies have asked to look at it. So
we'll see.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I wish you the best of luck there, and remember
me when you get famous, make sure you come back.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I mean really, just give me the money. Just give
you the too long.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
That's funny. Yeah, that's a good thing. Money is a
good thing. With that being said, it seems like we
have a new, let's say, structure in Hollywood, And I
would have to say the publishing business is also all
over the place. You know, you have publishers now that
(16:10):
are all over the place in terms of what they'll
take and what they won't as independent publishing now, there's
so many ways to get your books out now. That's
a good thing on one hand. The other thing is
is that, well, maybe it isn't so good because there's
fifty thousand books out there, and some of them are good,
some of them aren't so good. What advice for any
(16:30):
new writers? And there's a lot of writers and people
who are inspired by writers that listen to this program,
how would you begin navigating that if you had to
start your career all over again, How would you approach
the publishing business right now?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I enjoy doing independent publisher I find it hard to
really find a literary agent who you know, would melt
together well with my style of writing. I don't stick
to one genre per se, which is normally what they want.
(17:12):
You know, if you're a cozy murder writer, which I
have books on, you know, that's where they want to
to stay. I but that I do historical fiction, so
you know, all over the map. Whatever intrigues me at
the time, whatever question I have in my mind. I've
done a Western trying to explain why you can't find
(17:34):
any of the loot from the all the western heights.
I had an idea there and whispering lessons as too,
while you can't find that because it's already been stolen
and you know, so I don't. I don't fit into
one genre for me. Yeah, And it takes a lot
of time and energy to hug down and find an
(17:58):
agent that you can work with, works with you. It's
it's the same thing for an editor. By the way,
I have a great editor, but you know, finding the
right editor for your book is very important. So I
you know, it's up to them if you want to,
you know, do the long road of a query letters.
And there's some sites that you can join to teach
(18:19):
you how to do query letters. I was on those sites,
very informative. Then they have days where you can actually
meet people looking for books, and I would highly recommend
you know, searching those out and getting on some of
those legitimate ones. You know them are people and they
(18:39):
all cost but you know, you get a lot of
information that way.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah, sometimes you get as you pay for. As we've
often said, AI, you know here again this parallels Hollywood now,
because you know, you mentioned the strike and one of
the concerns was the idea that AI could do a
lot of the stuff that actors do. This is especially
in regard to where you have extras and crowds and
(19:07):
the things of that nature. It's very easily done now
to replicate you know, actors, and sometimes it's hard to
tell the difference, especially in a wide shot where you
got people in the background. You don't have to hire
extras anymore. You don't need a prop department, you don't
need costumes, you don't need all that stuff. Well, it's
(19:27):
creeping into how people right now. I've talked to musicians,
you know. One of the things I asked musicians is
you could take all the number one songs of the
last fifty years and ask AI to pick the most
popular basslines, the most popular hooks, the most popular themes,
and essentially write what would be a mix of all
(19:52):
the best elements of all the number one songs. Now,
that doesn't necessarily mean that that's going to be a hit,
but you get where I'm going. Really artificially create something
that has the best chance of becoming successful. How is
that impacting writing Is that going to be an issue
(20:13):
or is it not?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I think in the future, Like when I started in
Hollywood thirty years ago, I always said that at some
point you'll just also you'll need to do is buy
someone's likeness and you can make a movie. So I
always knew that was coming. I could see it.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So with AI, as it gets more intelligent, as we
tweak it and stuff like that, I think it would
be able to write full novels or books. I'm not sure.
I mean not now. What I see it's good for
right now is an instruction book, but with regards to
(20:50):
fiction and being human and have human things happen in
the book. Someone's walking along on the trip. You know,
you just add that kind of stuff. You know. AI
doesn't do that. It doesn't give you that character feeling
of being human. It's it's kind of, you know, still manual,
kind of you know, auto on autopilot, and it creates
(21:14):
things out of nowhere that you know, it still makes
some people say it lies. Some people says it makes
up its own imagination that that's not where you're you know,
you use a writer want to go now for ideas,
you know, if you're stuck somewhere. Yeah, you know, ask
ask Ai for ten ideas or something. For blog writing, absolutely,
(21:38):
but you still need to go in and check everything
because it's you know it, it will make up things
that never existed. So that's you know, but in the
future probably if you know, if they tweak it enough
and it starts to learn on its own. Yeah, but
I don't use it for writing at this time. Maybe
(21:58):
for a post, a content post, yeah, but nothing else. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, I've used it for editing my own stuff, you know,
just a double check grammar and things like that. I
haven't asked it to compose anything from scratch, but I have,
you know, used it for editing, and I'm guessing that's
where writers could probably use it, especially when it comes
to doing research and things like that. I can see where,
(22:25):
you know, asking ai'd at least point you in the
right direction before you start a big research project. And
here again you have to double check everything. But a
lot of the busy work could be done for you.
So I mean it's we'll just have to wait and
see how that evolves. I would hope. The humanistic thing
to say is that human emotions are best portrayed and
(22:48):
presented by human beings, but we'll have to wait and see.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Us and all of that that you put into a character,
we still have to put it. I still do so.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yes, being an author carries a certain prestige, I think.
I think when you tell people you've written a book,
especially when you've gotten accolades, I think there's a certain
amount of pride that would come with that. What's your
favorite part about being an author? When you tell people
that's what you do.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
When I tell people that's what I do, them saying
where can I buy your books? Yeah, but my favorite
part about being an author is going on the journey
when I'm writing, and I will tell you so I
have two series going, two different series and deserved terms
(23:39):
turned into a series. Sometimes I'll be writing, writing along
and I'll write, I know it's not me, it's the character,
you know, So I have to remember I'm not the
one on the journey, but you know, it feels like
it for me. So I enjoy that. I lose myself
in my books as I'm writing. You don't really get
(24:01):
the joy out of writing and creating stuff and then
sharing it because I know a lot of people's fear
is and I have a I write blogs on free
writing tips on my website, and you know some of
the things that people well, why should I write it?
Who's going to read it? No one cares about my
story or you know that kind of stuff, and you'd
(24:23):
be surprised when you put it out there there are
people who care who want to read it, so you know,
and if anything, write it for yourself. So my first
book I wrote for myself. I never thought I'd get
any awards, and you know, never thought it would sell,
but so I was wrong. So it all depends on
(24:46):
you know that you need to just test yourself and
do it and not be infectionist because some people I
know want to know everything they're going to write and
how they're going to write it, and then every sentence correct.
Great novels are made in the edit stage. They're never
made in the first draft. So just right, don't worry
about mistakes because it's a live, living animal that you
(25:07):
can go in and change. It's not like you're working
with marble and carving, and if you do the wrong cut,
that's somebody else. So you know, people have to know
that too. But give yourself patience and just write and
get the story down and then work from them.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Suppose someone is interested in learning more about your work,
what would you recommend to get them started? Well, how
would they start get to get familiar with your work?
What book would you recommend first?
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I guess I would still recommend my first book, Disturb
Tubes that or Rode to Elysium because everybody loves that book.
That one's based on a true story, so a lot
of people enjoy that. And it has to do with
redemption and hope, and it's you know, pretty much about
how I need jerk reaction to something can change everything
(25:58):
down in the Doves lost everything. We say yes to
something or not to something, it can change everything. So
that's what that looks kind of based on.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
The author's name is ka A. Oliver? Where can people
find out more about you? First of all, website, social media?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yes, I am on social media, all of it. I'm
on Facebook under my name. My website is my name
k k A y A Oliver dot com. There also
has all my social media listenings. I'm on Instagram under
Hollywood Underscore gal and I'm on Blue Sky and Interest
(26:46):
and so I'm I'm out and.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
About good good. Where can people buy your books and
I would think the obvious is Amazon, but.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Barnes and Noble.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, well, I really think that if we were to
capsulate this interview, I would think that the key message
is strong female characters. That's that's kind of the common
thread that's in your work. Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
That is correct?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay, So talking to kay A Oliver, do check her out.
Author a lot of books, a lot of holly. Have
you been wanting to write about any of your Hollywood
experiences good and bad?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
No?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
No.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
The funny thing that you say that is because there
was a lot of times I would not speak about
the things that went on in Hollywood because one, I
don't think people would have believed me if I told
them about some of those people that have now been
arrested and the things that happened. But as things come out,
they're like, oh my gosh, I go, yeah, you know
(27:53):
I was told this and this about that person, And
why'd you say anything I said? Because nobody would have
believed me back then, you know, so writing about it
now that really, you know, I kind of take that
with me. You know, Lou Osterman, who used to own
Universal Studios, once said, and I got to work with him,
(28:16):
you know, you don't. You don't write about things like that.
You just take it with you. I'm going to agree with.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Him than with Yeah, I have. I have had a
few friends that have been successful in Hollywood. I was
never out that way. I did work for a stand
I did work as a stand up comedian for a
number of years. I was never a headliner. I was
usually one of the opening acts. I did meet quite
a lot of headliners, and when I had private conversations
(28:43):
with him and so on and so forth. The one
thing I heard very consistent, this was like two thousand
and four, two thousand and five. The one thing I
heard very consistently was that one number one, Bill Cosby
was not a good guy. I heard that a lot.
And the other thing. The other thing I heard was
that Robin Williams as much loved as he was with
Steel Material. I heard that a lot. As a matter
(29:05):
of fact, one of them told me that they had
a Robin Light and some of the clubs out in
Los Angeles, and what that Robin Light was was when
that came on, that meant that if you were on stage,
you better go to b Material because Robin was in
the room. And of course you would do your act
and a couple of weeks later you'd be out on
the road and people would come up to you and say, oh, yeah,
(29:26):
I saw Robin Williams on HBO and he did the
same thing. Yeah for me. So yeah, So I think
that there's a lot of there's a lot of bad
things that come out hot. I don't think Robin Williams
was sinister for doing that, like like Bill Cosby, but
(29:47):
I did hear that very consistently, and how true it was,
I don't know, but I heard those things very consistently,
and it's funny how those stories go around.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'll back you up on that because I have a
girlfriend who's a comedian also up comedian, bad actress, and
yes that happens, Yes, yes it is.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Well, Kay, it's been interesting talking to you. You've got
a good series of books, and strong female characters are
something that you don't see too often. I mean, there's
there's still the roles for like the Angelina Joe Lee's
of the world, but I'm going to say they're not
as common as you know, the the male driven stories.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
So absolutely, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
You're a voice that needed to be heard. Thank you
very much, Kay, for being on the program.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
And my name is Billy D's. You can find the
Bility's podcast anywhere you find podcasts. We've got about a
ten year history doing this, so we're real easy to
find on your favorite podcasting platform. I'm on most social media.
Probably my social media home is the former Twitter now
known as x at Billy D's there. There's links in
(30:57):
my bio to other places you can find me, so
do check us out. And by the way, when you
subscribe to the abilities podcasts on your favorite platform, there
are no paywalls. We don't do that. We value our listeners.
Our revenue streams come from by the places. Now you
might have to listen to a few commercials here and there,
but we do not charge listeners. Subscribe please. There's no
(31:17):
paywalls and won't run in Denny. The more content you find,
it all free. Thank you very much for listening to
the program today, and we will talk to you again.
I'm very very sooner.
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