Latest / Is Your Way In Your Way? / From Hollywood to Authorship: Kay Oliver's Journey of Resilience and Empowerment

Transcript

From Hollywood to Authorship: Kay Oliver's Journey of Resilience and Empowerment · Is Your Way In Your Way?

0:25
Cassandra: Good day out there to all my listeners and if it's not daytime for you when you're listening, well, good evening, good afternoon, good morning.
0:33
Cassandra: But anyway, hello everybody out there and welcome to Is your Way In your Way podcast, and many of the listeners may not know that that's the title of my book Is your Way In your Way.
0:45
Cassandra: So why not what I would say?
0:48
Cassandra: Correspond the book with the podcast.
0:51
Cassandra: All right, so this podcast is actually about individuals who are stuck, and I'm qualified to say this and I'm qualified to have written the book, qualified for this podcast, because I have been in my way and I realized I was in my way probably when I graduated from college you know it's kind of weird, but I was and so this is an opportunity that I hope that you're inspired, something really resonates with you that will enable you to start unleashing your potential so that you can live your best life on your terms.
1:31
Cassandra: And we talk about topics that are related to personal development and business development, and I also know the titles that we talk about will enable you to reflect on some things that occurred in your life, and I have a special guest this day and her name, and I'm going to introduce you to her.
1:50
Cassandra: Her name is Kay Oliver.
1:52
Cassandra: Hi Kay, hello, glad to be here, so glad you are here and listeners.
2:00
Cassandra: The name of this podcast is called Hollywood Insider Takes Control of Her Creativity.
2:09
Cassandra: That's right, a Hollywood insider takes control of her creativity.
2:14
Cassandra: So when you think of Hollywood, it's the American motion picture industry, right, all out in the LA area.
2:20
Cassandra: Well, before we delve into how she takes control of her creativity in Hollywood, let me share a little bit of her bio so that you can get a little background on her before we delve in Again.
2:38
Cassandra: I'm excited to introduce our guest, kay Oliver.
2:41
Cassandra: She's a storyteller with over three decades of experience in entertainment.
2:47
Cassandra: She holds degrees in radio, tv, film and an MBA in business, and has produced written and directed films while defying gender biases in Hollywood.
3:01
Cassandra: Kay's novels champion women's resilience, featuring professional characters who navigate life's challenges with humor.
3:10
Cassandra: Her literary journey includes a successful Disturbed Tombs series and works like Road to Elysium and Ice Cream Moments, and she's been honored in the Marquee of who's who in America, 2024.
3:30
Cassandra: Kay's legacy as a storyteller what I would call is cemented Unbelievable, unbelievable.
3:39
Cassandra: So, kay, before you got to Hollywood.
3:43
Cassandra: What was?
3:43
Cassandra: What was your life like before working in entertainment?
3:47
Kay Oliver: business.
3:48
Kay Oliver: My life growing up was not the best.
3:53
Kay Oliver: Mother's Day was very hard for me because I found out years later that I had a narcissistic mother who you know.
4:01
Kay Oliver: Everything was about her.
4:03
Kay Oliver: My brother was the golden child and I was the not so golden, so it was tough coming to terms with having to learn to believe in myself by myself not look for approvals.
4:19
Kay Oliver: I started writing in sixth grade, mind you years ago, and I wrote.
4:25
Kay Oliver: I entered a speech contest and won and from there on I knew I loved writing.
4:31
Kay Oliver: So I'd write little short stories and stuff as I was growing up.
4:34
Kay Oliver: I joined a speech club and drama and I did very well in both garnering leads in high school plays and things like that.
4:45
Kay Oliver: And when it came to having to get a college degree, I was married at the time and I put my husband through school as the agreement was before we got married.
4:56
Kay Oliver: And then when it was my turn to go to school, he told me I wasn't going to.
4:59
Kay Oliver: I said bye, bye, bye, it was not the agreement and I have too much going on for me not to go to college.
5:09
Kay Oliver: Agreement, and I have too much going on for me not to go to college.
5:11
Kay Oliver: I went to college and worked full time to be able to live and I decided that I wanted to continue.
5:19
Kay Oliver: Storytelling and Hollywood is another way of storytelling right.
5:24
Kay Oliver: I got my degree here and started out video editing and writing the news.
5:32
Cassandra: Wow.
5:32
Cassandra: So how did you get that job in Hollywood?
5:35
Cassandra: Was it difficult?
5:38
Kay Oliver: Oh, wow, right, I have absolutely zero relatives in Hollywood.
5:42
Kay Oliver: Oh no, I'm in.
5:46
Kay Oliver: The thing I tell the students because I do go to high schools and things and talk to them is grab every opportunity you can, volunteer for whatever you can, even if it's working on a film for free.
6:00
Cassandra: You know there's a lot of independent films that can use people.
6:03
Kay Oliver: You know, get your feet wet, get in there, get something on your resume.
6:06
Kay Oliver: And number two, network, network, network, and as someone who is a student, you can get memberships to different academies or different organizations and in those functions and network, even if you're networking with someone else who's networking who's?
6:32
Kay Oliver: Young like you, because I found you go up the ladder together and then you can help each other out in your careers.
6:36
Cassandra: So yeah, network, network.
6:37
Cassandra: Okay.
6:42
Kay Oliver: I was with someone I was just talking to him yesterday actually who said, hey, there's this opportunity at NBC, anybody interested?
6:50
Kay Oliver: I think he told about 12 people.
6:51
Kay Oliver: I was the only person who was willing at the time, from Cal State, fullerton, to drive to NBC in Burbank and I said, yeah, tell me about this opportunity, and I took it and that got me in, so wow, Once they see, you're a very good worker and you do good work.
7:08
Kay Oliver: You know, you're not just there for the glamour and the glitz, because there is no glamour and glitz Right.
7:13
Kay Oliver: They want you, they need people who are going to do the job, that they don't have to worry about.
7:21
Cassandra: Uh huh, Uh huh.
7:22
Cassandra: So and I wanted to, I wanted to talk a little bit about that because I always share, you know, with my listeners and even people that I mentor and my speaking, how critical relationships are.
7:36
Cassandra: You know the networking, how important it is.
7:39
Cassandra: You know, a lot of times, people I've had people who go into their jobs and usually they, you know, in the evening they want to go out to dinner.
7:48
Cassandra: The boss, you know, the executive team and they and I don't think that's different in any industry.
7:54
Cassandra: I think that's kind of like that all the way in most industries and we have individuals that say I don't want to go out to eat, I want to go home, or I want to do this, and I'm like, yeah, I'm like, well, you know what.
8:07
Cassandra: Let me kind of explain to you what politics mean.
8:10
Cassandra: You know how you have to play the game.
8:15
Cassandra: You know, because to me it looks like a game.
8:38
Cassandra: I mean that's how you kind of network, get with people.
8:41
Cassandra: And a lot of them did not understand that and was upset about it.
8:46
Cassandra: Like, if I don't want to go, I don't have to go.
8:49
Cassandra: Well, do you want to excel in this organization?
8:51
Cassandra: Well, I do.
8:52
Cassandra: I said, well, you have to get to know people, so that's why I'm glad that you said, yep, somebody helped me.
8:58
Cassandra: It was somebody that I knew that enabled you to get this job.
9:02
Kay Oliver: Yeah, and you know I, yeah, I could have easily said well, I don't want to drive to LA, it takes an hour and a half back, then two hours.
9:09
Kay Oliver: Now you know two, three times a week.
9:11
Kay Oliver: No, the TV Academy is in LA.
9:16
Kay Oliver: I joined that.
9:17
Kay Oliver: I'm still a member, and you know, it's sure I could have stayed home, put my feet up or I get out there and meet people and people help people and people want to tell their stories.
9:29
Kay Oliver: And I did some interviews, just informational interviews, with some top executives and you know, hey, if you've got 10 minutes, I'd love to hear you know what you think of it, you know what you think of my resume, this and that, and I've got some great advice because, sometimes calling me silly would want to not put everything on my resume, I would, you know, be like oh, they're going to, you know, think I'm gloating or this or that.
9:59
Kay Oliver: And one top executive at Paramount said put everything on your resume.
10:04
Kay Oliver: They don't like it, then you shouldn't be working for them.
10:07
Kay Oliver: Yeah, so it was.
10:08
Kay Oliver: Yeah, so it was great.
10:10
Cassandra: Well, yeah, that's interesting.
10:11
Cassandra: That's interesting.
10:12
Cassandra: Um, what type of work did you do in Hollywood?
10:16
Cassandra: What did you do?
10:18
Kay Oliver: I did several different things.
10:20
Kay Oliver: Um, I did writing, I did screenplay writing, I had a first and last.
10:25
Kay Oliver: We'll talk about that a little bit but, um, that was the getting out of my way thing.
10:31
Kay Oliver: I oversaw the budgets for a huge studio multi-million dollar budgets for tv and film and uh facilities, and, um, I also worked in the legal background with, uh, you know, assets and liabilities for every film.
10:50
Kay Oliver: So, yeah, Okay.
10:57
Cassandra: Now Kate you know, when you were younger, you talked about.
10:59
Cassandra: You know you like doing stories and writing.
11:02
Cassandra: When you got to Hollywood, was your dreams different.
11:08
Cassandra: Or, you know, did you aspire to be something or do something while in Hollywood?
11:12
Kay Oliver: You know there were certain things.
11:14
Kay Oliver: That's funny because make a huge feature film was not one of them.
11:19
Kay Oliver: I did direct films and did do right screenplays for features.
11:24
Kay Oliver: But being famous I found out very quickly.
11:29
Kay Oliver: I didn't want to be famous.
11:30
Kay Oliver: I saw what fame does to people good and bad but you know there's a lot of con to it and I decided behind the camera was best.
11:40
Kay Oliver: So I made some really good friends, which I wanted to do.
11:44
Kay Oliver: I walked red carpets.
11:46
Kay Oliver: I've been to the award shows.
11:48
Kay Oliver: My checklist was pretty full by the time.
11:52
Kay Oliver: I decided to jump ship, so to speak.
11:54
Kay Oliver: So never get out of Hollywood because they're shopping my book around to make a movie, but anyway, yeah.
12:03
Kay Oliver: So I did everything I wanted to do to work with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
12:10
Cassandra: And.
12:10
Kay Oliver: I absolutely loved working.
12:12
Kay Oliver: I originally worked with Lou Wasserman, who owned Universal Studios.
12:17
Kay Oliver: What I admired about him I found in Jeffrey Katzenberg as well.
12:22
Kay Oliver: He was an innovator.
12:23
Kay Oliver: You know.
12:24
Kay Oliver: He came up with different ways to do contracts and different things, and Jeffrey Katzenberg is doing the same thing with animation.
12:32
Kay Oliver: So you know he invests in innovation.
12:37
Kay Oliver: One thing about DreamWorks when you walk around the campus, every table in the lunchroom has literally almost every table has somebody speaking in another language.
12:48
Kay Oliver: It's not only people from LA, it's where are the best people?
12:52
Kay Oliver: Let's bring them on board.
12:54
Kay Oliver: Oh wow, that is.
12:56
Kay Oliver: That was pretty awesome.
12:57
Cassandra: Yeah, that is.
13:00
Cassandra: You've been with them for 30 years.
13:04
Kay Oliver: I worked in Hollywood for 30 years, 30 years.
13:07
Cassandra: Yeah, so on the tables, how recent was that for different languages?
13:12
Cassandra: Because I'm thinking about DEI diversity, equity and inclusion and I do remember the awards, how they said this is the first Asian director, or or yeah, so how, how soon did they do that?
13:28
Kay Oliver: Well, that's DreamWorks style.
13:30
Kay Oliver: I'm not sure about you know other studios, I can't speak to other studios.
13:35
Kay Oliver: Dreamworks was like that day one when I came on board.
13:38
Kay Oliver: So, um, yeah, because you know you need, they wanted the best.
13:44
Kay Oliver: Okay, you know we're working for steven spielberg.
13:47
Kay Oliver: They want the best right yeah, kat exactly, he wants the best.
13:50
Kay Oliver: So you know, was it inclusion or automatic?
13:55
Kay Oliver: I think it was automatic for them.
13:58
Cassandra: So, that's the way they do business.
14:00
Kay Oliver: Okay, that's good to know.
14:02
Kay Oliver: You know you're talking mainly about the Oscars and let me just differentiate between Oscars and Emmys.
14:32
Kay Oliver: Emmys have a lot more voters and a lot more people who make decisions.
14:34
Kay Oliver: Oscars are a limited number of people who vote for awards and you have to lobby really hard for those awards, so it is not necessarily always the best that should be winning Right, there's a lot of politics behind it.
14:38
Kay Oliver: Yeah, there you have it.
14:39
Kay Oliver: Yes, um, what was it like working Steve Spielberg, like , jeffrey katzenberg, who was a film producer, right, uh, a media prior to, or steve, I think, steven spielberg.
14:49
Kay Oliver: Um, spielberg, a lot of people heard of him know, so they sort of know who he is, but what was it like working with them or for them?
15:00
Kay Oliver: You know, they're both down to earth, both are very genuine.
15:06
Kay Oliver: Genuine, I mean, they would just walk around like, you know, anybody else.
15:11
Kay Oliver: Of course that's true at studios, but you could talk to them.
15:15
Kay Oliver: I, you know, I used to go up and sometimes it's hard to talk to Jeffrey, cause you can't tell if he's on the phone, on the phone or hi to you and you're like, oh, you're not, okay, let's start.
15:32
Kay Oliver: And then you know, always wanting to do the best that they could do.
15:37
Kay Oliver: You know, Schindler's List, which was a passion project for Steven Spielberg.
15:42
Kay Oliver: You could see the care and dedication in that film.
15:45
Kay Oliver: Otherwise, you know you say most of his films are commercial.
15:53
Kay Oliver: Jeffrey Katzenberg still likes to start with pencil and paper, even though we have computerization.
16:03
Kay Oliver: You know the animation, but there's that feel that you get and, unlike Pixar, if you look at a couple of the films like Fishtail versus Finding Nemo, the backgrounds are incredible.
16:15
Kay Oliver: On Jeffrey's films you don't have just a deep blue ocean to look into, you have cities and other fish and everything else and a lot more detail goes into those films and working with them.
16:28
Kay Oliver: You know Jeffrey is affectionately I would say a workaholic.
16:34
Kay Oliver: He wants to give 100%, I give 120 anyway.
16:37
Kay Oliver: So I've never had a problem with him.
16:39
Kay Oliver: I enjoyed working for him a lot and he asked me to do a lot of things outside of just the parameters of the consumer products that I was working on.
16:50
Kay Oliver: So I enjoyed a lot of things and they gave us.
16:53
Kay Oliver: We have film festivals for the employees and all sorts of things and we would bring back when we had music, you know, when Geffen was part of the three prongs of the people that worked there Toby Keith came out and sang.
17:09
Kay Oliver: Elton John came out and sang to the employees and we just.
17:12
Kay Oliver: you know it was fun.
17:13
Cassandra: It was my best place to work Okay, with your skills, your knowledge and like the storytelling and screenplays and all of that, I'm certain that you submitted some information to them and said what do you think about this idea?
17:34
Cassandra: How did that work, being in a male-dominated?
17:40
Kay Oliver: industry.
17:41
Kay Oliver: Well, first of all, working in a male-dominating industry, before you even submit anything, there are things that have taken place that I can't even begin to describe or I would not describe here in public.
17:57
Kay Oliver: But I remember one.
18:00
Kay Oliver: You know, equal pay was not a thing.
18:02
Kay Oliver: They brought in a gentleman lack of a better term to work with me and gave him more money.
18:10
Kay Oliver: And when I went into the office and said, look, I have higher degrees, I have more experience, and they said he has children at home and I said yeah, exactly five or five to nine.
18:22
Kay Oliver: When are you paying me for?
18:23
Kay Oliver: You know?
18:24
Kay Oliver: Um, yeah, so that made a point.
18:27
Kay Oliver: Of course you know they, you know, consider you a problem child if you bring up anything.
18:33
Kay Oliver: Right, I have a great male mentor who helped teach me how to present things as men do, but still, everything I did I did in writing.
18:44
Kay Oliver: So I would submit screenplays that had strong, independent, knowledgeable women and it would be oh, this is a great screenplay, but women are not marketable.
18:56
Kay Oliver: And that's what was in my way.
19:01
Cassandra: Right, that's what they said to you.
19:03
Cassandra: Wow, when you talked about you had a mentor, did you have a coach in that organization?
19:11
Cassandra: You had a mentor in the organization?
19:12
Cassandra: Did you have sponsors in the organization?
19:16
Kay Oliver: I seeked out mentors.
19:18
Kay Oliver: Ok, I would ask, and in this particular, because I wanted to learn how to do things like men, I had to.
19:26
Kay Oliver: I had my boss mentored me and his boss above him.
19:30
Kay Oliver: And I asked for that.
19:32
Kay Oliver: Okay, yeah.
19:34
Kay Oliver: So I literally said hey, would you, you know help me, you know writing up this proposal, show me what you would do, how you'd present it, et cetera.
19:43
Cassandra: Now, what?
19:45
Cassandra: Now?
19:46
Cassandra: You left the industry.
19:48
Cassandra: How did you?
19:50
Cassandra: How did you do that?
19:51
Cassandra: Was it difficult?
19:52
Cassandra: Or, and why did you do that?
19:57
Kay Oliver: So two reasons.
19:58
Kay Oliver: Well, first of all, I did get a diagnosis of breast cancer during my career.
20:05
Kay Oliver: I was let go from the job I was working at that week, so I was left without money, income because I'm not married, single and, uh, no insurance.
20:18
Kay Oliver: And I battled through that, you know.
20:21
Kay Oliver: Um, yes, you could go after the company and you know lawsuit.
20:25
Kay Oliver: But the question was do I want to file a lawsuit or do I want to take care of myself?
20:29
Kay Oliver: And I decided to take care of myself, went through it all.
20:33
Kay Oliver: When I went back into Hollywood and was hearing you know good script, but not, you know, marketable.
20:39
Kay Oliver: Um, I decided you know what, I've done it before, I've taken the leap before.
20:47
Kay Oliver: I'm, you know, not of my choice, but this is my choice this time.
20:51
Kay Oliver: And I stepped out of Hollywood as best you can and I have a great career and so people always want me to come work for them.
21:01
Kay Oliver: But I stepped out of Hollywood and started writing and my first book, disturbed Tunes, which is now a series started winning all sorts of awards, so I knew I was on the right track to something.
21:15
Kay Oliver: It's a character, yeah.
21:17
Kay Oliver: So, yes, I went back to writing and wrote a book that had been in my mind for years ahead of time.
21:24
Cassandra: Right, and actually that's something that you grew up doing, like you said.
21:29
Cassandra: You said you were bright and so would you say that is your calling, and the experiences that you had in Hollywood solidified that for you.
21:40
Kay Oliver: You think I would agree to that, because there's things that I learned in Hollywood.
21:45
Kay Oliver: I learned a lot in Hollywood about storytelling.
21:47
Kay Oliver: You know the difference between a book and a movie is a book you have to write everything that's in the vision right when a movie you could have.
21:55
Kay Oliver: You know you see the kind of surroundings that are there and you don't have to write about them Right, because you know if you want someone to look strategic, they have a chessboard next to them or you know something like that.
22:08
Kay Oliver: Where in a book, you have to develop that character and write it out, which is fun for me.
22:14
Kay Oliver: And then the Spielberg thing is scream to laugh or laugh to scream.
22:19
Kay Oliver: He likes to do that in his films, so in my books you don't get a lot of foreshadowing either.
22:25
Kay Oliver: When I change the rhythm and you think?
22:28
Kay Oliver: you're heading one way and all of a sudden you're like whoa there's no, right, change the rhythm and you think you're heading one way and all of a sudden you're like whoa, there's no, you know right, and I'm going to do it with a fun you know aspect of it.
22:41
Kay Oliver: So, yeah, I, I did, I learned, and I see my books in my head like you're watching a film.
22:43
Kay Oliver: Oh, wow, because I was an editor.
22:44
Kay Oliver: If you want to be a director, you should be an editor first.
22:47
Kay Oliver: Okay, I didn't know that, but I loved editing.
22:50
Kay Oliver: I loved putting the pieces together and the puzzle pieces together.
22:56
Kay Oliver: I've always loved that.
22:56
Kay Oliver: So when I'd go to direct, I'd know exactly what I needed, because I knew what I'd need in the booth back when we had booths, but yeah, so I actually see my books in my head like a film.
23:09
Cassandra: Wow, that's amazing how you want won an award like bestseller books.
23:16
Cassandra: I mean, how does that happen?
23:19
Cassandra: You know that by me being a publisher it's.
23:22
Cassandra: It wasn't easy for me and you are a writer and you know individuals and you can get probably work with people that wrote.
23:30
Cassandra: You know individuals and you can get probably you work with people that wrote so they could probably give you some feedback.
23:36
Cassandra: And what was it you think that made you to be?
23:41
Cassandra: Well, I'm calling you a world-renowned author because you've written so many books.
23:46
Cassandra: How did you think you became a best-selling or what they call you?
23:54
Cassandra: What do they say?
23:57
Cassandra: The storytelling You've written, the Disturbed Tombs, the Elysium book, yeah, which means happy, you know, going to your happy place.
24:12
Cassandra: So tell, tell my listeners about that, because a lot of them would love to write, they'd like to write, they'd like to write a book.
24:21
Kay Oliver: Yes, yes, okay, so on my website which, uh, which is my name, by the way just K K A Y A, olivercom I have writing tips.
24:32
Kay Oliver: I have how to get started.
24:33
Kay Oliver: The main thing is and you can attest to this because you're a writer is you have to write.
24:39
Kay Oliver: If you're only writing 15 minutes a day, you need to make a place for yourself.
24:44
Kay Oliver: I have a really nice desk with a plant looking out a window and that's my writing place.
24:51
Kay Oliver: And, yeah, I could put a little music on or put tv background out or something.
24:55
Kay Oliver: I don't like the silence when I'm writing.
24:59
Kay Oliver: So you have to write and you have to.
25:03
Kay Oliver: I'm a virgo, virgo, I'm a perfectionist and, um, I had to learn how to just continue writing.
25:11
Kay Oliver: Don't your novels not made in your first draft, or probably your second draft?
25:16
Kay Oliver: Okay, novels are really crafted in the editing stage, so you just get your thoughts out, get your writing out and just write and write, and write.
25:26
Kay Oliver: You can always change it, add, delete, whatever you want to do, it's not carved in stone, and so I had to learn to just you know, write, and I'm a pretty fast writer.
25:38
Kay Oliver: I always have been.
25:41
Kay Oliver: And so you have to make sure that you're at least writing 10 to 15 minutes a day.
25:46
Kay Oliver: If you're having a hard time, don't start beating yourself up.
25:52
Kay Oliver: Oh no, I don't want to read this.
25:54
Kay Oliver: This isn't going to mean anything to anybody.
25:56
Kay Oliver: Who in the world would even consider this.
25:59
Kay Oliver: There's somebody out there who wants to read it, somebody out there who needs to hear it, somebody out there who dreams like you dream.
26:06
Kay Oliver: So, yeah, just get it out there.
26:10
Kay Oliver: I started with novellas.
26:16
Kay Oliver: Actually, disturbed 2 started as a small novella and the good thing about that was and the novella is 40,000 words less, not a short story, but long, you know, long enough to be a book.
26:26
Kay Oliver: You go through the whole thing.
26:30
Kay Oliver: You go through the book cover, the editing, the publishing, and you get all that under your belt and then you go oh okay, I got that.
26:37
Kay Oliver: Okay.
26:38
Kay Oliver: Then you know and I give that book away for free, by the way, if you want to be on my?
26:44
Kay Oliver: mailing list you can get that book for free.
26:46
Kay Oliver: Literally chapters like one through five of disturbed tubes.
26:50
Kay Oliver: I kept it available so that if anybody wants to you know, read my style or whatever on that particular series they could start that book if they wanted to so you know you can make use of your novellas while you're learning the ropes, then all that nerves go away and then you just can concentrate on writing wow, and you call that novella.
27:12
Cassandra: What do you call that?
27:13
Kay Oliver: A novella?
27:14
Kay Oliver: Yeah, a novella is a shorter book, okay.
27:17
Cassandra: Oh, okay, and how do you?
27:19
Kay Oliver: spell that N-O-V-E-L-L-A.
27:23
Cassandra: Okay, all right, I've seen that.
27:25
Cassandra: I wasn't quite sure what that was, so I didn't take a deep dive into looking up the definition for that.
27:30
Cassandra: Quite sure what?
27:31
Kay Oliver: that was so I didn't take a deep dive into looking up the definition for that.
27:33
Kay Oliver: Yeah, so you know books by numbers.
27:39
Kay Oliver: A normal novel will be 50,000 to 80,000 words.
27:40
Kay Oliver: A novella will be, you know, 40,000 or a little less.
27:42
Cassandra: Okay, all right.
27:43
Cassandra: Okay, you know the saying how a picture is worth a thousand words.
27:46
Cassandra: You know, you know the saying how a picture is worth a thousand words.
27:50
Cassandra: You know telling the story.
27:52
Cassandra: You can, and when I hear that quote, I always think that you can look at a picture and tell a story just with the image that you see.
28:07
Cassandra: You know, so you have different images, but then I think about telling a story.
28:09
Cassandra: You know how powerful that is.
28:12
Cassandra: You know that's when you speak and when you write because you're a fiction writer, correct, right?
28:18
Cassandra: So there's still and you're the infamous storyteller, and you know, I remember the old models.
28:26
Cassandra: Like you know, executives used to talk about missions and visions, and that model's kind of like OK, that's fine, but to me, I think there's a new model that's telling the story of events.
28:39
Cassandra: You know, and those are things that I understand, that people remember.
28:44
Cassandra: They will remember the story.
28:45
Cassandra: Or, you know, there'll be a great session, a great talking, and I said that was great and then said, well, what was it about?
28:53
Cassandra: Well, they can't remember, but they remember the story, right, right?
28:58
Cassandra: So, so with your books, you were told that that stories transcend the pages.
29:06
Kay Oliver: So the readers tell me about my books.
29:09
Cassandra: Yes, Right, so how do you go about?
29:13
Cassandra: Let me say this because I remember you saying earlier that you have a book that's probably going to be turned into a movie.
29:21
Kay Oliver: You think Road to Elysium?
29:22
Kay Oliver: Yeah, this one.
29:24
Cassandra: Right Road to.
29:25
Kay Oliver: Elysium.
29:26
Kay Oliver: Yeah, it's one a number of awards.
29:29
Kay Oliver: It's up there somewhere.
29:34
Cassandra: Oh, it's right there.
29:34
Cassandra: Yeah, right, right.
29:34
Cassandra: So what was it about that book that would turn it into a story, because there are a lot of movies that were from books yeah, so consider this book.
29:44
Kay Oliver: It's a wonderful.
29:45
Kay Oliver: Life meets blindside Heath's Blind Side.
29:48
Kay Oliver: Those two movies put together it was a uplifting two.
29:54
Kay Oliver: Second story at the end of a news broadcast about a young boy who asked a man to teach him how to throw a ball and I went oh, that is a great story.
30:04
Kay Oliver: I need to find out more.
30:06
Kay Oliver: I went on search and the only thing I found is this little blurb, and that was it about the length of the news story, and I said no, there's more to this, because there was a boldness in that young man and a givingness in the man who agreed to do it A knee jerk reaction.
30:23
Kay Oliver: So this book had the foundation of reality in a sense.
30:30
Kay Oliver: Foundation of reality in a sense, but putting all the emotions of things that we all go through, I put real life into my books.
30:38
Kay Oliver: Okay, I put real life situations.
30:40
Kay Oliver: I you'll be reading along and my character might trip, you know, because that's what we do in life, right?
30:48
Kay Oliver: Um, you know, people don't speak in full, complete sentences, so don't write that way.
30:54
Kay Oliver: Write the way people speak and I brought up several different situations within this book.
31:00
Kay Oliver: Uh, I find that I do.
31:03
Kay Oliver: I don't want to say it's complicated because it's not complicated.
31:07
Kay Oliver: I present everything very easily, but every character has their flaws and because every person has their flaws exactly and, um, those come into my stories and are mentioned and dealt with.
31:21
Kay Oliver: And, uh, people tend to tell me about road to elysium in particular.
31:27
Kay Oliver: Would I have handled that situation like that?
31:31
Kay Oliver: I wonder and that's where it starts transitioning the page.
31:37
Kay Oliver: It's a feel-good ending in the book and I really like the way the book ends, with a Christmas theme, by the way, right.
31:44
Kay Oliver: So kind of like that's why I say it's a wonderful life, even though that's not really a Christmas movie.
31:48
Kay Oliver: It just happens in winter, but yeah, so that's why I hear that a lot, I think because I put things I've experienced, things I know my friends have experienced, and I put them in the books as real life things that happen because they do.
32:10
Cassandra: Yeah Well, I'm sure my listeners want to get that book.
32:12
Cassandra: I'm actually going to get that book and read it.
32:15
Cassandra: I'm a more nonfiction person, but that just sounds so interesting.
32:22
Cassandra: And, like you said, you tell real stories but you change the name to protect the innocent right or the guilty?
32:29
Kay Oliver: yes, exactly exactly.
32:32
Cassandra: Wow, I want to explore a little bit.
32:38
Cassandra: You talked about the themes of depression, racism and profound impact, that a single event can be a life-changing decision.
32:48
Cassandra: Why do you say that?
32:51
Cassandra: Tell us that story.
32:53
Kay Oliver: Well, every time we're in a Black cloud, creativity will get you out of it.
32:59
Kay Oliver: Really, if you think about it, if you have an issue or a problem and you're just thinking, you know, along the lines of I only can do this is not true, get out of your own way, and so using creativity will do that.
33:12
Kay Oliver: So my book, rotulisium, covers all those topics.
33:16
Kay Oliver: It starts with the man who has lost what's important to him his family, his wife and child.
33:22
Kay Oliver: And when the young boy comes up to him and says, hey, mister, knocks on his window, can you show me how to throw a ball?
33:30
Kay Oliver: His knee-jerk reaction was, yes, right, because you're not going to turn down a kid who asks you how to throw a ball.
33:36
Kay Oliver: That, yes, changed everything for his life, his life, the boy's's life and the community's life.
33:44
Kay Oliver: Times where we might go out and do something, almost unconsciously, almost knee-jerk reaction that will lead us somewhere else.
33:54
Kay Oliver: That only someone asks you out on a date, right, and you decide you know what I'm gonna.
33:59
Kay Oliver: I'm gonna go, I'm gonna say yes you know that little new model say yes to everything.
34:03
Kay Oliver: I don't say yes to everything, but you know, and you say yes and you go out and you decide to volunteer somewhere.
34:10
Kay Oliver: Right, meeting people.
34:12
Kay Oliver: Um, so just, yeah, just doing something as minor as saying yes to something can change everything, because we can't see the future, we don't know what's going to happen.
34:22
Kay Oliver: Right, you do everything with the intent of love, right.
34:27
Kay Oliver: Right, you can't go wrong.
34:29
Kay Oliver: I write with love in my books awesome my my lead characters have healthy, strong relationships, so much so in disturbed tombs I'd love to marry that leading man, but oh my gosh, is he good?
34:47
Kay Oliver: So anyway, um yeah, so everything is that way in my books everybody's respectful of each other.
34:54
Kay Oliver: You have bad guys, yeah, they're not respectful, but the main relationships are always respectful right.
35:01
Cassandra: So, from the books that you write, what's your end in mind for your readers as you write a book?
35:08
Cassandra: What is that?
35:10
Kay Oliver: Pure enjoyment, I hope.
35:11
Kay Oliver: Okay, you know I like to let them see and hear something wholesome, fun, action, adventure, something that'll make you think.
35:22
Kay Oliver: I love movies that make me think.
35:25
Kay Oliver: Having worked in the industry and being a storyteller, I cannot think of a movie where I've gone oh, I didn't see that coming.
35:34
Kay Oliver: Even in Sixth Sense, where Bruce Willis I was why did the costume department keep him in the same clothes the whole time?
35:45
Kay Oliver: And then I went he's dead, so I knew that ending before you know.
35:49
Cassandra: so oh my gosh.
35:51
Kay Oliver: And they were very clever because a lot of people didn't catch it.
35:54
Kay Oliver: But Right, I did, yeah, yeah.
35:57
Kay Oliver: So you know, telling a good, intelligent story is something I value and I hope my readers value.
36:06
Cassandra: Uh huh, uh huh, because you know when I, when I look at movies or or I'm like so what, what, what was the?
36:13
Cassandra: What were they trying to show me?
36:15
Cassandra: You know what's the plot?
36:16
Cassandra: What, what, what should I learn from this?
36:19
Cassandra: And and it's always some learning in those stories Like what did I get from?
36:24
Kay Oliver: that.
36:25
Cassandra: You know, I was trying to think like the I don't know in the studio that they do the book of Eli Right, yes, yeah, so things like that.
36:37
Kay Oliver: I'm like what a lesson, what a story, what a meaning, what yeah, say that because right now horizon american saga by kevin cosner is a historical detailed movie now, what's the name of it?
36:53
Kay Oliver: Horizon an american saga yeah four movies long.
36:58
Kay Oliver: Uh, it's on.
37:00
Kay Oliver: The saga number one is on video now but it is literally should be taught in history classes.
37:07
Kay Oliver: Really, it's more of a real realization of what it was like to conquer the West and come through the West.
37:17
Cassandra: Okay, insider tip, huh, yeah, that one has a lot to learn from it.
37:21
Kay Oliver: Yes, Okay, Okay.
37:21
Kay Oliver: Insider tip huh that one has a lot to learn from it.
37:24
Cassandra: Yes, Okay okay, now I want to talk about the title a little bit for my listeners.
37:30
Kay Oliver: You're the Hollywood insider you take control of in Hollywood and that's one reason why the women which they should get equal pay for roles is because they can now go out and create films, because they're getting the same kind of money that men have been able to do.
37:54
Kay Oliver: Right, creative control um, as someone submitting scripts this, and that executives will have creative control, you could, in the way that the studios sell now, you could get a green light deal for a movie with one set of executives and when you go to finish the movie, it's another set of executives.
38:16
Kay Oliver: You have another idea about your film.
38:18
Kay Oliver: So, yeah, you might have to tweak this, shorten the film, whatever, and, um, you, you don't really have to.
38:29
Kay Oliver: Well, obviously you don't have total control because you have executives to answer to and sometimes stockholders, and as a writer, I don't have that, so I can make my women as strong as I want, as fun as I want, loving as mysterious as I am, and yeah, so I had to.
38:48
Kay Oliver: I knew what I wanted to write and I know that strong female stories sell, and I've been able to prove that with my books.
38:59
Cassandra: With your books, okay, yeah, wow.
39:01
Cassandra: That's amazing for my listeners because there's so many things roadblocks in their way.
39:09
Cassandra: You know somebody like you talked about executives.
39:13
Cassandra: They don't really have control of their creativity.
39:17
Cassandra: There's a fear, maybe, on things that they like to do.
39:21
Cassandra: So I think that is awesome and I like how you put that the hollywood insider you take control.
39:29
Cassandra: You took control of your creativity because even you had the screenplays.
39:33
Cassandra: You gave them ideas.
39:34
Cassandra: It's like you're a woman too.
39:39
Kay Oliver: The other thing I'll give you know here's a little tidbit that I learned from my mentors and did is when I have a suggestion, I wouldn't just go to a meeting.
39:49
Kay Oliver: Hey, I have a suggestion, I wrote it up as a proposal.
39:53
Kay Oliver: I would write it up with.
39:54
Kay Oliver: You know, might cost this.
39:56
Kay Oliver: We should see this.
39:57
Kay Oliver: This company's doing this, this.
39:58
Kay Oliver: I'd turn it in now.
40:00
Kay Oliver: It doesn't mean that they would recognize that I turned it in right, because six months later a male would come up with something very similar.
40:08
Kay Oliver: It's not the same thing.
40:10
Kay Oliver: Yeah, say x, and I'd go oh yeah, look at this paper.
40:15
Kay Oliver: I proposed that six months ago.
40:16
Kay Oliver: Oh my, yeah, that's how I would.
40:20
Kay Oliver: Yeah, so I always did it in writing, I always gave it to the executives and then when someone came up with it six months later that was not female, I would present it again and say, yeah, this is the exact same thing I presented to you six months ago.
40:35
Cassandra: And that's something that sounds so, so familiar.
40:37
Cassandra: When we were talking earlier, I said you know, and maybe I should have done a proposal, like you, rather than raising my hand and said, well, I think this is blah, blah, blah, and they just, you know, they just put me to the sideline and then somebody else would say it and they'll agree with it.
41:00
Cassandra: You know, that's why I did it'd like you to be, because you, your background, has equipped you to create what I'm calling compelling stories and deliver captivating interviews, ensuring that my listeners are women.
41:15
Cassandra: Well, I'm sorry, men, some of you are listening, but my primary focus for this and my book was for women.
41:28
Cassandra: Would you be able to craft a narrative for my listeners that would inspire them to change, that would inspire them to get those roadblocks out of the way and that inspire them to get unstuck?
41:41
Cassandra: Or is there anything?
41:43
Cassandra: Because one of the things that I've done is, when I exercise and I walk a lot, I will always listen to something inspiring, something to learn.
41:55
Cassandra: You know I love learning.
41:57
Cassandra: It's amazing, like you know, and I get inspired by that.
42:03
Cassandra: You know, like, oh, I can do anything now.
42:05
Cassandra: You know, never underestimate the power that we have and what we are capable of doing, but we don't do it because we're stuck and we're concerned about what this person will say.
42:14
Cassandra: What this person will say, so would you be able to craft a little narrative that will inspire them?
42:22
Kay Oliver: Absolutely.
42:23
Kay Oliver: We, as women, have been told a lot of things Not true.
42:30
Kay Oliver: A lot of it not true.
42:32
Kay Oliver: We don't need to be quieter, cuter, badder eyelashes.
42:35
Kay Oliver: We can show our intelligence.
42:37
Kay Oliver: I remember my mom telling me don't be so intelligent around men.
42:41
Kay Oliver: They don't like it.
42:43
Kay Oliver: Well too bad.
42:44
Kay Oliver: So, yeah, so you know I'm still single, but anyway, yeah, lose the fear.
42:54
Kay Oliver: The fear is not reality.
42:57
Kay Oliver: Fear is what you think might happen, or you're worried about what might happen, and none of that changes anything.
43:03
Kay Oliver: Be bold, be yourself.
43:06
Kay Oliver: You can be feminine and be strong.
43:09
Kay Oliver: You don't have to become you know.
43:16
Kay Oliver: Dress in a suit and a tie, which I did one Halloween.
43:19
Kay Oliver: In the studios, I dressed as a male executive and walked in.
43:21
Kay Oliver: My boss said what are you doing?
43:22
Kay Oliver: What are you doing?
43:23
Kay Oliver: And I said I'm a man and I think you'll listen to me today.
43:26
Kay Oliver: Exactly, you know I point out things you know.
43:30
Kay Oliver: Trust yourself.
43:32
Kay Oliver: You can believe in yourself, but then you have to trust yourself.
43:36
Kay Oliver: Stop and think about the things you've done in life.
43:40
Kay Oliver: You've probably made sacrifices.
43:42
Kay Oliver: If you have children, you know you've done things that you need to do to get things done.
43:47
Kay Oliver: Now apply that to yourself.
43:49
Kay Oliver: Do what you need to do to make you happy.
43:52
Kay Oliver: Figure it out.
43:53
Kay Oliver: Sit down and write just a little paper on what.
43:57
Kay Oliver: If I could do anything, what would that be?
44:00
Kay Oliver: And then don't worry about the front doors.
44:04
Kay Oliver: You know you don't get in the studio by knocking on the front door.
44:06
Kay Oliver: You go through a window, you go through something else.
44:09
Kay Oliver: Right, come down the chimney like sam who cares right.
44:12
Kay Oliver: But you know, do what you need to do and if it's something you're passionate about and you're going to give your all to it, you're going to succeed one way or another.
44:21
Kay Oliver: You might not be if you're looking for fame, which I hope you're not, but if you are, you know you might not get to fame, but are you enjoying what you're doing?
44:32
Kay Oliver: That is what is important and you need to take care of yourself and believe and trust in yourself and do it you.
44:44
Kay Oliver: If you don't have the skills, guess what?
44:45
Kay Oliver: You can learn everything online.
44:47
Kay Oliver: Take some classes.
44:49
Cassandra: Exactly.
44:50
Kay Oliver: Try, like I said, a novella, a little book, a little something, and get through those main steps and go.
44:57
Kay Oliver: Okay, I did that, I can do it, you know I can do a full book.
45:00
Kay Oliver: Reach out and make sure the people that are in your life support you.
45:05
Kay Oliver: There's someone in your life who doesn't support you.
45:08
Kay Oliver: My mom did not support me.
45:10
Kay Oliver: You need to get them out of your life and I had a therapist tell me you need to get away from your mother.
45:19
Kay Oliver: So I learned that I didn't need her acceptance.
45:23
Kay Oliver: I you know, I learned that I needed my acceptance exactly and I would still do things you know, like her birthday, send her a card and stuff, even though my brother would go, oh, she threw it in the trash.
45:34
Kay Oliver: Oh.
45:35
Kay Oliver: So what I did, what I needed to do for me, wasn it wasn't for her, it was for me.
45:40
Cassandra: Yes.
45:41
Kay Oliver: So, if I can, you know, pick the friends and surround yourself with people who support you Good, bad or you know my friends are.
45:49
Kay Oliver: I swear I am blessed with the best friends in the world and my first book, even though I know it had errors in it and the editor I had didn't do well.
46:00
Kay Oliver: I got some not so nice reviews, like I should have spent money on editing, but I did.
46:05
Kay Oliver: It wasn't a good editor.
46:06
Kay Oliver: They told me how much they loved it.
46:09
Kay Oliver: Oh, keep going, keep going.
46:11
Kay Oliver: Right, that's what you need.
46:12
Kay Oliver: Men have a lot of support.
46:14
Kay Oliver: Men have literally a path driven for them.
46:19
Kay Oliver: We women have to stick together.
46:21
Kay Oliver: We have to support one another.
46:22
Kay Oliver: We're doing that now.
46:23
Kay Oliver: You saw it in the Olympics with the gymnasts.
46:26
Kay Oliver: Yes, even USA.
46:28
Cassandra: Yeah.
46:28
Kay Oliver: That is amazing support for one another.
46:31
Cassandra: It is.
46:32
Kay Oliver: No calf fighting.
46:33
Kay Oliver: Don't look at another woman who you think is taking your man.
46:36
Kay Oliver: That attitude.
46:37
Kay Oliver: We have to get rid of that.
46:39
Kay Oliver: We have intelligence.
46:42
Kay Oliver: We have created so many inventions.
46:44
Kay Oliver: There was a guy who posted the other day that said you know, well, men invented cars.
46:49
Kay Oliver: What did women do?
46:50
Kay Oliver: Well, I wrote back and said we gave you turn signals, windshield wipers and improved the car.
46:54
Kay Oliver: Then we also gave you the internet.
46:56
Kay Oliver: Then we also gave you, you know, the grocery bags.
46:59
Kay Oliver: And I went on and listed all these things that women invented and gosh, he didn't reply.
47:05
Kay Oliver: I don't know why, we invent a lot, we have a lot of intelligence, and God gave us intelligence for a reason.
47:13
Cassandra: Exactly.
47:15
Kay Oliver: And for those men who quote the Bible that we are to obey them, you better reread the Bible First of all.
47:20
Kay Oliver: The word was not obey, it was a greek word along the lines of submission, and it was a full submission, where you use your full intelligence, all your wisdom, everything that you know.
47:33
Kay Oliver: It was not a you're going to bow to me kind of that's right, that's right.
47:38
Kay Oliver: So get that out of here.
47:39
Kay Oliver: Don't let anybody give you little clips of a verse, of a paragraph of a story and then quote you that little verse, because if you read before it that man better be willing to die for you.
47:51
Kay Oliver: Words before that say he is to love you as God so loved the church and he died for us.
47:58
Kay Oliver: So we are powerful women.
48:01
Kay Oliver: Only women stayed at the cross.
48:03
Kay Oliver: I hope you don't mind if I'm getting a little religious here, but only women stayed there when Christ died, the men fled.
48:09
Kay Oliver: So, women, we have a lot of strength.
48:11
Kay Oliver: We have a lot of strength.
48:13
Kay Oliver: We need to use it.
48:15
Cassandra: Yes, that was wild.
48:16
Cassandra: What a way to wrap this podcast up.
48:21
Cassandra: I love that k.
48:22
Cassandra: That was just so awesome.
48:24
Cassandra: Uh, how can my listeners get in touch with you?
48:28
Cassandra: I know you.
48:29
Kay Oliver: Initially you said k oliver, they can get on your website, k a oliver, because there's another writer that doesn't have the A, so let's spell out my name K-A-Y-A-O-L-I-V-E-Rcom.
48:45
Cassandra: OK, great, and you're on all platforms.
48:49
Cassandra: You're on LinkedIn, instagram.
48:51
Cassandra: I think you were on Facebook, I saw yeah.
48:57
Kay Oliver: Yeah, if you go to my website, all those connections are listed on the first page so you can join me on social media and see what's coming out.
49:06
Kay Oliver: I have another book coming out here in a month and a half now it's September, so yeah.
49:12
Cassandra: Good for you, awesome.
49:13
Cassandra: Well, I'm glad that you are taking control of your creativity creativity, I also.
49:19
Cassandra: I have one last question for you, though.
49:22
Cassandra: What about what's next for you?
49:26
Cassandra: Do you, do you look at the future?
49:33
Kay Oliver: in the future for yourself or you just take a day at a time.
49:34
Kay Oliver: Well, I always kind of I've always looked to the future.
49:36
Kay Oliver: I hardly ever looked to the past.
49:38
Kay Oliver: There's certain things that I don't even bring up, that other people bring up Like oh yeah.
49:44
Kay Oliver: Yeah, that's true.
49:46
Kay Oliver: But more books, I mean, I really do.
49:49
Kay Oliver: I enjoy writing.
49:50
Kay Oliver: I write a lot.
49:50
Kay Oliver: I can write for hours at a time, but just enjoying life, really, I am always happy to be able to give to a charity.
50:04
Kay Oliver: I give a lot of my books away With little teas and little teacups and put them in a nice little basket and give them off to charity so people can enjoy and charity can get money.
50:12
Kay Oliver: So I love working with charities and doing things like that.
50:17
Kay Oliver: If Road to Elysium does become a movie, then I'll be working with that.
50:22
Kay Oliver: That's okay.
50:25
Kay Oliver: If it doesn't, I've been there, doesn't it?
50:29
Kay Oliver: I have some friends that are still in Hollywood which I help write them out of jams.
50:33
Kay Oliver: They find themselves writing into a corner.
50:35
Kay Oliver: I enjoy dabbling in it now and what I want to, and just enjoying life.
50:45
Cassandra: Wow, that's great.
50:47
Cassandra: Well, the road to Elysium.
50:49
Cassandra: I pray that it becomes a movie.
50:52
Cassandra: And my listeners, you know you've met KA Oliver and you said that's her.
50:58
Cassandra: That's her.
50:59
Cassandra: I heard her on the podcast.
51:00
Cassandra: Well, I tell you, I just want to thank you for your wisdom, your candor.
51:09
Cassandra: I really appreciate that and I loved it when you said, as women, we need to stick, we need to collaborate, and you used the gymnastics a little bit as a role model, which was great.
51:23
Cassandra: So, my listeners, if you and I know you've heard something today that has encouraged you, I'd like for you to share this information.
51:32
Cassandra: This podcast will be on all platforms, so there's no excuse, and it'll allow you to listen over and over and over If Kay has said something that resonated with you.
51:44
Cassandra: So, thanks, thanks for being here.
51:46
Cassandra: I go live every Wednesday at 1 pm Eastern Standard Time.
51:51
Cassandra: God bless you all and bye for now and thank you so much, kay.
51:57
Kay Oliver: Thank you, it has been an absolute pleasure.
51:59
Kay Oliver: Lovely talking to you.
52:01
Cassandra: Thank you.