From Hollywood to Authorship: Kay Oliver's Journey of Resilience and Empowerment

Kay Oliver, a seasoned Hollywood insider, shares her extraordinary journey from the glitz of Hollywood to the written word. Listeners are treated to her candid reflections on overcoming gender biases and navigating the male-dominated entertainment industry. Kay's story is a testament to the power of resilience and the importance of seizing opportunities, as she recounts her breakthrough moment at NBC. Her narrative is not just about Hollywood glamour but also about finding one's voice and creativity amidst life's challenges, including a pivotal breast cancer diagnosis that led her to craft the award-winning book series, "Disturbed Tunes."

As Kay transitions into the world of writing, she explores the art of storytelling and the joy she finds in seeing her stories unfold like films in her mind. She shares insights into the creative process, emphasizing the importance of persistence, even if it's just dedicating 15 minutes a day. From crafting novellas to tackling the editing stage, Kay offers invaluable advice for aspiring writers. Her excitement about the potential adaptation of her book "Road to Elysium" into a movie highlights her continued passion for storytelling.

Empowerment takes center stage as Kay highlights the evolving role of women in Hollywood and the significance of collaboration and mentorship. Through inspiring anecdotes and personal experiences, she underscores the transformative power of saying "yes" and embracing small decisions that can have profound impacts. This episode is an uplifting reminder that creativity and supportive networks are integral to personal and professional fulfillment, offering listeners a wealth of encouragement to pursue their dreams on their own terms.

Get ready to break free from obstacles and live life on your terms!

Are you readdy to create and design your best life?

If so, click the link here.

To make sure you never miss an episode, make sure you subscribe to the podcast and head on over to www.cassandracrawley.com and join our mailing list. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Hollywood Insider Takes Control of Creativity
• 17:36 Navigating Challenges as a Female Writer
• 24:33 Embracing Creativity Through Writing
• 33:17 Empowering Women Through Creativity
• 44:50 Empowering Women Through Writing
• 50:52 Female Collaboration and Empowerment

Transcript

Cassandra: 0:25

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. 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. So why not what I would say? Correspond the book with the podcast. 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. 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. Her name is Kay Oliver. Hi Kay, hello, glad to be here, so glad you are here and listeners. The name of this podcast is called Hollywood Insider Takes Control of Her Creativity. That's right, a Hollywood insider takes control of her creativity. So when you think of Hollywood, it's the American motion picture industry, right, all out in the LA area. 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.

Cassandra: 2:38

I'm excited to introduce our guest, kay Oliver. She's a storyteller with over three decades of experience in entertainment. 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. Kay's novels champion women's resilience, featuring professional characters who navigate life's challenges with humor. 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. Kay's legacy as a storyteller what I would call is cemented Unbelievable, unbelievable. So, kay, before you got to Hollywood. What was? What was your life like before working in entertainment?

Kay Oliver: 3:47

business. My life growing up was not the best. Mother's Day was very hard for me because I found out years later that I had a narcissistic mother who you know. Everything was about her. 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.

Kay Oliver: 4:19

I started writing in sixth grade, mind you years ago, and I wrote. I entered a speech contest and won and from there on I knew I loved writing. So I'd write little short stories and stuff as I was growing up.

Kay Oliver: 4:34

I joined a speech club and drama and I did very well in both garnering leads in high school plays and things like that. 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. And then when it was my turn to go to school, he told me I wasn't going to. I said bye, bye, bye, it was not the agreement and I have too much going on for me not to go to college. Agreement, and I have too much going on for me not to go to college. I went to college and worked full time to be able to live and I decided that I wanted to continue. Storytelling and Hollywood is another way of storytelling right.

Kay Oliver: 5:24

I got my degree here and started out video editing and writing the news.

Cassandra: 5:32

Wow. So how did you get that job in Hollywood? Was it difficult?

Kay Oliver: 5:38

Oh, wow, right, I have absolutely zero relatives in Hollywood. Oh no, I'm in. 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.

Cassandra: 6:00

You know there's a lot of independent films that can use people.

Kay Oliver: 6:03

You know, get your feet wet, get in there, get something on your resume. 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? Young like you, because I found you go up the ladder together and then you can help each other out in your careers.

Cassandra: 6:36

So yeah, network, network. Okay.

Kay Oliver: 6:42

I was with someone I was just talking to him yesterday actually who said, hey, there's this opportunity at NBC, anybody interested? I think he told about 12 people. 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.

Kay Oliver: 7:08

You know, you're not just there for the glamour and the glitz, because there is no glamour and glitz Right. They want you, they need people who are going to do the job, that they don't have to worry about.

Cassandra: 7:21

Uh huh, Uh huh. 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. You know the networking, how important it is. 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. The boss, you know, the executive team and they and I don't think that's different in any industry.

Cassandra: 7:54

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. Let me kind of explain to you what politics mean. You know how you have to play the game. You know, because to me it looks like a game. I mean that's how you kind of network, get with people. And a lot of them did not understand that and was upset about it. Like, if I don't want to go, I don't have to go. Well, do you want to excel in this organization? Well, I do. I said, well, you have to get to know people, so that's why I'm glad that you said, yep, somebody helped me. It was somebody that I knew that enabled you to get this job.

Kay Oliver: 9:02

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. Now you know two, three times a week. No, the TV Academy is in LA. I joined that. 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. 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.

Kay Oliver: 9:59

And one top executive at Paramount said put everything on your resume. They don't like it, then you shouldn't be working for them. Yeah, so it was. Yeah, so it was great.

Cassandra: 10:10

Well, yeah, that's interesting. That's interesting. Um, what type of work did you do in Hollywood? What did you do?

Kay Oliver: 10:18

I did several different things. Um, I did writing, I did screenplay writing, I had a first and last. We'll talk about that a little bit but, um, that was the getting out of my way thing. 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. So, yeah, Okay.

Cassandra: 10:57

Now Kate you know, when you were younger, you talked about. You know you like doing stories and writing. When you got to Hollywood, was your dreams different. Or, you know, did you aspire to be something or do something while in Hollywood?

Kay Oliver: 11:12

You know there were certain things. That's funny because make a huge feature film was not one of them. I did direct films and did do right screenplays for features. But being famous I found out very quickly. I didn't want to be famous. 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. So I made some really good friends, which I wanted to do. I walked red carpets. I've been to the award shows. My checklist was pretty full by the time. I decided to jump ship, so to speak. So never get out of Hollywood because they're shopping my book around to make a movie, but anyway, yeah. So I did everything I wanted to do to work with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Cassandra: 12:10

And.

Kay Oliver: 12:10

I absolutely loved working. I originally worked with Lou Wasserman, who owned Universal Studios. What I admired about him I found in Jeffrey Katzenberg as well. He was an innovator. You know. He came up with different ways to do contracts and different things, and Jeffrey Katzenberg is doing the same thing with animation. So you know he invests in innovation. 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. It's not only people from LA, it's where are the best people? Let's bring them on board. Oh wow, that is. That was pretty awesome.

Cassandra: 12:57

Yeah, that is. You've been with them for 30 years.

Kay Oliver: 13:04

I worked in Hollywood for 30 years, 30 years.

Cassandra: 13:07

Yeah, so on the tables, how recent was that for different languages? 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?

Kay Oliver: 13:28

Well, that's DreamWorks style. I'm not sure about you know other studios, I can't speak to other studios. Dreamworks was like that day one when I came on board. So, um, yeah, because you know you need, they wanted the best. Okay, you know we're working for steven spielberg. They want the best right yeah, kat exactly, he wants the best. So you know, was it inclusion or automatic? I think it was automatic for them.

Cassandra: 13:58

So, that's the way they do business.

Kay Oliver: 14:00

Okay, that's good to know. You know you're talking mainly about the Oscars and let me just differentiate between Oscars and Emmys.

Kay Oliver: 14:32

Emmys have a lot more voters and a lot more people who make decisions.

Kay Oliver: 14:34

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. Yeah, there you have it. 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. 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?

Kay Oliver: 15:00

You know, they're both down to earth, both are very genuine. Genuine, I mean, they would just walk around like, you know, anybody else. Of course that's true at studios, but you could talk to them. 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. And then you know, always wanting to do the best that they could do.

Kay Oliver: 15:37

You know, Schindler's List, which was a passion project for Steven Spielberg. You could see the care and dedication in that film. Otherwise, you know you say most of his films are commercial. Jeffrey Katzenberg still likes to start with pencil and paper, even though we have computerization. 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. 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. You know Jeffrey is affectionately I would say a workaholic.

Kay Oliver: 16:34

He wants to give 100%, I give 120 anyway. So I've never had a problem with him. 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. So I enjoyed a lot of things and they gave us. 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. Elton John came out and sang to the employees and we just.

Kay Oliver: 17:12

you know it was fun.

Cassandra: 17:13

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? How did that work, being in a male-dominated?

Kay Oliver: 17:40

industry. 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. But I remember one. You know, equal pay was not a thing. They brought in a gentleman lack of a better term to work with me and gave him more money. 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. When are you paying me for? You know? Um, yeah, so that made a point. Of course you know they, you know, consider you a problem child if you bring up anything.

Kay Oliver: 18:33

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. 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. And that's what was in my way.

Cassandra: 19:01

Right, that's what they said to you. Wow, when you talked about you had a mentor, did you have a coach in that organization? You had a mentor in the organization? Did you have sponsors in the organization?

Kay Oliver: 19:16

I seeked out mentors. Ok, I would ask, and in this particular, because I wanted to learn how to do things like men, I had to. I had my boss mentored me and his boss above him. And I asked for that. Okay, yeah. 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.

Cassandra: 19:43

Now, what? Now? You left the industry. How did you? How did you do that? Was it difficult? Or, and why did you do that?

Kay Oliver: 19:57

So two reasons. Well, first of all, I did get a diagnosis of breast cancer during my career. 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. And I battled through that, you know. Um, yes, you could go after the company and you know lawsuit. But the question was do I want to file a lawsuit or do I want to take care of myself? And I decided to take care of myself, went through it all.

Kay Oliver: 20:33

When I went back into Hollywood and was hearing you know good script, but not, you know, marketable. Um, I decided you know what, I've done it before, I've taken the leap before. I'm, you know, not of my choice, but this is my choice this time. 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. 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.

Kay Oliver: 21:15

It's a character, yeah. So, yes, I went back to writing and wrote a book that had been in my mind for years ahead of time.

Cassandra: 21:24

Right, and actually that's something that you grew up doing, like you said. 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.

Kay Oliver: 21:40

You think I would agree to that, because there's things that I learned in Hollywood. I learned a lot in Hollywood about storytelling. 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. 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.

Kay Oliver: 22:08

Where in a book, you have to develop that character and write it out, which is fun for me. And then the Spielberg thing is scream to laugh or laugh to scream. He likes to do that in his films, so in my books you don't get a lot of foreshadowing either. When I change the rhythm and you think?

Kay Oliver: 22:28

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. So, yeah, I, I did, I learned, and I see my books in my head like you're watching a film. Oh, wow, because I was an editor. If you want to be a director, you should be an editor first. Okay, I didn't know that, but I loved editing. I loved putting the pieces together and the puzzle pieces together. I've always loved that. 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.

Cassandra: 23:09

Wow, that's amazing how you want won an award like bestseller books. I mean, how does that happen? You know that by me being a publisher it's. 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. You know individuals and you can get probably you work with people that wrote so they could probably give you some feedback. And what was it you think that made you to be? Well, I'm calling you a world-renowned author because you've written so many books. How did you think you became a best-selling or what they call you? What do they say? The storytelling You've written, the Disturbed Tombs, the Elysium book, yeah, which means happy, you know, going to your happy place. 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.

Kay Oliver: 24:21

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. I have how to get started. The main thing is and you can attest to this because you're a writer is you have to write. If you're only writing 15 minutes a day, you need to make a place for yourself. I have a really nice desk with a plant looking out a window and that's my writing place. And, yeah, I could put a little music on or put tv background out or something. I don't like the silence when I'm writing. So you have to write and you have to. I'm a virgo, virgo, I'm a perfectionist and, um, I had to learn how to just continue writing. Don't your novels not made in your first draft, or probably your second draft? 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.

Kay Oliver: 25:26

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. I always have been.

Kay Oliver: 25:41

And so you have to make sure that you're at least writing 10 to 15 minutes a day. If you're having a hard time, don't start beating yourself up. Oh no, I don't want to read this. This isn't going to mean anything to anybody. Who in the world would even consider this. 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. So, yeah, just get it out there. I started with novellas. 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. You go through the whole thing. 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. Okay. Then you know and I give that book away for free, by the way, if you want to be on my?

Kay Oliver: 26:44

mailing list you can get that book for free. Literally chapters like one through five of disturbed tubes. 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.

Cassandra: 27:12

What do you call that?

Kay Oliver: 27:13

A novella? Yeah, a novella is a shorter book, okay.

Cassandra: 27:17

Oh, okay, and how do you?

Kay Oliver: 27:19

spell that N-O-V-E-L-L-A.

Cassandra: 27:23

Okay, all right, I've seen that. I wasn't quite sure what that was, so I didn't take a deep dive into looking up the definition for that. Quite sure what?

Kay Oliver: 27:31

that was so I didn't take a deep dive into looking up the definition for that. Yeah, so you know books by numbers. A normal novel will be 50,000 to 80,000 words. A novella will be, you know, 40,000 or a little less.

Cassandra: 27:42

Okay, all right. Okay, you know the saying how a picture is worth a thousand words. You know, you know the saying how a picture is worth a thousand words. You know telling the story. 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. You know, so you have different images, but then I think about telling a story. You know how powerful that is.

Cassandra: 28:12

You know that's when you speak and when you write because you're a fiction writer, correct, right? So there's still and you're the infamous storyteller, and you know, I remember the old models. 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. You know, and those are things that I understand, that people remember. They will remember the story. 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? Well, they can't remember, but they remember the story, right, right? So, so with your books, you were told that that stories transcend the pages.

Kay Oliver: 29:06

So the readers tell me about my books.

Cassandra: 29:09

Yes, Right, so how do you go about? 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.

Kay Oliver: 29:21

You think Road to Elysium? Yeah, this one.

Cassandra: 29:24

Right Road to.

Kay Oliver: 29:25

Elysium. Yeah, it's one a number of awards. It's up there somewhere.

Cassandra: 29:34

Oh, it's right there. Yeah, right, right. 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.

Kay Oliver: 29:44

It's a wonderful. Life meets blindside Heath's Blind Side. Those two movies put together it was a uplifting two. 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. I need to find out more.

Kay Oliver: 30:06

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. So this book had the foundation of reality in a sense. 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. Okay, I put real life situations. I you'll be reading along and my character might trip, you know, because that's what we do in life, right? Um, you know, people don't speak in full, complete sentences, so don't write that way.

Kay Oliver: 30:54

Write the way people speak and I brought up several different situations within this book. Uh, I find that I do. I don't want to say it's complicated because it's not complicated. 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. And, uh, people tend to tell me about road to elysium in particular. Would I have handled that situation like that?

Kay Oliver: 31:31

I wonder and that's where it starts transitioning the page. 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. So kind of like that's why I say it's a wonderful life, even though that's not really a Christmas movie. 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.

Cassandra: 32:10

Yeah Well, I'm sure my listeners want to get that book. I'm actually going to get that book and read it. I'm a more nonfiction person, but that just sounds so interesting. And, like you said, you tell real stories but you change the name to protect the innocent right or the guilty?

Kay Oliver: 32:29

yes, exactly exactly.

Cassandra: 32:32

Wow, I want to explore a little bit. You talked about the themes of depression, racism and profound impact, that a single event can be a life-changing decision. Why do you say that? Tell us that story.

Kay Oliver: 32:53

Well, every time we're in a Black cloud, creativity will get you out of it. 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. So my book, rotulisium, covers all those topics. It starts with the man who has lost what's important to him his family, his wife and child. 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? 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. That, yes, changed everything for his life, his life, the boy's's life and the community's life. Times where we might go out and do something, almost unconsciously, almost knee-jerk reaction that will lead us somewhere else. That only someone asks you out on a date, right, and you decide you know what I'm gonna.

Kay Oliver: 33:59

I'm gonna go, I'm gonna say yes you know that little new model say yes to everything. I don't say yes to everything, but you know, and you say yes and you go out and you decide to volunteer somewhere. Right, meeting people. 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. Right, you do everything with the intent of love, right. Right, you can't go wrong.

Kay Oliver: 34:29

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? So anyway, um yeah, so everything is that way in my books everybody's respectful of each other. You have bad guys, yeah, they're not respectful, but the main relationships are always respectful right.

Cassandra: 35:01

So, from the books that you write, what's your end in mind for your readers as you write a book? What is that?

Kay Oliver: 35:10

Pure enjoyment, I hope. Okay, you know I like to let them see and hear something wholesome, fun, action, adventure, something that'll make you think. I love movies that make me think. 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. Even in Sixth Sense, where Bruce Willis I was why did the costume department keep him in the same clothes the whole time? And then I went he's dead, so I knew that ending before you know.

Cassandra: 35:49

so oh my gosh.

Kay Oliver: 35:51

And they were very clever because a lot of people didn't catch it. But Right, I did, yeah, yeah. So you know, telling a good, intelligent story is something I value and I hope my readers value.

Cassandra: 36:06

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? What were they trying to show me? You know what's the plot? What, what, what should I learn from this? And and it's always some learning in those stories Like what did I get from?

Kay Oliver: 36:24

that.

Cassandra: 36:25

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.

Kay Oliver: 36:37

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? Horizon an american saga yeah four movies long. Uh, it's on. The saga number one is on video now but it is literally should be taught in history classes. Really, it's more of a real realization of what it was like to conquer the West and come through the West.

Cassandra: 37:17

Okay, insider tip, huh, yeah, that one has a lot to learn from it.

Kay Oliver: 37:21

Yes, Okay, Okay. Insider tip huh that one has a lot to learn from it.

Cassandra: 37:24

Yes, Okay okay, now I want to talk about the title a little bit for my listeners.

Kay Oliver: 37:30

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. 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. You have another idea about your film. So, yeah, you might have to tweak this, shorten the film, whatever, and, um, you, you don't really have to.

Kay Oliver: 38:29

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. 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.

Cassandra: 38:59

With your books, okay, yeah, wow. That's amazing for my listeners because there's so many things roadblocks in their way. You know somebody like you talked about executives. They don't really have control of their creativity. There's a fear, maybe, on things that they like to do. So I think that is awesome and I like how you put that the hollywood insider you take control. You took control of your creativity because even you had the screenplays. You gave them ideas. It's like you're a woman too.

Kay Oliver: 39:39

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. Hey, I have a suggestion, I wrote it up as a proposal. I would write it up with. You know, might cost this. We should see this. This company's doing this, this. I'd turn it in now. 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. It's not the same thing. Yeah, say x, and I'd go oh yeah, look at this paper. I proposed that six months ago. Oh my, yeah, that's how I would. 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.

Cassandra: 40:35

And that's something that sounds so, so familiar. 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. 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. Well, I'm sorry, men, some of you are listening, but my primary focus for this and my book was for women.

Cassandra: 41:28

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? Or is there anything? 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. You know I love learning. It's amazing, like you know, and I get inspired by that. You know, like, oh, I can do anything now. 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. What this person will say, so would you be able to craft a little narrative that will inspire them?

Kay Oliver: 42:22

Absolutely. We, as women, have been told a lot of things Not true. A lot of it not true. We don't need to be quieter, cuter, badder eyelashes. We can show our intelligence. I remember my mom telling me don't be so intelligent around men. They don't like it.

Kay Oliver: 42:43

Well too bad. So, yeah, so you know I'm still single, but anyway, yeah, lose the fear. The fear is not reality. Fear is what you think might happen, or you're worried about what might happen, and none of that changes anything. Be bold, be yourself. You can be feminine and be strong. You don't have to become you know. Dress in a suit and a tie, which I did one Halloween. In the studios, I dressed as a male executive and walked in. My boss said what are you doing? What are you doing? And I said I'm a man and I think you'll listen to me today.

Kay Oliver: 43:26

Exactly, you know I point out things you know. Trust yourself. You can believe in yourself, but then you have to trust yourself. Stop and think about the things you've done in life. You've probably made sacrifices.

Kay Oliver: 43:42

If you have children, you know you've done things that you need to do to get things done. Now apply that to yourself. Do what you need to do to make you happy. Figure it out. Sit down and write just a little paper on what. If I could do anything, what would that be? And then don't worry about the front doors.

Kay Oliver: 44:04

You know you don't get in the studio by knocking on the front door. You go through a window, you go through something else. Right, come down the chimney like sam who cares right. 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. 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? That is what is important and you need to take care of yourself and believe and trust in yourself and do it you. If you don't have the skills, guess what? You can learn everything online. Take some classes.

Cassandra: 44:49

Exactly.

Kay Oliver: 44:50

Try, like I said, a novella, a little book, a little something, and get through those main steps and go. Okay, I did that, I can do it, you know I can do a full book. Reach out and make sure the people that are in your life support you. There's someone in your life who doesn't support you. My mom did not support me. You need to get them out of your life and I had a therapist tell me you need to get away from your mother. So I learned that I didn't need her acceptance.

Kay Oliver: 45:23

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. Oh. So what I did, what I needed to do for me, wasn it wasn't for her, it was for me.

Cassandra: 45:40

Yes.

Kay Oliver: 45:41

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. 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. I got some not so nice reviews, like I should have spent money on editing, but I did. It wasn't a good editor. They told me how much they loved it. Oh, keep going, keep going. Right, that's what you need. Men have a lot of support. Men have literally a path driven for them.

Kay Oliver: 46:19

We women have to stick together. We have to support one another. We're doing that now. You saw it in the Olympics with the gymnasts. Yes, even USA.

Cassandra: 46:28

Yeah.

Kay Oliver: 46:28

That is amazing support for one another.

Cassandra: 46:31

It is.

Kay Oliver: 46:32

No calf fighting. Don't look at another woman who you think is taking your man. That attitude. We have to get rid of that. We have intelligence. We have created so many inventions. There was a guy who posted the other day that said you know, well, men invented cars. What did women do? Well, I wrote back and said we gave you turn signals, windshield wipers and improved the car. Then we also gave you the internet. Then we also gave you, you know, the grocery bags. And I went on and listed all these things that women invented and gosh, he didn't reply.

Kay Oliver: 47:05

I don't know why, we invent a lot, we have a lot of intelligence, and God gave us intelligence for a reason.

Cassandra: 47:13

Exactly.

Kay Oliver: 47:15

And for those men who quote the Bible that we are to obey them, you better reread the Bible First of all. 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. It was not a you're going to bow to me kind of that's right, that's right.

Kay Oliver: 47:38

So get that out of here. 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. Words before that say he is to love you as God so loved the church and he died for us. So we are powerful women. Only women stayed at the cross. 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.

Kay Oliver: 48:09

So, women, we have a lot of strength. We have a lot of strength. We need to use it.

Cassandra: 48:15

Yes, that was wild. What a way to wrap this podcast up. I love that k. That was just so awesome. Uh, how can my listeners get in touch with you? I know you.

Kay Oliver: 48:29

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.

Cassandra: 48:45

OK, great, and you're on all platforms. You're on LinkedIn, instagram. I think you were on Facebook, I saw yeah.

Kay Oliver: 48:57

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. I have another book coming out here in a month and a half now it's September, so yeah.

Cassandra: 49:12

Good for you, awesome. Well, I'm glad that you are taking control of your creativity creativity, I also. I have one last question for you, though. What about what's next for you? Do you, do you look at the future?

Kay Oliver: 49:33

in the future for yourself or you just take a day at a time. Well, I always kind of I've always looked to the future. I hardly ever looked to the past. There's certain things that I don't even bring up, that other people bring up Like oh yeah. Yeah, that's true. But more books, I mean, I really do.

Kay Oliver: 49:49

I enjoy writing. I write a lot. 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. 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. So I love working with charities and doing things like that. If Road to Elysium does become a movie, then I'll be working with that. That's okay. If it doesn't, I've been there, doesn't it? I have some friends that are still in Hollywood which I help write them out of jams. They find themselves writing into a corner. I enjoy dabbling in it now and what I want to, and just enjoying life.

Cassandra: 50:45

Wow, that's great. Well, the road to Elysium. I pray that it becomes a movie. And my listeners, you know you've met KA Oliver and you said that's her. That's her. I heard her on the podcast. Well, I tell you, I just want to thank you for your wisdom, your candor. 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. 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. 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. So, thanks, thanks for being here. I go live every Wednesday at 1 pm Eastern Standard Time. God bless you all and bye for now and thank you so much, kay.

Kay Oliver: 51:57

Thank you, it has been an absolute pleasure. Lovely talking to you.

Cassandra: 52:01

Thank you.