Billy Ray – the guy who was entrusted with adapting Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, along with the latest installment, Sunrise on the Reaping, and other movies, like Captain Phillips, and that Nicole Kidman AMC ad – just created a dystopian novel of his own, Burn The Water. On behalf of CinemaBlend, the screenwriter spoke with us about who and what influenced him to become a YA novelist in his own right for the first time.
Billy Ray told me he first thought of Burn The Water, his futuristic take on Romeo & Juliet, years before The Hunger Games, first as a too-expensive movie idea that was shelved. That is, until he had time on his hands during the 2023 WGA Strikes. As he shared, of course, he had to get Suzanne Collins’ feedback on an early draft. In his words:
I mean, if you're gonna learn, learn from the best. You would be insane to have access to Suzanne Collins and not take advantage of it. And, for someone who is as busy as she is, who is so besieged by other people wanting things from her, she took the time to read mine and give me really, really useful feedback. It was just amazing.
Burn The Water takes place in 2425 London, 300 years after rising oceans wiped out most of England and gave rise to an ongoing war between two Houses: the Crowns and the Rogues. It follows two young captains of these houses’ armies, Rafe and Jule, as they fall in love despite being wired to hate each other for so long.
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Since then, Ray was also asked to adapt her latest Hunger Games book for the screen, Sunrise on the Reaping. The movie hitting theaters this fall is one of the most-anticipated book-to-screen adaptations on the 2026 movie schedule. In the case of this new installment, he said he worked closely with Collins, doing so prior to the world even having their eyes on a copy. In his words:
And, by the way, all through the process of adapting Sunrise On The Reaping, obviously I was in touch with her every day and she was incredibly enthusiastic and supportive of me as a novelist – having nothing to do with the fact that I was adapting one of her babies. Suzanne's very special.
While Billy Ray and Suzanne Collins’ connection to dystopia is actually pretty serendipitous, you gotta love that the two authors came back together to have a conversation about Burn The Water prior to it being published. It sounds like Collins was a great help to the first-time novelist. Outside of getting The Hunger Games author in his corner, he also shared another way he was brought into the YA world:
I will never forget, actually 15 years ago when my agent called me and said, ‘Do you wanna do the Hunger Games?’ And I walked from my office, which was a converted garage into the living room where my daughter, then 14, and my son, then 9, were sitting and I said, ‘What's the Hunger Games?’ And, they both did that sort of palm to the forehead thing… 'cause of course they had both read it.
His daughter, now 29, specifically was practically the perfect age to look up to Katniss in The Hunger Games when he was offered the screenwriting gig for the first of Hunger Games movies. As he recalled, once he sat down to read The Hunger Games, he thought it was “the greatest idea” he’s ever heard in his life and “remains” so. When it came time for his novel, here’s what Ray said:
My daughter was a very important touchstone for me all the way through the drafting of this book… The idea of putting that map up front in the book came from my daughter, who is a giant, giant fan of this genre. She has read all of it. And, she was the one who planted that idea of the map in me. And, and I'm so glad she did. Very, very grateful for that.
While Burn The Water may have some cool shared DNA on the outside looking in with The Hunger Games, the book itself is quite different. With its Shakespearean-inspired storyline, Ray focuses on the ways in which people can divide themselves, the importance of art to our humanity against the backdrop of a nearly underwater London. Ray told us he has a trilogy in mind for Burn The Water, so you can read it yourself right now and look forward to more from The Hunger Games screenwriter.
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