Sheer Creativity
Step into the chill vibes of Sheer Creativity, your go-to laid-back podcast about creatives for creatives! Immerse yourself in dynamic conversations, insightful interviews, and performances, all centered around the creative experience. With me, Laraya, as your guide, we'll blend special guests, personal development nuggets, and engaging creative content to inspire and motivate you on your artistic journey.
Sheer Creativity
The Power of Stories with Screenwriter Billyne Piquion
Without great writers, we wouldn't have great TV shows or films. In this episode, I speak with screenwriter Billyne Piquion about her creative writing journey, which progressed from writing stories to watching them unfold on screen. Billyne is a graduate student at Texas Southern University, an accomplished screenwriter with two short films in post production, and a poet with a poetry collection entitled Black Free Me.
Learn more about Billyne and read her work: https://www.queenbillyne.com/
Read Black Free Me: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Free-Rollercoaster-Queen-Billyne/dp/1737078406
Follow Billyne on IG and email info: https://www.instagram.com/queenbillyne/
SHEER CREATIVITY LINKS
Read Laraya's creative writing on Of Wisdom and Wander
Check out Laraya's website
Order Laraya's poetry collection
Welcome back to the Sheer Creativity podcast, the podcast about creatives for creatives. And today I have a screenwriter, a creative writer. She does it all. Welcome Billyne, also known as Bay. Welcome to the show.
Billyne:Hi. Thank you. My gosh. Thank you for having me.
Raya:Thank you so much for reaching out. I was really excited. I haven't had a screenwriter before, so I'm very excited about it. Yeah.
Billyne:Okay. You can ask me all the questions that you may, you may wanna ask or maybe your listeners may wanna know. Like I'll try to answer it as best as possible.
Raya:Yeah. Starting off, what was young Billyne's life like and how did your creative life begin to develop for you?
Billyne:So to be absolutely honest, I grew up in a very Caribbean household. And there was a lot of us. So my mother and my father, they had six kid kids collectively. And so my creative outlet didn't really start until I got into music, surprisingly. I feel like that's everybody's first love. I heard my mother sing one time at church because almost half of her brothers are pastors.
Raya:Oh wow.
Billyne:And so, yeah, I know it's a lot of them. And we went to church and she was singing and I was like so captivated by her voice, her, I was like, oh my gosh, I wanna get into music. Um, but I never had the courage until one day, uh, we were helping my uncle clean out, uh, this building he bought for the church. It was a really big building and I found a whole bunch of CDs. And all the CDs were in a, in a CD player. And all these CDs were old school, like r and b music. So we're talking about SWV was on there. TLC was on there. The Delfonics was on there, like real old school stuff. And in listening to that'cause we didn't listen to music, music in our house like that. It wasn't Haitian church music. Mm-hmm. Then we were just watching TV or playing outside because again, like it just wasn't a thing unless my dad played like very old Spanish music on his vinyls right. But that was like my very first time really falling in love with music and what music was. And so that was like second or third grade, and I begged my mother to join the, um, choir program at school, elementary school. She finally, um, caved and was like, fine, you can, and that's when I really started seeing myself falling in love with everything in inside of the arts, right? So I was in music, um, from fourth grade up until I graduated high school, and then I joined drama. And so I love acting. Absolutely love acting. To be clear stage acting. Not, not acting.
Raya:Oh, okay.
Billyne:Yeah. Stage acting is way different than acting on camera because on camera you have multiple takes. Um, if you mess up, you can redo it again, like it's a lot going on. Um, closeups, mid shots, all this stuff. I don't really care to do that. But I loved acting on stage, and so reading different plays and things like that really got me into, oh my gosh, I wanna continue acting. Now what got me into writing was I was writing creatively from seventh grade on.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Billyne:So my parents split up when I was in about like fifth grade. Yeah. Fifth grade my parents split. Mm-hmm. Right. Gotta love that. And um, my mother, she moved from Central Florida to, uh, south Florida. So we went from a small town called Winterhaven, Florida, and we moved to Miami'cause that's where all her family was. Mm-hmm. So when I moved to Miami, I went to a middle school called Norland Middle, and I was always writing. Always writing, because I needed an outlet. I didn't know how to really express myself because I just went from all six of my brothers and sisters were together to now it was just me and my sister and my little brother and my mom trying to figure things out. And it was my only way to actually, you know, let it out. I still had music because I was part of the music program at Norland Middle, but it just wasn't enough for me'cause I was singing about I was singing songs that people already wrote, and I wanted to sing something that, I wanted to create something that came from me, like it felt, or it described what I was feeling, if that makes sense.
Raya:Yeah.
Billyne:And so I just couldn't stop writing and I kept writing. I kept writing and kept writing, and I have been writing ever since. So that's, that's what young Billyne's life is like.
Raya:That's beautiful. It sounds like a very cultural experience. and like that. So growing up when we talk about like the movie side of it mm-hmm. What were some your favorite movies that eventually you would emulate in future creations that you would write?
Billyne:So, that's a really good question. Um, uh, there was, there were so many favorites, right? Mm-hmm. I feel like if the movie made me laugh, cry, mad, and a bit anxious, it was a perfect movie. Right. And so growing up it was Seventeen Again with Tia Tamara. Oh yeah, that's a good one. That was, that was an amazing film. And the soundtrack was, I feel like people don't understand this, but if a movie can be good, but if the music is horrible, you're not gonna really care for the movie. And so the soundtrack was amazing. Um, and Love Jones. So those are the top two favorite. Yeah. And your friends are like, don't you feel love romance? I do.
Raya:I do too.
Billyne:I do. I'm a hopeless romantic. But yes, those two really kind of like resonated with me growing up. Um, and I just fell in love with, you know, how Black culture or the Black community was just in these films and it wasn't like, oh, they're trying to push shit on people.'cause you see a lot of movies like that now, like they're trying to push the Black culture. It is just, you watch it, you just know like this is a black film. Mm-hmm. Like this was made for black people. Right. And so that's what I really love the most about those films, but very complicated characters. When you really get down and start watching it, you're like these, they're tripping like they on something right now. But it was really, really, those movies really like. To this day, I write characters that kind of like irritate me and I'm like, oh, but it's gonna work out. So yeah.
Raya:I love that. That's interesting. I was on your website and you said that you described wanting to write stories that are emotionally uncomfortable. Mm-hmm. So what does that mean to you to write a complex character like that?
Billyne:So for me, when I write these complex characters, it's because a lot of people like to create characters that are black and white or they're just not believable to me. Like I'll watch a movie or a show and a woman would get. Cheated on, and she'll just stand there and she'll just cry. A real woman wouldn't do that now. She'll sit there and cry, but she's thinking of a master plan to get back at you, right? Like a woman's score, a woman's scoring is dangerous. You know what I mean? Yeah. And so you may. You may feel for that character, you might, oh, she'll get over it. She needs to get over it. Like he cheated. He cheated, get over it. But other people are like, no. Like he needs to know Karma. And Karma's name is now this character's name. Right? And so I like writing certain characters where you root for them, but sometimes you're like taken aback and you're like, maybe they shouldn't have gone that far. Right, maybe not. And so, but you never know the human emotion. You don't know how far someone may go just to feel a bit of, you know, revenge or to feel happy or just to feel in general. And that's what it means for me to write a complex character or a character that's like, it makes you just a little bit uncomfortable seeing what they're doing, right? And so that's my thing. If I can make you hate the character, love the character, root for the character and then, you know, hope for their demise. And I did my job as a writer.
Raya:Yeah, it's getting people engaged in what you're talking about'cause right. I feel like we've seen a lot of tropes in films that it's like, Hmm, would the character really do that though?
Billyne:And nine times outta 10, they really wouldn't. Mm-hmm. Like I don't know how many films I've watched where I'm just like, who wrote this? Like my, my husband to this, to this day. Like, we'll go watch a movie and I, I can tell where it's gonna go or I'll say something and he'll tell me, no, no, no, let's just wait until,'cause I'll say it in the middle of the movie. Mm-hmm. And it's not enjoyable when you're, it's not enjoyable when you're married to someone that either can tell what's being foreshadowed or know how the movie's gonna end, or it's really not enjoyable. We, we went to go watch, um, The Green Knight a very long time ago, and as we're watching it, I'm just like, I already know how this is gonna end. And it was like an hour and a half left of the movie. And he looked at me and he was like, do not even tell me. I'm just like, okay, I won't. I won't. But the character was a good character, you know what I mean? Like he was, he was a good character in a way, but yeah. So. Sorry. I judge really hard whenever I have to watch a film, I have to watch it in two lenses as a writer and as a person who just enjoys film, and then I give two different ratings. Right? So, you know, there's that.
Raya:I feel like that's why a lot of people like Jordan Peele films. Mm-hmm. Because I don't ever know where he's going.
Billyne:You don't, I don't. I miss certain stuff. I'm like, what just happened?
Raya:Just like, huh.
Billyne:And on my second watch back I'm like, well, how did I miss this? Yeah. It's very subtle and it's like, this is really, really, really good. So, yeah.
Raya:So are there any common tropes that you believe that are overdone in the film industry today that you would like to correct if you had the chance?
Billyne:Okay, so I love rom-coms, but I hate rom-coms when the guy gets the girl like the ending, like it's so that sells in Hollywood. Mind you, it definitely sells in Hollywood, but it's annoying. It's really annoying. Like it's not realistic if a guy's constantly messing up. Sometimes we as women, we give a guy a second chance, right? Okay, you can get a second chance, but there's no way that we're giving you a 18th chance. It's just not, it's just not gonna happen. That's just not happening. Like we're not, we're not that stupid in love. And so there's two movies that do this, this trope like really well, like romcoms, where the guy does not get the girl. Mm-hmm. And it's The BreakUp and 500 Days of Summer. Those two movies I absolutely love because the guy didn't get the girl, he did not get her. Right. And it was believable because you knew he, you like watching it as a, as a, as a woman watching it, watching it. I said, there's no way this man is gonna end up with her.'cause he's annoying. How is this love? This cannot be love. And at the end when he did not get here, and I'm talking about 500 days a summer, by the way. Mm-hmm. He did not get here. I rejoiced. Right. And, and then in the breakup, they obviously break up. Spolier alert, if no one's ever watched this, these films. They break up, but they have a lease together. Mm-hmm. And he's a total hor, he's a horrible person. He's horrible. Like zero out of 10 would not recommend. That's the, it's literally the epitome of a guy getting so comfortable in a relationship that he does not wanna change. He sees the wrong, he feel, he feels like a woman should just assimilate to what he is and who he is. And that's not fair in relationship. And she finally has, has enough, and she breaks up with him, but she doesn't mean it in that moment. And then when he finally realizes, oh my gosh, like I might lose her. He does this grand gesture in my head as I'm watching this film, I say to myself, please do not teach women that a grand gesture is good enough.
Raya:Yes. For like a decade of sorry, you should, you need to do a little bit more.
Billyne:This grand gesture means nothing. And at the end, when this happens, when he does his grand gesture, she was like, no, I don't want this anymore. I'm sorry. I literally, I'm so happy. I was so happy. And so that's what I like seeing. That's believable. Yeah, that's human nature, right? And that's what I love about storytelling romcoms, where the guy gets the girl zero, like automatically zero outta 10. I don't recommend any of those movies to anybody. No. Yeah.
Raya:And I think Love Jones. She gets on the train and she leaves but comes back like a year later, she, that's even believable.
Billyne:That's, that's believable because let's be honest, I like, I'm not gonna lie, if I break up with somebody right? And I'm coming back into town and I'm not with anybody, I'm, I'm gonna try to see like if
Raya:Yeah. See what you're up to, you know?
Billyne:Yeah. If the old fling is still flinging, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, I'm gonna see if that's possible. And so it makes sense that she goes to the club, that they usually hang out, they hung out at, you know what I mean? So, um, Very believable. And that's what I like about films. This is, it's just believable stuff, so, yeah.
Raya:What made you, well, first and foremost, we went to theater in high school. Mm-hmm. What made you pursue the film program at Texas Southern University. Mm-hmm. First undergrad you went to F A M U, right?
Billyne:No, F A U.
Raya:F A U. Okay.
Billyne:Mm-hmm. So, so, okay. I always knew that I belong. And I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm probably the only person in my immediate family that's in the arts because everybody else is not. I have a, my brother's a teacher, my other brother's in government. My other brother, he has his own business. So I am the only person that's in the arts in my immediate family.
Raya:Has that been like a weird dynamic?
Billyne:Yes and no, because my family, so I have a brother, my, my youngest brother, he is, he's creative in a sense, so he writes poetry and I really, I like really, really well. But for him to tell a story, he can't, you can't do that to save his life. Right. Okay. And so, and he does, he raps as well. For everybody else in the family, whenever they know I'm working on something new, for them, they'd be like, you're always, that's different. Like to them it's a shock, but it's not like they don't support me. Yeah. Like when I was working on my current, um, short film, my family, they supported me financially for the donations and stuff, so I was very, very grateful.
Raya:Aw, that's wonderful.
Billyne:Yeah. I was like, oh, thank you. Like,'cause you know, your girl is struggling. Um, so I. The di I don't, I'm trying to see how I can answer this.'cause it's a really good question. Um, what made me go to Texas Southern University one was because I knew I wanted to get deeper into digital media. Right. Um, because to be fair, a lot of people, they create and they put it on their social media platform. Yeah. And I want it to be better at just storytelling because I. I wanna put a lot of the stuff that I create on, you know, a social media platform, either my Instagram or my YouTube, whichever the case, I wanna create it and then let the masses see. Most storytellers would tell you their main objective is to make sure people see the story. Right. They just want people to see their story. And that's really my main objective. Right. Um, so I went from theater in high school and then in undergrad I did communication studies with a minor in theater.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Billyne:And then I took a break'cause. I realized for my whole entire life I was in school. Right. Like I took summers off, but, but for the most part, I spent all of my time in school. So I said I'm gonna take a break. And in that break I did stage acting. I went to film festivals, um, just to get a feel of it. I learned how to write, you know, get the basic structure of story, like, uh, film writing down, screenwriting down. Mm-hmm. Um, but I felt like I wanted to know more'cause I didn't know everything. So,'cause I got a real interest in film when I went to the American Black Film Festival that's in Miami.
Raya:Oh yeah. Heard about that.
Billyne:I was like, I wanna know more. And so I told myself, if I go back to school, I really wanna go to H B C U'cause I didn't go to H B C U, so I really wanna go to H B C U. I wanna be around people that look like me, talk like me. I wanna be around those people who have the same mindset as me. That's what I wanna do. So I researched quite a few graduate programs that did digital media because the program at Texas Southern, it's under radio, TV and film. Mm-hmm. So it's professional communication and digital media all under radio, TV and film. I was just researching and researching. And then I seen Texas Southern and I have a couple of sorority sisters here'cause I'm part of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority.
Raya:Okay.
Billyne:And I was like, let me ask them like, how is Houston, I have never lived outside of Florida a day in my life. This is very scary stuff. And I just asked them like, how is it? And they were pretty honest with me. I was like, you know, Houston has a really big, you know, Black community. You probably don't have a lot of Haitians here, which they did not lie to me. There's not that many Haitians here, but it is a community where I feel safe and I feel like I'm at home. And so I applied. This is how much faith I had in myself. I applied and I applied nowhere else. Oh, wow. And I said, I said, if I don't, if I don't get in, then it's, I'll just try again next year, and if I do get in, then I'm making moves and I am moving. And so I applied and three months later I heard back that I got in. And so I was like, okay, well what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? And so I traveled here twice to look at apartments and made that move. And I can say that since being here, I learned a lot about screenwriting, more than screenwriting, but about directing.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Billyne:Producing. Um, so if. If anything, I like the directing and writing aspect of it. Producing is really just helping make sure the pro, the director gets to film off the ground, and that's a lot, it's so much going on when it comes to that. But for the most part, that's, that's why I came and it's my last semester in fall. Oh yeah. And I am excited, but I'm also nervous because everyone's always nervous when they're graduating.'cause what, what are we gonna do next? Like, what's next? And I think that's my thing right now. Like what's, what's gonna happen next? Hmm.
Raya:Okay. Do you have any plans or ideas for what's next?
Billyne:So I know I wanna, okay. I know I wanna move out of Texas. Right. Okay. Because to be fair, the indie film community in Texas is a good one, but it's, it is small.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Billyne:So if you work with a, like with one film crew, I. Nine times outta 10, the next film crew you work with, you're gonna see at least two people there that you've, that you've worked with before. And so, and that's not a bad thing'cause you could really flourish here. Mm-hmm. Right. But it becomes a thing of, okay, I wanna make sure I'm expand, like, you know, expanding myself. I wanna, you know, get. I wanna, what's the word I'm looking for? I just really wanna like
Raya:expand?
Billyne:Experience. Yeah. I wanna experience as much as possible. And so when I was in South Florida,'cause I was in Miami, I wasn't really inside of the film, you know, making community, right. And then I come here and I'm really, you know, meeting people and networking. I'm like, okay, this is amazing, but every time I go somewhere, I'm meeting, I'm look, I'm seeing and meeting the same people. I was like, okay, cool. I'm not saying I, I know everyone I need to know, but there's more. There's always more, and I know there's more. Yeah. So I want more. And so whenever I'm done with school, my husband and I said that, you know, we're going to look at different places that we can go that will benefit both of us.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Billyne:Film for me and then like tech for him. Okay. Which is very hard to try to find in the US to be fair. Um, and I still don't know where we're gonna go, but that's like the main thing for me because I just want to gain as much experience as possible. Um, because I know if I work on one thing and I know a person, I can reach out and be like, Hey, are you free to work on this thing? Because I'm a big believer in you work with the people you know in your community. Yeah. Like if I know a person who's a great AD, I want you to work on this, can you be my AD? If I know a person who's a great, you know, DOP, I want you to be my DOP. Like, it's, it's really about making those connections and gaining those, that experience, you know what I mean? So there's that.
Raya:That's always a great thing when you can rely on somebody else who knows somebody else in a different place that maybe you and your husband will go.
Billyne:Yeah.
Raya:And they'll be like, Hey, I know this person. That's great at this. Like mm-hmm. Link up with them.
Billyne:Exactly. Game plan.
Raya:Yeah. Let's talk about some of these short film projects.
Billyne:Let's talk about em. Okay. Um, so I did two. And they're both in post-production, meaning that they're being edited, music's being added, all that good jazz. So the first one is called, it Translates to Behind Closed Doors. It was the first thing that I wrote when I got to, um, Texas Southern. Mm-hmm. Um, I walked into my digital production class and my professor who has been making TV and films since the seventies said, I don't wanna, I don't wanna do anything but make a film this semester. I said, well, let's make a film. He said, I have the people like I, I, we can make one. I said, y'all just need to tell me what kind of story y'all want, what genre y'all looking for, and we can write it. And he was like, okay. And so for that, the first half of that semester, I. We brainstormed, I wrote it, we went through a couple drafts. We auditioned people in his undergrad and people to the community as well. And then we filmed it all and I think it took like a week.'cause it really wasn't that long, right? Yeah, it was like 15 pages. So not that long really, Like 13, 15 pages I think.'cause we added some stuff and things like that. Um, so that one was that. And it's basically a drama about a, um, young professor whose world is basically spiraling. and he's trying to grasp at, you know, keeping it all together. And that's the first one. So it's a drama. Uh, you could call it psychological drama if you wanted to, depending. I'll call it psychological drama. And so that's that one. And then the other one is the one that I wrote for my final project, my thesis, is called Un Lavy Mayor, which translates to a better life. Okay. And basically it's a story about a young woman who is in school pursuing a degree in a field that she's passionate about, but her mother does not support and her mother is an immigrant, and so it's loosely based on my life. And so seeing those things come. So life was kind of therapeutic, right? To see where I was, to see where I am now. It was really therapeutic just to see it all, you know? Um, and it basically just follows like a relationship between a mother and a daughter and like the arguments that they may have and, you know, what drives them and what's the reason for certain stuff, and, yeah.
Raya:Yeah. And I feel like there's not a lot of movies that cover the mother-daughter relationship.
Billyne:It doesn't. You always see like father son or maybe father daughter or mother son, but no one wants to talk about mother-daughter. And I think it's important that we do because women know how to be women or how to be better women based on the relationship that they have with their mother'cause that's the first woman that they see and experience. On top of it kind of like. Influences not even like, it influences the relationship that they have with other women. Yeah. Right. So I tell people all the time, if you have a great relationship with your mom, more than likely, you have a good relationship with, you know, other people. If your relationship with your mom's kind of awkward, maybe you're awkward with your friends. People may agree, may disagree, but I believe that'cause I've seen it firsthand with other people. And then I see it with myself, with me and my mom like it's a very interesting relationship, to say the least.
Raya:Yeah. So I'm glad that you made that and I'm sure
Billyne:Thank you.
Raya:it's like a, a different dynamic with being an immigrant and also mm-hmm like going to school for the first time.
Billyne:Right. I tell people all the time when you're a first generation student,'cause people hear that all the time, it's like first generation, first generation. It's you are first generation and then you're first generation. If your parents are immigrants, Yeah.'cause the pressure is extremely on. When your parents are immigrants, you may, you may have pressure when you're the first generation,'cause your mother or your father's like, oh my gosh, why you graduated high school? I'm so proud of you. You're going to college. I'm proud of you but when you come from a background of your parents came to this country because they're escaping and they need to find something that was better and they weren't able to get that better. They're pushing their children to get the better that they were promised. It's like, why are you doing this? Why aren't you doing this? Why are you there? Why aren't you here? It's a lot, it's a lot of pressure on that individual. I don't think people see it that way until I explain it to them. Like, no, it's, it's a lot. It's, it's a lot.
Raya:Yeah. I get that. So what has been the most difficult challenge that you faced as a creative writer or a screenwriter so far in your career?
Billyne:I would say, I would say whenever people give feedback,'cause I tell people all the time, there's a difference between someone criticizing your work and someone giving you feedback because one is constructive and one is just flat out discouraging and mean. And so it's me trying to tell the difference between the two.'cause some people try to do it in a, in a specific way. Um, but when I bring it up to others that are in the field, like other directors or writers, and I let them know what someone says, and they're like, why would they say that doesn't make sense. None of listen to me. Like that's, that was the wrong thing for them to tell you, like this is the best way to go about it. Or people trying to take advantage of writers. Um, I realize that. Now with the WGA strike going on. Right. Um, nothing happens unless it's written. Yeah. There's no way for you to film a show if you don't have a show, like what are you gonna film? Right? That, and that's with scripted work. Obviously if you're doing a reality TV or whatever the case may be, then that's different. But nothing happens unless the person, you know, writes. And I could say, when I first moved to Houston, I had a lot of people try to take advantage of the fact that I was a writer. And was offering, oh no. Like, yeah, if you write, we'll give you, you know, credit, but we won't pay you. And if we pay you, then we own all copyright of it. I'm like, that's definitely illegal. Like your, you can't do that. And that's, that's what I had to, you know, go through as a person getting into writing and me reaching out to people in the industry and say, Hey, this person just reached out to me and said this. And having them say, Billyne, you're way too nice. Go ahead and cuss that person out'cause they're trying you right now.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Billyne:And know that a another opportunity will present itself. I'm like, okay. Cool. So that was like the main two. Yeah, that makes sense.
Raya:I mean, just from the W G A strike alone, writers really don't get the respect and the pay that they're due
Billyne:exactly
Raya:for creating the stories that people love and want to watch. Without the writers, you don't have anything.
Billyne:Right.
Raya:And you can tell when something's been written very well, so. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Billyne:I tell people all the time, like, you guys love the Orange is the New Black. Right. And people are like, yeah, we love that show. Imagine if AI wrote that, would it have lasted as long as it lasted? And it was like, Nope. It definitely would not have. Exactly right, because people writing these shows, like people who know people actually writing these shows, and so that makes a difference. If there's no writers, you don't have camera crew, you don't have people styling the the cast, you don't have a cast, you don't, you just don't have anything. You don't have a story.
Raya:Yeah. And the thing about AI is it's emotionless. Mm-hmm. And that's what drives a story forward.
Billyne:Mm-hmm.
Raya:So even though we have this thing that they want to use mm-hmm. You're still gonna need those actors that can bring those emotions. You're still gonna need those writers who can write those emotions.
Billyne:Exactly. Yeah.
Raya:So what was it like to see and hear your written words coming from an actor for the first time?
Billyne:It was surreal. It gave me goosebumps. Um, I just couldn't believe what I was actually seeing. So the first short film that I did, um, when we did the auditions to see them act it and audition, I was like, oh my gosh, this is. This is crazy, right? And to say, oh no, no, this is not this. That's not what the character's doing. To actually know what I, what I need from that person to see if they could bring it out. It was just like, oh my gosh. Like this is actually happening. It, it felt like my words actually were coming to life. Yeah. I was like, oh my gosh, they're alive. Right. A per like, I wrote them and I'm seeing other people actually bring them to life and making it alive.
Raya:That's beautiful. You also have a poetry collection
Billyne:mm-hmm
Raya:called Black Free Me. So what is that poetry collection about and what are some of the poems in the collection that you are the most proud of writing?
Billyne:So Black Free Me is, it's a, it's a series and the one that just got released was Black Free Me Roller Coaster. And, um, it's the third one and the last one is gonna get released next year, hopefully. Um, and Black Free Me, basically is a, it's a, um, it, I'm trying to say this without going over in a tangent, but it's poems that relate to anybody and everybody, but I wrote it for the black community.'cause I've had people who are not part of the black community tell me how well it resonated with them. Mm-hmm. Right. So I feel like the black community, we go through a lot of these things and our emotions are oftentimes shut down or shut out. All the things that I went through, right, I put them on a page and I published it, right? Mm-hmm. So even if you can't be vulnerable, I was vulnerable for you.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Billyne:Right? And so my favorite poems from the most recent one would have to be What Can You Bring to the Table, and, um, Genesis, and there's so much. Let's see. Oh, Lost on My Road to Recovery and Fantasy. Yes, those were, those are, those are the ones that resonate with me. So how it's set up is that there's a poem and then there's a quote, and usually the quote relates to the poem that you're about to read or you just read. Okay. And so, um, yeah, I, how I do this is, um, I journal, they're kind of like diary entries, right? But for whatever reason, I can't ever just write a diary, like write it regularly. They automatically come out as poems. Like I end up rhyming. I don't know how, I don't know why. It's probably just something in me. But I'll start writing and then I realize, oh my gosh, this is, this is a stanza.
Raya:That's interesting.
Billyne:And so most of these literally are just, Diary entries, if I can be completely honest with you. And so this is like my real vulnerable state, but to know that it resonated with so many people made me happy'cause it shows that humans, we share the same type of emotions, right? Yeah. Or we go through the same type of thing, which is actually kind of bad, but it made me happy that I could share it with someone that they could feel like, okay, yes, this, this works. Um, so yeah, I should send you a copy actually. If you have a PO Box, lemme know course do. Yeah, just gimme address, PO box, whatever, and I'll send you a copy.
Raya:Okay. So there's Rollercoaster is the newest one.
Billyne:Mm-hmm.
Raya:And what are the other ones?
Billyne:So, ooh, there's so long names. So, um, there's Black Free Me, um, life observed. Sorry, I have a slight accent when it comes to specific words. Um, and other one is Thoughts Uncensored. Right.
Raya:I like those.
Billyne:So the only thing I don't like is that, um, for whatever reason, Amazon has one and three as if they're the same book. And so if you go on Amazon to buy it, it'll say Kindle and paperback, but the paperback is three and the Kindle version is one. So I dunno how to fix that. Because I didn't go through Amazon. I went through something. I went through an independent publisher. Oh yeah. Um, and I don't know how to update it that it does not, does not do that whatsoever. But the more you know,
Raya:it's okay. I have my own problems with Amazon's publishing.
Billyne:Oh my God. To be an indie publisher. It's a lot.
Raya:It really is. Let's talk about your journey with that. How have you gone about promoting this book?
Billyne:So, um, the first thing I did was obviously tell the story of, um, Black Free Me, and then I posted it on Instagram. And then I showed like tidbits of the different quotes that were in there. And then obviously my favorite poems that were from there, and that was my main marketing. And I did a virtual book tour. That was fun. Okay. Um, So different readers book, people would get my book and talk about it on their live or create post about it. So that was actually pretty cool. Um, but that was how I did it. Now, obviously, like when you write books and you continue to write books, you're gonna find more in different ways to literally market. And so now I know that I would do things a little differently, like send PR packages, I guess, to other readers. Get them to write reviews and stuff like that. That's like the main thing I could say because you have very, really creative people who can really mess with the algorithm and TikTok or Instagram and you know, your book will go viral, right? Yeah. Um, in a matter of like days. So that's what I would do differently. Um, I went through Ingram Spark Publishing, but me and Ingram Spark got a little beef right now, so
Raya:I've heard about them
Billyne:mm-hmm.
Raya:From another person I know who's an indie writer and they feel the same way. So, I don't, let's just let the audience know. Just go ahead and skip them.
Billyne:Be very cautious if you're gonna work for them. And do not choose the wholesale option. That's all I have. Okay. Interesting. That's it. Hopefully they don't sue me, but don't, do not choose the wholesale option. How they present it may seem like, oh, this is amazing. I wanna do it this way. Absolutely. Um, but don't do it that way. Just Okay. Don't, don't do it that way. Don't do wholesale, do print on demand if anything, but do not do wholesale. Alright. Y'all heard it from her first.
Raya:Alright, so do you have any other short film projects coming up or projects that you're working on right now?
Billyne:So I have 1, 2, 3 projects that I'm currently, well, four, technically. I have four projects that I'm working on. I just finished writing this dramedy pilot cause I feel like I can write this pilot and I can get it, you know, proofread and then I could try to sell it. Here's the thing though, I have to get it copywritten because I feel like even if I were to, if I were to submit it for a couple of screenplay, um, competitions, a lot of things that I've heard is that some people will submit it and then not a lot of times, but there are those few rare occasions where, um, it may get, you know, stolen. That's the shady competitions, by the way, y'all now all screenplay competitions are like that. It's, it's the very shady ones. Um, and it ends up that they'll take it. So I have to get it copywritten first, but it's called the Marriage Pact and it basically follows a group of friends. It's four of them, three women and one guy. And, um, they're all married, not to each other. But they're married and they basically just, you know, hang out and talk about the married life. And it's very funny, very dramatic, very Black without being Black and in your face, but it's very Black. Yeah. And so that's the one that I am the most proud of, really like that one. Um, and then I'm working on two books, the Last Black Free Me, which is called Therapy. And then
Raya:that one's gonna be deep.
Billyne:It's gonna be really, it's gonna be so deep. And basically it's a conversation between your inner self and so the things that you may have inside of you. And so, That one, it's gonna take, that's why I said hopefully 2024 I can sell it to you guys because it's taking a lot out of me. Yeah. And because again, like I said, it's like my diary. Um, I just go through all of my diary books or journals and I'm just pulling different poems and putting it all together and making it really flow. Right. Yeah. So, um, there's that. Um, and then I have a novel. The novels probably the longest. Novels take a long time to write.
Raya:Yeah. I've been sitting on a novel idea for a minute and on page two.
Billyne:So the thing is, I, so I started off, don't ever do this. Um, some people can do this though, so I, let me, let me retract that statement. I literally just pulled out my MacBook and I started typing, right. And I'm typing, I'm typing, I'm typing. I get to like page, page 30, and I'm just like, wait, wait, wait. Where's the story going? Because I know what story I wanna tell, but I don't know how to make it go the way I wanna go. And that's why outlining is very important. You guys please outline. Yeah, I don't, if you don't learn anything from me, outline, outline, everything. I outline, every screenplay I've ever written, every show, please outline. It is very important.'cause if you do not outline, you do not know what you're gonna, where you're gonna make the story go and it's gonna go all over the place. I finally sat down and I outlined the whole entire thing. I lied, not the whole entire thing. The first act. It was the first act. So I outlined the first act and I'm like, okay, cool. I can see like where the first, the, you know, 80 pages may go, right? Yeah. But where's it gonna go after that? Because I know the kind of story I wanna tell. And the novel was called, uh, Pain of a Black Woman. That's the name of it. I know. Okay. Just all about pain, right? Nothing but pain.
Raya:I like it.
Billyne:Um, yeah. And then I am finishing up a short film. It's called, um, the Next 24 Hours, and it follows this recovering addict, um, as she spirals for 24 hours.
Raya:Ooh.
Billyne:Yeah, I know.
Raya:Oh, that sounds good.
Billyne:I know, I just, I mean, writing stuff, and I'm just like, what is, where is this coming from? You know, so. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Raya:Do you have a genre that you like to write in that is the most enjoyable for you, or you just enjoy it all?
Billyne:So, I love, I can't say I enjoy it all because I hate scary stuff. I hate horror.
Raya:I don't do that either. I don't like that.
Billyne:I like suspense and I like thriller. But the moment, like I see a a, a ghost or a demon, something pop up, the whole thing getting turned off like that, just don't sit right with me and my spirit. But, and I've always been like that. I remember my family was watching The Ring and I was walking and literally I, I turned my head and I see the girl come out the, the well and I freak out. I literally could not sleep for like three days.
Raya:Oh no.
Billyne:Yeah, it was really bad. It was. So I just don't,'cause I have a vivid imagination. And I think that doesn't work. The fact that like, you know, I have anxiety and A D H D, so my mind is always racing. And so if I connect the Ring girl to like something in real life, I'm done for, for like two weeks. Like it's not, yeah, it's gonna keep, it's gonna reoccur in my head over and over. Not a good thing. So, but I would say that, um, I like writing romance and drama, but I also sprinkle comedy in there'cause I think I'm pretty funny, right?
Raya:Yes you are. I concur.
Billyne:Thank you girl, you know I'm trying out here.
Raya:You're a good time.
Billyne:Thank you. You know, but I feel like I'm pretty funny and so I, most of the time I catch myself cackling when I'm writing certain things. Like for example, on my website there's a short story called I Hate You, so it's part one and part two. And so there's a scene in there when I was writing where the male love interest, he shows up to her house. Right after she tells him to go to hell and she was like, didn't I tell you to go to hell? And he said, you did. It's like, damnation is not my house. And he's like, and as I wrote that line, I'm just dying. And my husband's like, what's so funny? I'm like, you wouldn't get it. You wouldn't get it.
Raya:Read it later.
Billyne:No, you'll read it later. Because this is actual, this is comedy. This is real comedy because literally I could see someone saying that. Mm-hmm. Like last time I checked damnnation's not my house. So why are you here? So, yes,
Raya:It's definitely, it's authentically Black.
Billyne:It's authentically,
Raya:I would say something like that.
Billyne:Exactly. And so when I wrote that I was dying, and I do that all the time, whenever I'm writing, uh, anything, it has to, something has to be funny in there. Like I said, like for me, my favorite movie growing up had a sprinkle everything. And so if you made me laugh, the movie made me laugh in any place. It's, it's good. So I want the same thing. I'm gonna write something and y'all gonna laugh. Y'all better laugh because I, I thought about this.
Raya:I put my blood sweat in tears with this.
Billyne:Exactly. I really thought about this and the timing is perfect. So you better figure it out.
Raya:Cue laugh here.
Billyne:Absolutely. You get, you get the idea. Um, so yeah. Main three right there. Um, romance dramedy and comedy.
Raya:I love that. So what does success look like for you in your creative writing future?
Billyne:Success looks like me working with Issa Rae. I literally. I literally had my, um, my advisor at school tell me, uh, she's part of my committee. She literally said, you give me Issa Rae. And I was just like, girl, thank you. But don't do Issa like that. She's like,
Raya:what do you mean?
Billyne:Because one, first of all, I've never met Issa Rae because, I've never met her, but I'm really wild. I've not, I've heard her say out-of-pocket stuff before, like her acceptance speech to when she got that one award. I was crying. But I do not think she is as crazy and as unfiltered as me. But I would love to work with Issa Rae. Or like, one of my, one of the things I've written is like, this is the Issa Rae production. Like she produces something. Mm-hmm. Right. Um, so main thing is like writing and working with Issa Rae. That's. For me. That's what it's like. I made it right then and there. Yeah. Billyne. Billyne made it. You can't even, can't, you can't even call me at that point. My number has changed. Okay. Like, I'm unlisted at this point. You can't even, no, absolutely not. But yeah, working with Issa Rae and, um, really just'cause again, I'm, I'm into directing, but directing for, um, either a movie or a show for a major network, right? Um, that's literally for me, that's what success looks like. But without dropping names and stuff like that, really, if people just know my work, if someone's like, have you heard of Black Free Me? And it's like, The nobility of it. Like, oh yeah, that, yeah, I read that. I love that book. Just the fact that someone has read it. Really, like all jokes aside, that to me is success because as a storyteller and as a writer, that's what you really want. You want people to be like, oh, I've heard of her. I love her work. I love what she creates. And so for me that that is success. Like that's what success will look like for me, plus money in my account, I need money.
Raya:Oh, oh, absolutely. Mm-hmm. Girl.
Billyne:'cause Biden over here sending money to Ukraine. But my, my loans are still here and I don't know if that gonna be paid.
Raya:My loans are mocking me, like, why are they here?
Billyne:They're not gonna get paid. I just, I just don't see it happening for anyone at this point. Like they're not,
Raya:I've forgiven my own loans, so. I am forgiven. Forgive, I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I forgive myself for going to school, so
Billyne:I forgive myself. Yes, absolutely. No, no, I get that.
Raya:Yes, I definitely see like a Issa track for you. I definitely do.
Billyne:You say thank you. You know, I claim that it's a good dramedy fit for you. Thank you. You know, like that's what I need. I need someone to be like, I see that. Yes. I claim that right now. Yes, I do. So, yes.
Raya:So my final question for you, and this has been a great interview. Thank you so much for coming on.
Billyne:No, of course. Thank you for having me.
Raya:So my final question for you is what excites you about creativity in your own life?
Billyne:Hmm. What excites me, I think is, I wouldn't say escapism, but when it boils down to it, it's escapism. I like the fact that I can create something that takes people away from what's currently going on, or just takes me away from what's currently going on, right? Mm-hmm. And kinda like pulling the strings of a character, right? If I create this world with, you know, a mom and a daughter, right? And they're constantly butting heads, right? Who are you gonna root for? Am I rooting for the mother? Am I making the daughter hate? Like it's just the fact that I can create something and I know where it's going, right? Yeah. I can create this world and it just, it's therapeutic in a way. Everything's like therapy when it comes to writing for me. But it's therapeutic in a way.'cause I know how, how I'm starting it and it can end however way I want to. Right? I don't know how it's gonna end, but I can make it end anyway. So for me it's, it's literally endless because in that journey of me creating and writing this character, this story, I may get an idea for something else and I'll write down that, that idea.'cause if I start that idea, then I'm not gonna finish what I'm just working on, but I'll write it down like we're gonna come back to that. So the fact. How I see it is once I'm creating, I will, or writing, I will create other stories and other stories will, you know, birth out of me, right? Because I'm practicing that and I'm doing that. Um, and so that's what excites me the most is the fact that it's endless. The possibilities are endless. The stories are endless. People think the same stories are being told. That's only if you're looking for the same stories.'cause there's different stories happening all around all the time. You can create one right now and you would think, oh my gosh, this is so different. And I bet you it is. Yeah. Are there similarities? Absolutely. But it's different. Absolutely.
Raya:I love that answer.
Billyne:Oh, thank you. You know, I gave it all, it was my heart. That was my heart right there.
Raya:Well let everybody know how they can connect with you and get connected to your, creations and all your good stuff out there.
Billyne:So you can follow me, um, at Queen Billyne on almost everything. So like Instagram, um, Facebook, even though I'm barely on my public Facebook, but I, I try to post on there. I try. Um, I'm not on Twitter or x. I deleted the app, but you know, it still has an account on there. I just deleted the app. Um, and if you ever need, like I say all the time, I'm open to work. So if you're looking for a freelance storyteller, if you want things on your site, if you want, you know, someone to edit or look at something for you or outline something for you. You can always, when you, you can email me, but my email's on obviously my Instagram and stuff, so I'm open to all those things. So at Queen Billyne, B I L L Y N E.'cause I know my name is complicated. It does not sound how it's spelled. Um, so there's that. Yeah.
Raya:Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It's been a joy having you here and learning all about your journey.
Billyne:Thank you. It was a pleasure. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate this.
