Billy Ray (screenwriter)

William "Billy" Ray is an American screenwriter and director. He began writing for television and movies in 1994 with Color of Night. He has written numerous movies including Volcano and Hart's War. He was one of the creators and writers of the science fiction show Earth 2. On August 10, 2015, it was announced that he will be writing the screenplay that Martin Scorsese will direct of an adaptation of The Devil in the White City, which will star Leonardo DiCaprio.
Starting in 2003 he began to direct as well as write; his first film was Shattered Glass, inspired by the true story of Stephen Glass, a journalist who fabricated a majority of his stories. He was nominated for the Most Promising Filmmaker by the Chicago Film Critics Association and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for his work on this film. Breach (2007), which Ray co-wrote and directed, tells a similar story about Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and later Russia for more than two decades, and Eric O'Neill, who worked as his assistant and helped bring about his downfall.
He is perhaps best known for writing the screenplay to the 2012 blockbuster The Hunger Games, and his Academy Award nominated screenplay for Captain Phillips.

Writer credits

• Color of Night (1994)
• Volcano (1997)
• Hart's War (2002)
• Shattered Glass (2003)
• Suspect Zero (2004)
• Flightplan (2005)
• Breach (2007)
• State of Play (2009)
• The Hunger Games (2012)
• Captain Phillips (2013)
• Secret in Their Eyes (2015)

Director credits

• Shattered Glass (2003)
• Breach (2007)
• Secret in Their Eyes (2015)
• The Last Tycoon (TV series) (2016)