Ryan Seacrest, who recently replaced Pat Sajak as the TV host of the game show Wheel of Fortune, has an impressive list of television credits that includes hosting American Idol and the annual Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rocking Eve special; he’s also hosted the weekly radio program American Top 40. Now, Seacrest and his younger sister, Meredith Seacrest Leach, the executive director of the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, which builds broadcast media centers in children’s hospitals for young patients to use, have collaborated on a picture book, The Make-Believers, illustrated by Bonnie Lui. Seacrest (in Los Angeles) and Leach (in Nashville) spoke with PW via Zoom about their relationship then and now, the power of one’s imagination, and how, during their childhood, Seacrest enjoyed pretending that he was Casey Kasem, who hosted American Top 40 for many years.
How did this book come about?
Ryan: There are two paths to how we got here. First, the book was inspired by the way my sister and I would play make-believe or put on different performances and entertain our parents and our family as kids. And the other part of it, for me, was inspired by meeting a lot of children at pediatric hospitals around the country and seeing their boundless, unlimited imaginations. The book really celebrates that imagination and that ambition that kids have.
Meredith: Yes, as Ryan mentioned, during our childhood we played make-believe—we were creating shows. He pretended to be Bon Jovi, and I was Madonna. My daughter, who’s five, loves to play, and I get very inspired by her and how beautiful it is to see a young child and their imagination and where it can take them. It’s like my daughter’s love language is to play, right? So it’s such a fun time when I get to play make-believe with her and we bond through it.
What was it like for the two of you doing this project together? Did you two bicker like you might have as children, or was it more of a collaboration between two adults?
Meredith: Ryan’s a boy, I'm a girl. We’re six years apart. We never had a big fighting relationship, so we kind of fell in a sweet spot with our age difference. We always really loved playing together. He was my big brother who would include me when his friends would come over and let me join in. And when we’d make some of these productions and videos, I’d be the light girl with a desk lamp, flashing it with a music video. He was kind to always include me, and now we work together with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. We’re just fortunate, I guess, that we love being collaborative and love working together and love being siblings. I wish I had a juicier answer. Ryan, what do you think?
Ryan: Ah, you just made me love you more. I think that’s a pretty accurate description of our relationship. I was a protective older brother and when Meredith became an adult, it was always very important to me to know exactly who she was hanging out with. We always had a very symbiotic relationship.
What was the writing process like? Did you two craft every word together, or did one of you do more of the writing and then the other added to it?
Ryan: I think we started conceptually with the story, the character line, and then Meredith elaborated some more on it. It’s not our expertise, making children’s books—but our editor fine-tuned our words, and the real focus of the story that is in the book now. Meredith, what would you say?
Meredith: Yes, I think we started with just the big idea, and then we put some words together. We’re fortunate to have a great publisher, Simon & Schuster, that really is the expert in this as well, guiding us through all that, and a wonderful illustrator, Bonnie Lui, who was able to take the words and bring them to life with her beautiful illustrations.
Do you think the point of this book, that children’s imaginations can take them anywhere, is even possible in a world where kids are given cell phones as soon as they can talk, and play with their phones constantly?
Ryan: I think that’s why the timing is so right for a book like this: you make the point that kids are accessing information at younger and younger ages, and everything in the world is available at their fingertips. So to really focus on the antithesis of that, and to dig deep into your own dreaming and your own thoughts and your own imagination, that’s why the timing for me is perfect for The Make-Believers.
Meredith: Yes, I think too, with iPads and all the different electronics that kids have access to, it’s about putting those to the side and really using your imagination, having some boredom, and using what’s around you. You can make a stick into a magic wand, or you can turn certain everyday items into something super creative. That’s what we want to celebrate. And we want to encourage parents to play make-believe with their children, and to put their own devices to the side and celebrate their imaginations too, because it’s so important.
What is the main thing you want kids to take away from this book then?
Meredith: It’s all about the power of make-believe, like I will say to my daughter, “Sometimes you don’t remember your dreams at night, right? But there are dreams you can have with your eyes open, and it’s dreams that can inspire an aspiration within yourself that could actually become true.” I mean, I have to say, with Ryan, it’s crazy, he pretended as a kid to be Casey Kasem, and now he’s counting down the hits himself on American Top 40. He would make these tapes for our drives to the beach, and he would count down hits. He was playing, pretending to be a DJ, and it actually created something within him that he lived out in real life. And, you know, we would host shows and do all these things, and now he’s been a host of many shows. So I believe, even with children, there’s something that you can pretend to be and play at doing as a kid that can spark something that could take you further down the road in life.
Ryan: At that age, children may not understand the power of visualization and the power of manifestation, but it can never be underestimated. At the time, I didn’t know what those words meant, but I knew that there was a love for what I was doing and making those countdown tapes for my family when I was nine years old. There was something there, in my head, that I now look back and realize was really powerful.
You’re working together through the Ryan Seacrest Foundation to set up these Seacrest Studios inside children’s hospitals around the country, and now you’ve written a children’s book together. Do you have plans to collaborate, on another book or anything else?
Ryan: The Ryan Seacrest Foundation is our focus, and we are continuing to build media centers in pediatric hospitals; some new ones are coming on line. But who knows? If this book is something that people connect with, maybe there’s more life to The Make-Believers as well.
Meredith: We’re actually opening a new Seacrest Studio in our hometown of Atlanta, we’re bringing a new one to New Orleans, and there will be more announcements of other children’s hospitals that we’re working with. Along with that work, we just wanted to bring this story to families—hopefully it’s inspiring to kids and maybe to parents too. You’re never too old to make believe and to have dreams that hopefully can manifest themselves to come true.
And a bonus question for Ryan. You’ve just been named the host of Wheel of Fortune, the premise of which is that everything has to do with luck, it’s all about spinning the wheel and hoping for the best. How do you reconcile writing a book whose premise some might consider contradictory to that of Wheel of Fortune?
Ryan: Nothing contradicts Wheel of Fortune in my mind. This is something that, if we go back to make believe, Wheel of Fortune is a show that I watched as a kid, and I think it’s safe to say, I probably pretended to be Pat Sajak. So, to me, this actually goes right in line with the whole concept of dreaming big.
Meredith: This is just a fun, sweet book about imagination and dreaming, and about sharing your dreams with your family and friends and where it can take you. It’s just something that we wanted to share, and we hope that people enjoy it and put it on their bookshelves and read with their kids.
The Make-Believers by Ryan Seacrest and Meredith Seacrest Leach, illus. by Bonnie Lui, Simon & Schuster, $19.99 Oct. 8 ISBN 978-1-6659-4987-3
