I'm just coming off of a contact high. I spent time this weekend with George Clayton Johnson, TV and film writing veteran, as well as other notables at The Rod Serling Conference at Ithaca College. This week marked the 50th anniversary of The Twilight Zone, and to celebrate, Serling's hometown of Binghamton and his chosen home of Ithaca both put on a spectacular weekend of events.
The Conference included scholarly presentations from around the world on Serling's work, and also presented more personal, intimate sketches of the man's life from his friends and colleagues. The special guest of the conference was, of course, George Clayton Johnson, who wrote four episodes of TZ as well as numerous other teleplays including Star Trek's "The Man Trap." Clayton was a joy to watch and listen to; at 80 he is exuberant if not eccentric, and tells it like it is, as far as he's concerned.
I was honored to present the panel session with the top three winners of the Serling Scriptwriting Competition, for which I was also a judge: First place winner Chris DellaCarpini, for "Dumbed Down," Second place winner Federico Jimenez, for "Simon," and Third place winner Lance Gilmer, for "The Guest." All three writers are gifted and it was a pleasure to meet them and introduce them to the attendees.
I am still processing the Conference as a whole, and I will write more when I have my more personal thoughts organized.
For now - kudos to all who worked so hard to make it a success, including Mrs. Serling and her family, who make it possible for us to celebrate Mr. Serling's work in such grand style.
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