The week leading up to the conference was a bit nutty, as you'd expect, made even nuttier by the fact that the Northeast had just been slammed by a tropical storm (I forget who) that left flooding, evacuations, power outtages and destruction in its wake. Thankfully, the Ithaca, NY area was spared, but many of our attendees and presenters had to carefully pick their routes among roadways and airports not underwater. A few people did have to back out at the last minute, which was very unfortunate.
Still, we were ready to go Friday morning, and as if to honor the mood of the Twilight Zone, the fog was intense and didn't let up until close to noon. Our presenters were wonderful, and the overall quality of work presented was by far the most academic out of all four conferences to date. Carol and Jodi Serling were in attendance for much of the conference, and they also expressed their appreciation of the high caliber of presentations honoring Mr. Serling's work and life. During Jodi's welcome comments, she quoted the Great Bird Gene Roddenberry, who said about her father:
No one could know Serling, or view or read his work, without recognizing his deep affection for humanity ... and his determination to enlarge our horizons by giving us a better understanding of ourselves.For me there are two highlights of the weekend: our keynote speaker, Bill D'Elia, who knocked the socks off the jam-packed Park Auditorium, and the Scriptwriting Competition session, which although plagued with Skype-related tech difficulties at first, was eloquent and focused thanks to the magnificent hosting of writer Nick Sagan. Also of note was the ever-popular Twilight Zone Marathon, which this year included outtakes, bumpers and other goodies in addition to favorite episodes selected by conference attendees and Park School faculty.
Throughout the conference, as busy as I was moderating the sessions and making sure things were flowing smoothly, I felt like I was riding a wave. I won't say it was effortless, but it was to date one of the most uplifting projects I've worked on. I am so grateful to have been a part of it, to honor the man whose work has inspired me since the time I was barely able to write. (Factoid: I wrote a book when I was five. It was called "The Planets" and it consisted of my crayon drawings of the planets with their names scrawled under them.)
Now that I'm in L.A. and I am knocking on doors, I remember how Rod Serling half-joked about collecting enough rejection slips to wallpaper the john. I was fortunate in being able to research and produce an audio collection of Serling lectures for the conference, and there is one message he gave to students and writers over and over: Persistence is key, as well as talent, of course. Thanks for the advice, Rod.
Read Serling's final interview, moving and personal, given just months before he died, here, and a rare peek at Serling's humor on screen:
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