Rod Serling: Do you outline or just take off and write?
GITS reader David A sent me a link to an amazing set of videos, a sit-down conversation with TV and screenwriter Rod Serling. Most well-known for the long-running TV anthology series “The Twilight Zone” (148 episodes, 1959–1964), has over 70 writing credits including the screenplays for movies such as Seven Days in May and the original Planet of the Apes.
Since last week, I have been featuring Serling’s thoughts on writing each day with short (1–2 minute) interview excerpts. Today Serling lets us in on how he approaches the writing process:
“I take off and write, out of a sense of desperate compulsion. I always write as if I’d just gotten my X-ray from the doctor on Monday, and he’d best check with the insurance man to see whether the house was free and clear. I always write with a sense of desperate urgency.”
Thanks again to David for discovering these marvelous videos.
[Originally posted February 13, 2010]