Rod Serling on Writing

Part 1 of a 16-part series featuring the master storyteller on video.

Ever since I launched Go Into The Story, I have regularly gone down the Internet’s rabbit hole in search of unique video clips featuring renowned writers. In 2010, I hit the Mother Lode: A series of 16 clips featuring Rod Serling chatting with what appear to be college students circa 1970.

Most well-known for the long-running TV anthology series “The Twilight Zone” (148 episodes, 1959–1964), Serling has over 70 writing credits including the screenplays for movies such as Seven Days in May and the original Planet of the Apes.

Back in 2010, I went through each clip and extracted some key quotes from Serling. Then as is often the case with the Internet, the videos disappeared.

However, they have emerged once again, a big hat tip to Doc Kane for surfacing them. As long as they are up, I will reprise the series. Today: Serling ruminates on the question: Where do ideas come from?

“That’s the easiest thing on Earth, to come up with an idea. The second thing is hardest thing on Earth — to put it down (i.e., write it).”

Evidently, coming up with story ideas was easy for Mr. Serling. For those of the rest of us who struggle with, check out my 10-part series: How to Generate and Critique Story Ideas.

As to the second point — how hard it is to “put it down” — here’s another 10-part series: How I Write a Script.

Tomorrow: More of the interviews with Rod Serling.