Q&A: Discussing SerlingFest 2025 and Rod Serling’s Legacy with Anne Serling

Friday, September 19th, kicks off SerlingFest 2025, a 3-day celebration honoring the incomparable Rod Serling in his hometown of Binghamton, New York, with special guests, screenings, and much more. One of the most influential genre writers of all time, this festival is not only a great way to honor his memory and work, but to introduce younger and future generations to the powerful messages in his writing. His impact on genre writers today is immeasurable, and his ability to weave in modern socio-political commentary into fantastical storytelling is unmatched. When I'm asked for recommendations, The Twilight Zone is often the first thing that comes up. It's a series I revisit often for inspiration, and I seem to find something new to appreciate each time I watch it. I was fortunate to briefly catch up with his daughter, Anne Serling, to talk about SerlingFest, her father's approach to writing, and more:

SerlingFest 2025 is taking place later this month in Rod Serling's hometown of Binghamton, New York. I'm so happy to see so many people continuing to celebrate the incredible work of your father, along with you and your work as a writer and promoter of your father's legacy. Would he be surprised that he and his writing are still so universally celebrated today? 

Anne Serling: Yes! He would have been stunned! He was quoted as saying: “Good writing, like wine, has to age well and my stuff is momentarily adequate, nothing that would stand the test of time.” Recently, I read another quote of his:

“Fame is short - lived. One year after this show (The Twilight Zone) goes off the air they’ll never remember who I am. And I don’t care a bit. My place is as a writer.”

Your father had an incredible talent for being able to tell fantastical stories that were still so grounded in the human condition and the socio-political climate of the day. Your father's work is also incredibly inspiring for new writers, and I often suggest his work as a starting place for anyone looking to become a storyteller. From your research of your father, is there something about his approach to writing that you believe was crucial to his success?

Anne Serling: In his own words: “The writer’s role is to menace the public’s conscience. He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the arts as a vehicle of social criticism and he must focus on the issues of his time.”

I imagine your father hoped that we wouldn't be facing some of the same issues of racism, inequality, and other socio-political injustices today. Is there an episode or episodes of The Twilight Zone that you find especially important for people to keep in mind today?

Anne Serling: You are so right about present day, and to that my father would be deeply saddened by what’s happing and then he would have been apoplectic.

As you, and many have said, my father “dealt with the human condition.”  Times change but people don’t. We are still dealing with so many of the same issues my dad wrote about, what he was passionate about--Racism, anti-Semitism, scapegoating, isolation, etc.

“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”; “Death’s Head Revisited”; “The obsolete Man” - to name a few are still (sadly) relevant episodes.

You wrote the book As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling. Of course I highly recommend our readers take a look at the full book for themselves. For those that didn't know him personally, what's something that you think would surprise them? Is there anything that stood out and surprised you to learn about him during your research?

Anne Serling: Thank you! I think people are surprised to learn that my dad was quite funny. Sometimes, when he was telling a joke, he would begin laughing so hard he couldn’t get to the punch line. He was sweet and often silly. He loved The Flintstones. He did the best gorilla impersonation (as is witnessed in many home movies) that you could imagine. He was a practical joker.

He practiced what he preached.

Something that I learned while writing my book was just how prolific he really was in such a short span. He published 252 scripts from 1950 to his death in 1975. That does not include the unpublished scripts.

I was also surprised to learn how many people truly loved him. How many thought of him as their father.

---

To learn more about the life and work of Rod Serling, I would highly recommend reading the revised edition of Anne Serling's book As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling. To learn more about the book and pick it up for yourself, visit: https://www.rodserlingbooks.com/serlingandhiswork/0euwvq0pcutct2uq7c0xubzhoqdjgm

To keep up with Anne Serling online, visit her on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/anneserling.bsky.social

We have more details on SerlingFest below and to purchase tickets, please visit: https://rodserling.com/serlingfest-2025-tickets-on-sale-now/

SerlingFest 2025 Celebrates Rod Serling “In His Own Words” 

Binghamton, New York – Fifty years after Rod Serling’s death in 1975, the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation will celebrate the iconic Twilight Zone creator during the organization’s annual SerlingFest in his hometown of Binghamton, New York. Subtitled “In His Own Words,” SerlingFest 2025 will feature screenings of several rare interviews and speeches from the outspoken writer’s career. SerlingFest 2025 will run from Friday, Sept. 19, to Sunday, Sept. 21. 

On hand for this year’s celebration will be writer/producer Frank Spotnitz (The X Files), Emmy-award winning writer Joseph Dougherty (Thirtysomething), David Bianculli  (NPR’s Fresh Air), as well as Serling’s daughter Anne Serling (author of As I Knew Him: My  Dad, Rod Serling), Mark Dawidziak (A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan  Poe), Mark Olshaker (Mindhunter), and Nicholas Parisi (Rod Serling: His Life, Work, and  Imagination).

Activities will include screenings of films and television shows written by Serling,  author readings and panel discussions, trivia contests, raffle prizes, and more. Festivities will  take place at the Broome County Forum Theatre on September 19 and 20, and at Binghamton’s  Recreation Park, the home of the Rod Serling Memorial statue, on September 21. Tickets will be  available at the Forum Theatre on the day of the event or can be purchased in advance at  www.rodserling.com. 

Although best known as the creator, host and principal writer of The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling was a prolific and versatile writer whose works included two of the most lauded scripts of television’s golden age of live dramas, Patterns (1955) and Requiem for a  Heavyweight (1956). His screenplay credits included adaptations of Seven Days in May and  Planet of the Apes (co-written with Michael Wilson). And his 1969 TV movie Night Gallery led to the 1970-73 series for which Serling was both the host and a frequent contributor. He died at the age of 50 on June 28, 1975. 

The Rod Serling Memorial Foundation was formed in the 1980s “to educate the public  about Rod Serling’s genius and his passion, hoping that they will understand and appreciate his  mastery of the creative arts, his unique understanding of human relationships, his esteem as a  writer, his generosity as a speaker in and around Binghamton, and his uncompromising  commitment to quality.”