#47 ‘You’re About to Enter Another Dimension’: Celebrating Rod Serling with Writer Joe Dougherty (BONUS Episode)

The Play Typer Guy

Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling was born on Christmas Day, 1924. I had the great honor of speaking with Emmy-winning writer, Joseph Dougherty (Thirtysomething, Pretty Little Liars), about his new book, Rod Serling at 100: One Writer's Acknowledgement, a wonderful tribute to Serling that examines his work and significant contributions to television.

You will hear:

• Rod Serling’s contributions to writing, especially for television and how it influenced more current day writers
• How Serling’s use of language and choices to change the ending to better serve the story move beyond the “twist”
• Using 25-minute “light” story episodes to pack a punch when it comes to how we look at problems happening in the real world
• How writing for television used to be versus the current streaming-service version where you have fewer episodes with less collaboration
• And so much more!

Guest Info:

Joseph Dougherty's play "Chester Bailey," premiered at A.C.T. in San Francisco where it was selected Outstanding World Premiere Play and Outstanding Production of a Play by the TBA Awards. It was subsequently produced at The Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. He earned Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for his play "Digby" produced by Manhattan Theatre Club. He wrote the libretto for the Tony winning musical version of "My Favorite Year," presented at Lincoln Center.

An Emmy and Humanitas Prize winner for his work on the groundbreaking series "thirtysomething," Joe has written several movies for HBO including the remake of "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman," directed by Christopher Guest, and the Emmy winning Noir/Occult mashup "Cast A Deadly Spell," which was nominated for a Ray Bradbury Award by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

He has contributed as a writer and director to several television series including "Judging Amy," "Once and Again," and "Saving Grace." He was a writer, director, and executive producer on the hit series "Pretty Little Liars," co-created the Pretty Little Liars spin-off, "Ravenswood," and helped launch "Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists". His books include Comfort and Joi, Trunk Piece, Psychopomp, and The Persistence of Phosphors, which received an AfterEllen Visibility Award as Best Book of 2013.

Links:

Rod Serling at 100: One Writer’s Acknowledgement: https://www.amazon.com/Rod-Serling-100-Writers-Acknowledgment/dp/1959748181/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=20vO9&content-id=amzn1.sym.bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&pf_rd_p=bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&pf_rd_r=142-0259041-3253825&pd_rd_wg=dpXx8&pd_rd_r=6d18607b-f6cb-4d58-adb3-8f6eab8c1b20&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk

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