Patterns

Rod Serling

Published by Simon and Schuster, 1957

Hardback Book Condition: Very Good. Some small signs of age. Dustcover Condition: Fair. Has browned and rub marks. Overall a good firm clean copy. Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling (December 25, 1924 June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Reading screenplays and teleplays can be pretty boring, but that's not why I was interested in this book, which was published before Serling created THE TWILIGHT ZONE. His commentary and his essay on writing for television is very interesting. He's a fascinating man, which doesn't come through when he does his TZ and NIGHT GALLERY introductions. It's hard to look beyond the terse man with the clipped speech, but this book perfectly showcases the man behind the scripts. Serling was truly a writer's writer. He takes a no BS approach. It's great to get his opinion on the evils of advertising (despite the fact that without ads, none of the shows would survive). He also takes himself to task if he sees a flaw in his own writing. There's an odd moment when he is discussing how the advertisers screwed with one of his teleplays, and he figured that he'd have had better luck getting it by them if he'd done it as an SF piece. Clearly, the TZ was already germinating in the back of his head when he wrote this. If you like looking for the man behind the curtain, this book is your perfect chance. 246pp. Seller Inventory # 392

Bibliographic Details

Title: Patterns
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: 1957
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Fair