SerlingFest 2025 Celebrates Rod Serling “In His Own Words”

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.”

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Al Mega

I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!