In part two of this 1959 Interview with Rod Serling, Mike wallace delves into Serling's life as a writer. He worked 12-14 hours a week, seven days a week at his craft who was more interested in the quality of his work than compromise just to make money. He moved away from writing socially controversial topics and in part two of this interview, but he says he's not a "meek conformist" just a "tired non-conformist". This interview is conducted at the onset of Twilight Zone airing, and shows the risk involved for his career as a television writer. He never wrote anything he didn't want his name attached to--a lesson writers today should still take to heart.
Serling's high ideals shine through this intercourse. He addresses the stigma attached to writing a TV series and settling for writing commercial writing. Commercial in his terms means "publically acceptable" and he sees nothing wrong with that. He turned down 30-40 opportunities because he didn't think they represented the quality he wanted to be known for.
Listen to him talk about "The Velvet Alley" and the corrupting influence of Hollywood and big money and how that colored his writing.
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