Ithaca, NY--Picture if you will, a gathering to examine the works of one of television's best-known talents, "Twilight Zone" creator Rod Serling. Just such a gathering will take place at Ithaca College April 21-22. "Submitted for Your Approval: The Rod Serling Conference" will bring together scholars and industry professionals for talks, panel discussions, and screenings focusing on the man who rose to fame during television's "golden age."

Serling taught at Ithaca College from 1967 until his untimely death in 1975 at the age of 50. He had grown up in nearby Binghamton, and the family cottage on Cayuga Lake later became a frequent gathering place for students eager to learn from the six-time Emmy Award winner. Carol Serling, a longtime member of the board of trustees, established the Rod Serling Archives at Ithaca College, a collection of her late husband's television scripts, movie screenplays, unproduced works, and other artifacts. Serling's Emmys and other memorabilia will be on display at the conference, which is sponsored by the College's Roy H. Park School of Communications.

The keynote speakers for the conference will be writer-producers Marc Scott Zicree and Elaine Zicree, whose credits include such series as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Babylon Five," and the 1980s version of "The Twilight Zone." Marc is the author of "The Twilight Zone Companion," an exhaustive guide to the series, and the coauthor of the "Magic Time" fantasy trilogy.

The conference will also feature:

• A discussion by Tony Albarella---who serves on the board of directors of the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation and is editor of "Timeless as Infinity: The Complete Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling"--of Serling's short-lived television series "The Loner," an existential Western that starred Lloyd Bridges.
  
  
• An examination of the evolution of Serling's screenplay for the 1967 film "Planet of the Apes" by Gordon Webb, assistant professor of television-radio at Ithaca College. Based on material from the Rod Serling Archives and interviews with people involved in the film, Webb's research settled once and for all the issue of who first conjured up the movie's classic twist ending.
  
  
• Judging of the Rod Serling Short Feature Scriptwriting Competition, open to nonprofessional writers who submitted scripts suitable for either of Serling's anthology series, "The Twilight Zone" or "Night Gallery." Entrants were challenged to maintain the horror/science fiction genre while infusing their story with a strong social theme. Contest winners will be selected by Scott Zicree and Carol Serling.

Additional sessions will include a live teleconference from the Writers Guild of America headquarters in Hollywood, featuring writers who worked with or knew Serling; highlights from the Rod Serling Video Festival in Binghamton; a glimpse of Serling as teacher, using rare videotapes recorded of his classes at Ithaca; and an examination of his award-winning television work from the 1950s, which produced such classics as "Requiem for a Heavyweight" and "Patterns." The conference will conclude with a marathon showing of "Twilight Zone" episodes voted most popular in a poll conducted through the conference website.

The conference will be limited to 100 registrants. The registration form and more information are available at www.ithaca.edu/rhp/serling or by calling Melissa Gattine, coordinator for special programs and public relations in the Park School, at (607) 274-1023.