The Twilight Zone

This sucks.

This is just garbage.

It's a bad story to begin with,

and I'm a bad writer. I don't know what made me think

for five seconds I'd be able to turn this into anything

other than garbage.

I'm a fraud. I know.

Every writer thinks they're a fraud. It's cliché.

Some of us got to be right.

Most of us, actually, have to be right,

statistically speaking.

I mean, why do we act like impostor syndrome

means that you aren't an impostor?

Just because you have Stockholm syndrome

doesn't mean you're not in Sweden.

I quit.

Stupid.

Stupid. Oh, yeah, great.

Mushroom cloud. Not using that idea.

Why would you? The whole story is about the world blowing up,

so, obviously, don't show the part where the world blows up.

The most interesting part of the entire idea,

and John Genius...

decides to leave it out.

Super cool creative choice, Chayefsky.

You nailed it.

If I was smart,

I would've started the whole story with...

That's pretty good.

Yeah.

"There has been a nuclear war.

"The city is in ruins.

"The air is poisoned.

Billions are dead."

Hey. Hey!

I did it! I figured it out!

Figured what out?

The story!

Oh.

"Oh"?!

This is huge. We got to... we got to celebrate.

Come on. Let's go out.

I've been cooped up in here forev...

Oh, no. Oh, no.

We need to head to the shelter.

The reapers will be out soon.

It was just a story.

It was just a story.

Witness Adam Wegman,

a writer who, up until tonight,

has never paid much mind to the idea

of an artist's social responsibility.

He's about to learn that there's more to art than entertainment.

He's about to... You know what?

I think we can beat this.

Um, is Sophie here? Cut.

And that's a cut.Sophie. Sorry, Owen.

No, no, no. Of course. Uh, sorry, guys.

Hey, I'm cool. Your show, dude.

But Betty is getting pretty pissed at you. What?

What? No. He's playing.

She's super pissed. Why?

You're upset with me?

You know, I've been meaning to tell you.

You know, you've changed.

Oh, snap. SETH: Oh.

You've changed, Betty.

Am I part of the change?

What happened to you?

I mean, I...

Look, I had, I had to, like, deliver

a bunch of... Hey.

What's up?

Hey, Sophie. Um...

Uh, walk with me? Okay.

So, I think we're not there yet with the narration.

Yeah, I... Uh, you know?

...was actually thinking the same.

Cool. Obviously, we want this to be the best version

of the best thing it can possibly be.

Yes. Um...

is it a little too on the nose, you think?

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Thank you very much.

That's cool. Um, well, we could...

could also just, like, approach it

a little bit more metaphorically, I guess.Mmm.

I don't know.

Man, I think, like...

I think we're just... might be saying something

we don't actually want to be saying,

with the episode.

Oh. Okay.

Um, what do you mean? Like what part exactly?

The art versus entertainment stuff.

Like, sort of, like, just hit that softer?

I'm just saying, like, why do we need to make it an either-or?

Oh. Okay. Um...

Sorry. Um...

But isn't that what the episode is about?

Is it?

Um...

I mean, you wrote it.

Oh, no, no.

I mean, obviously, I want you to be on board.

Mm-hmm. Um, I guess I just thought the whole point

was sort of, like, the slippery slope, right,

from the path from superhero movies or, like,

stupid sci-fi crap to... idiocracy.

Huh.

I mean, our show is sci-fi, right?

Yeah, but it's The Twilight Zone.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, The Twilight Zoneisn't just monsters on a plane wing.

Right? Mm-hmm.

If there's nothing being said of importance,

then it's just campfire stories.

So you don't like campfire stories?

No, I did when I was a little girl.

Look, what Rod Serling did

was, he took this silly genre kid stuff

and he elevated it.

He made art with it

for grown-ups.

And the reason he's in every episode...

Well, until now, right?

Until now, sure.

Um, but the reason...

Seth needs his chair.

Oh, okay. Sorry.Yeah.

Um...

I just... I just remember, when I was a little girl,

I would watch the show and I would think, "What is

The Twilight Zone?"Mm.

You know? Like, when do we get to The Twilight Zone?

Oh... You know?

That's deep.

Well, okay, but I was a kid

and I didn't get what was good about the show.

Which is why Rod Serling had to come into every episode,

to remind us that The Twilight Zone isn't this, like,

sci-fi alternate dimension, right? What's good

It's the message.

I just think the-the meaning is there,

with, like, the episode, you know?

If you could just, like, do a pass on the narration.

Just make it simple.

Take out some of the... all of, like,

the art v. entertainment stuff.

Okay. Like this...

Witness Adam Weg...

W-Wen-We... It's "Wegman,"

and... Whatever.

A writer who's

I-in the middle of a...

existential crisis.

So just, you know, give me your version

and I'll make it sound cool.

Witness Adam Wegman,

a man about to learn that between

truth and fantasy there is not a solid line,

but a dotted one.

Until tonight he lived

in a world of...

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Witness the power of art to change the world...

Shit.

Witness the power of a story

to change the world...

Fuck.

Witness the power of a story to write the world...

...to right the world...

Shit.

Hey, Anna,

I can't really talk right now. It's not a good time.

So you just straight up don't respond to texts anymore?

I'm really busy.

Right. Busy saving the world.

Sophie. Is Sophie here?

Wouldn't want to use the wrong adjective...

we might lose Europe.Shit.

Anna, I cannot have this conversation right now, okay?

I really need to go. Why do I even bother calling you?

Goodbye. I love you. Bye.Sophie...

Hey. Sorry.

They're asking me when we can get the new narration.

Because Jordan's waiting.

And he's, like, waiting.

Okay. Um...

Just, like, two minutes. I need two minutes.

Who should I send it to? We're actually gonna have to

write it up on cue cards, 'cause we're running short on time.

Okay. I can do that.

The reapers will be out soon.

It was just a story.

It was just a story.

Picture, if you will, a storyteller

finally getting to tell the story of a lifetime,

except the story is one of inexplicable terror

and the lifetime is her own.

Her name is Sophie Gelson.