Logline 

THE HITCHHIKER is a parody mash-up of two episodes from the Twilight Zone, celebrating the tropes of 1960s science fiction from a cynical modern day perspective.  In this episode, Nancy Adams, "twenty-something" drives cross-country to Hollywood, pursued by an unrelenting stranger whom no one else can see.

 

 

A little History

In 1941, Orson Wells was producing live radio broadcasts for the Mercury Theater.  One of them was a spine-tingler in which a young man driving cross-country from Brooklyn to California, is terrorized by a hitch-hiker waiting for him at every turn.  The radio play was written by Lucille Fletcher, whoæs husband, Bernard Hermann, composed the score for the play, as well as for the television adaptation nearly twenty years later.  

 

Enter Rod Serling, who, in 1959, was premiering a new science fiction anthology television show called, The Twilight Zone.  Using Fletcher's ghost story as a template, he re-imaged the protagonist as an aspiring actress on her way to make it big in Hollywood and bookended the story with his signature introduction and summation.  It was the sixteenth episode of season one. 

 

 

Technical Specs 

Shot with the Ari AR3 on black & white Kodak Eastman Double-X Negative 7222 super 16mm film.

Runtime:  19min 12sec

Sound: 5.1 DTS

Format:  1:78:1