Stress
You'd think that with the relaxed wardrobe and the buckets of junk food, that stress levels amongst TV writers would be low, but you'd be mistaken.
The life of a TV writer is highly stressful—work is never regular, shows are canceled, and writers are frequently replaced. Just because you have a job now, doesn't mean you'll have a job tomorrow. Sound stressful? Now just imagine going through this if you have a family to take care of.
And not only is there the stress of letting your family down because you can't put food on the table, but there's also your representation. Every time you lose a job to another writer, you feel like you've let down a whole team of people, people who are counting on you for their commissions and their livelihoods.
Those are just the stresses associated with struggling TV writers. Surely being a successful TV writer can't be as stressful, right? Um....
The TV writers who become producers, or even better, showrunners, experience huge stresses on the job. A showrunner is the dude, or dudette, in charge of the whole thing. They're typically the person who created the show, and they're responsible for everything and then some—the writing, wardrobe, make-up, production, directors, actors, editing, etc. The life of a showrunner is non-stop, and a little stressful, you know, considering that the entire future of the show is resting on their shoulders.
No pressure, right?