Running a TV show is inconceivably exhausting. But is it better or worse to do it with the person you love? Mary McNamara has an article in the LA Times about married TV showrunners:
Imagine a world in which you and your spouse together write, pitch, sell, cast, staff and then make a television show — 12 episodes for cable, 22 for network. Writing is the easy part, the fun part, the part that you now barely have time to do because you now are managing writers’ rooms, actors and budgets, discussing with your spouse every living little detail, before and after the notes from network executives inform you what you’re doing wrong.
McNamara interviews the married showrunners of Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Big Love, Hung and In Treatment. But I can think of several more teams in the same situation, both in features and television.
The perk, of course, is that you actually get to see and spend time with the person you love. The downside is that work never really ends.
“You will disagree on what[ever] you are invested in,” says Dmitry Lipkin, who with his wife, Colette Burson, created and produces “Hung” for HBO. “It’s not something I would recommend if your marriage is in trouble,” adds Burson.