How they will instruct their agents to dump a friend of thirty years from a project, even if their salary was going to be paid by the studio, not by them. At the end of the day, it's about a love of the business which so many don't have. Success in Hollywood must require a great deal of courage, self-confidence, and the ability to take many risks. There's daily self-doubt. But the defining factor is there is nothing else I would rather do and you get more experienced, less vulnerable and become a survivor.
Life gets easier.
I believe people too easily. I like to trust people and be trusted. Many older writers feel intimidated by the alleged age barrier in Hollywood. Rumor on the Web often has it that you must be under 25 in order to be taken seriously as a writer in that community. People who have no life experience have no business writing.