"

When I was a child, my friends and I would read comic books and watch BATMAN (the campy live action version and the SUPERFRIENDS), and everyone wanted to be Batman. His powerful visage and righteousness mixed with mystery was and still is very exciting for readers both young and old.
"I, however, found that Batman was not my favorite character, but that one of the supporting cast was more an ideal of what I really wanted to be but never could. It wasn't Robin, the other half of the Ambiguously Gay Duo, or any of the wacky villains. I always felt that the most interesting character, the one I'd like to wake up and find myself having become, the one that I would most want to meet was... Batgirl.
"She had style, was mysterious, kicked butt, had a cool motorcycle and she was such a great victim. I could tell that it was all an act to get attention from Batman (who didn't really like her because not only was she more competent... but I digress) even though he made totally sexist remarks. She was obviously into being tied to weird mechanical devices and being dipped up to her chin in concrete and quicksand and such—there was obviously something intentional about it all. It would be pretty good to stand up on a roof with the wind ruffling through that long fluffy red hair and coursing over that tight Batgirl costume while all the guys—and girls—looked up. (Batgirl from the TV series was played by Yvonne Craig who also played Marta the green-skinned Orion slave-girl in the STAR TREK episode "Whom Gods Destroy".)
"Realizing that I could never be Batgirl—no crossdressing or operations for me—I knew that eventually I would have to become a writer."

—	Excerpted from Chapter 9 "The Institutionalized Years and the Joy of Scopolamine" of the biography SCOTT FRAZIER: THE QUEST FOR PERSONAL AMBIGUITY. (On sale in the United Kingdom as PLEASE SHOOT ME NOW! I'M A LOSER.)

Most anime writers make the majority of their money from novels, magazine articles and other work as anime scripting does not pay very well. In order to make a "decent" living working on a TV series a writer would have to write six scripts a month, which is pretty tough. Anime writers whose work becomes popular get paid more, however, and with perseverance and talent one can make a reasonable living. This is no doubt the same in Hollywood or any other entertainment field.
There are those who have risen above and have actual control over what they write. Akahori Satoru, Ito Kazunori, and a few others have reached a level where they have little interference with what they write. This is primarily because they started out like everyone else and have proven that they can produce hits on a regular basis. This is much the same as Hollywood or book publishing—if you're David Mamet or John Grisham, then you don't have to worry about much interference and people will buy your work automatically because of your track record. This acceptance happens because they don't go wild and do something totally unexpected. There are rules in the game of popular media. Current social mores define what sort of characteristics and predilections are seen as "good" or "bad" and the target audience has a lot to do with it. (If Stephen King's next book was about a small town corrupt wife-beating sheriff who strangled his twin sister when they were 8 who was out to get a pedophile who had moved to the small town because of accusations of molestation made in the last place he lived the book would sell well, but if it was about a peace-loving new-agey pedophile (who had never touched a child) who tried to expose the wife-beating sheriff for his corruption the book would probably be banned. It's not so much that he portrayed a current social problem in a different context which would get him into trouble, but that he didn't follow the frenzy induced by popular media.)