Harlan Ellison had a story about success in Hollywood.

Imagine you're told that there's a perfect rosebush growing on top of a mountain. You're told that the smell of the flowers is the greatest thing you can possibly imagine and you;d be a fool not to try and scale the mountain.

The mountain is shit. Dog shit, monkey shit, human shit, gorilla shit, and every other kind of shit. A few thousand tons of other garbage, but mostly shit.

You climb and climb and climb. Days turn into weeks, weeks become years.

You finally reach the rose bush. It's as beautiful as they claimed. But you lost your sense of smell.