It has recently been said, and nearly unanimously agreed upon both publicly and critically, that we currently live in a “Golden Age of Television”; just stumble into any water-cooler conversation to overhear what “shows” you’re watching, plural, to see its complete cultural takeover. In recent years, TV has gained this undeniable foothold by creating stories that have taken the very best from cinema (as mid-level dramas are all but vanishing from the cinematic language altogether) and seeing new distribution channels that put the programming into the very hands of consumers themselves. High-brow storytelling, in the form of finely-packaged acting, writing, and directing, are all brought together by way of the once-little-known job of Showrunner. The days in these stress-filled lives are captured in this new documentary from director Des Doyle– Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show.

What was once a little-known and unglamorous gig, albeit one requiring an incredibly balanced skill-set of left and right brain, creative and rationale, all responsible for unifying the overall years-long creative vision with the studio notes, is given its own spotlight with a fan boy’s treatment. The creative person, or persons, responsible for shaping and helming the show’s thorough-line creative vision and along with its entire below-the-line production staff (in good thanks to internet dissection and Comic-Con fandom), has gained recognition for the creative spearheading that whets national audiences week after week. But what this documentary does, for better or for worse, is profile different showrunners as they work through demanding schedules.

Well, it’s certainly an unfiltered look behind what might seem a glamorous and fun-filled job, and unfiltered is putting it lightly.

While you won’t see your Matthew Weiner‘s of Mad Men or Vince Gilligan‘s of Breaking Bad‘s, we are still exposed to enough culturally relevant shows here, from network, to basic, to premium cable, nearly a full behind-the-scenes production from Damon Lindelof (Lost), and the showrunners of TNT’s Bones and Rizzoli and Isles, Showtime’s Spartacus and House of Lies, as well as appearances from the doc’s biggest names, J.J. Abrams (Lost) and Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

So, where exactly does a documentary like this fit into the larger conversation of today’s television consumption and enjoyment? Well, it’s certainly an unfiltered look behind what might seem a glamorous and fun-filled job, and unfiltered is putting it lightly. The footage and interviews here truly show what the large consensus is: that show running is a “grind.” Manning all facets, stemming from nearly every showrunner’s original starting point as a wide-eyed writer, has transformed into another arm of marketing, to steer the ship upright as media partners grow the show into something more, a social media presence that must satisfy itself to finicky audiences’ whims on what shows live and what shows don’t, and all in incredible real-time. If your show doesn’t meet expected viewer numbers, then all of the whiteboard meetings (which is an entire percentage of a showrunner’s day-to-day), the unbelievable amount of hard work and effort given, as well as the friendships fostered, can be ended at once, which is seen even here. Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show exposes more than merely the art of running a show; it reveals the more important quotient of the job- the heart of running a TV show.