"One of the producers I work with regularly at the studio I work for makes frequent special requests for certain crew members. We hire a lot of freelance talent, and he prefers certain individuals. Our operations team noticed that the cost of his shoots were running roughly thirty percent higher than the other producers. He became agitated when they discussed it with him and refused to look for ways to change his process.

As a project manager, I was responsible for securing the resources for his jobs. I scheduled a meeting with him to discuss some observations I had made over time. I pointed out that we were hiring senior-level resources in many cases where we could have used more junior people. We talked through the scenarios in which top talent would be a must-have and when it would be possible to work with others. I agreed to seek out the best talent within a more junior pool of resources and to book them as often as possible so that he could establish a good working relationship with them. I promised to gather feedback regularly and make sure he was able to deliver the quality his clients expected.

Over time, the costs for his shoots fell back in line with the other producers and the quality stayed at a high level. The operations team appreciated the adjustments and used our story to encourage other producers to look for ways to reduce their costs as well."