The main idea of the text is to depict ambitions and the obstacles that build before them. Tessa is a character that believes planning ahead makes for every decision to go well in the future, and despite her prediction of stormy weather - since she "is not an amateur planner" -, turns out to not being able to work around that predicament very well.
Varick is a character who knows how to handle hindrances, turning them benefitial to his own work; he prefers to "just go with the flow", as the text states. Tessa, initially unwilling, learns from this behaviour nearly at the end otf the story, which helps accomplish her task. This is evidence by the last sentence in the text, "His perchant for turning obstacles into oppotunities had provided the necessary influence to save - perhaps even improve - her film."