Stratagems, Ruses, Wiles

A passage about producing TV from The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa:

Of course we very soon caught on to the stratagems, ruses, wiles or charm that had to be used, not to obtain special privileges, but merely to do a more or less decent job of what we were being paid to do. We were not above such tricks ourselves, but all of them had the disadvantage of taking up precious time that we ought to have devoted to purely creative work. Since I've been through his experience, my admiration is boundless whenever I happen to see a program on television that is well edited and recorded, lively and original. For I know that behind it there is much more than talent and determination: there is witchcraft, miracle.