I thought the implication was that Sue got the director to give NPH the bad role. The director mentioned earlier that he runs the dry cleaners, and Sue mentions later that she takes the Cheerios uniforms to him. I thought that we were meant to take that she threatened to stop doing business with him if he gave NPH a good role.
Ah, I totally didn’t catch it- her revenge for the half of her budget he slashed, the sex being the reward for the half he left (cause you know that Sue “shags like Helen of Troy with her arse on fire”).