In the meantime, Virginia and I had a summit meeting in the Fox Commissary on the 25th of June 2000. I probably ate crab cakes and had white wine. I think Oscar would have waited on us and I probably flirted with him and he with me. He always made me blush. Then Virginia and I made a pact, and wrote down the agreement, both of us signing and dating the contract. It was done with that combination of humor and seriousness that she balanced so perfectly. Now the book was real.

I looked around and saw tables of executives in suits. None of them knew the import of our Commissary deal. I think Rupert Murdoch was at his regular table against the side wall. He would benefit from the book, too, I thought. Goody.

For me, this was a significant professional and personal moment. As I've said before, everything I'd done in my career to date seemed to me to lead up to the photo book project. I looked forward to the challenge, and because I was a little afraid of writing a whole book myself, this project seemed perfect. I would be able to write an essay, and would be able to contribute valuable research on many 20th Century Fox still photographers. Beyond that, it would be a book whose structure and narrative would be provided by editorial selection and what's known as "a good eye." My staff and I had all the tools and perfectly attuned, complimentary backgrounds needed to make the project happen successfully.

This book promised to reenergize me for the next couple of years, and seemed almost like a reward for all of the hard work of building and stabilizing the Photo Archive. I was thrilled to consider my dining room agreement with Virginia as a meaningful schedule, aimed at getting the book "in-store" by Holidays 2002.

We would have exactly nine months to do the project, it turned out later. But right at that moment in the crowded Commissary, the agreement was based on a two year schedule. It seeamed reasonable to me. It seemed do-able.