"Miranda? Shall we get started?"
"No. We wait. Mr Tomlinson promised he'd be here. It's some nonsense client meeting about taxes. I never do care what he does with his time, except when it infringes on mine and our life together."
"It sounds like you have something on your mind."
"It's - well, it's nothing, to be frank about the matter. I'd prefer to wait for my husband."
"We're on the clock, Miranda. If we can spend some time now , we might just get through some points we can bring up later for discussion."
"Oh - alright. Well, this is all confidential, isn't it? Under threat of coercion or bribe?"
"I report to a board of ethics, Miranda."
"Speaking of - boards. Well?"
"I was going to let you finish. It's your time, Miranda. You're free to talk."
"You see, I've worked very hard to get to where I am. And despite what some may think, I am not sitting easy. Despite some who think I sit at a desk and order people around and wear fur and Prada, I am not a celebrity watching TiVo on an inflatable lounger in a pool, earning investment income. Do you understand?"
"I do, Miranda. I'm listening."
"And - and it is petty of me to complain this way. Editors-in-chief of powerful magazines do not complain. It is in me to dismiss the weak, to fire the incompetent and to walk over anyone in my way. For you see, that is my experience. And so I have succeeded. When I was helping with the London shows, doubtless some idiots from my school thought I had an envious life. And then when I moved to Paris and joined Chic , that I was eating baguettes and shopping at Hermes. And then when I joined Paris Runway , and later became editor-in-chief. Doubtless, a woman in such a position in Paris, could only know the best. Are you following me?"
"I'm here, Miranda."
"Well, bully for you. My point is, it has always been a slippery iceberg. If I had not had that opportunity with that nonsense British designer who turned out to later do nothing, I would be stuck in London's East End. And plenty of girls who spent time chatting rather than assisting, saw in me what they were not, determined to pull me down, that they , inferior, would at least remain and I would not.
"And at Chic , because I was not French, I had to work twice as hard. They were damn right about my attitude. They needed to shake things up, but they refused. And after years of them , I moved to Runway . There, they needed a change in order to make their profits rise. I slashed staff and cut costs, that made a profit, then I gambled on that with a lot of expenditure, smoothed the concerns, and when the profit hit out of the park, that was sealed. But even then , my place at French Runway was not secure."
"Go on."
"Why, how gracious. I was not secure because French Runway was now successful, and so it could be more liberal to its culture. Drawn in by the lure, more French people were joining with their culture. And it was a clash with Runway . Runway was hard business - not French laissez-faire . That, and now that we were profitable, expenditures were always looking to be cut. And it was a slight on the company, that we were firing French people as well. Locals! As though they did not try hard enough. We had plenty of burnouts from Chic - such as - you will know, Jacqueline Follet, the previous editor-in-chief of French Runway ? She is now president of Jah-mes Holt International. She joined as my profits hit their peak, and left just before they began to slump. Briget will not reclaim them so easily in her place.
"And now , having spent six years at US Runway , Irv decided to replace me. He saw the expenditures reduce under Jacqueline when I left, and the profits remained high on the tide of my work. And so when I started, he expected the same, and same as with what I did in Paris, I worked my magic, yet the scrutiny was all the greater. Because where at first, my leadership ensured a profit for French Runway , all Irv saw was that my expenditures have never reduced and in fact have grown higher. Are you following me?"
"I see this is the first time in a while you've spoken up like this."
"Oh, please. And - and US Runway is precisely - and in this country - making money and impressing others comes first. And for a woman it is twice as hard. And yet, I have not been a decade in the job. The expenditures must rise. But of course, he wanted me gone. What he did not consider was, any replacement, even Jacqueline, not only could not do the job, but it would not be apparent until much later. My six years in the job and ten at French Runway provides a base, a sounding board of profits, hiding my successor's failures. If Irv had kept me in Paris and hired some other nonsense person, he would have seen profits drop, and considered perhaps to raise expenditures at such a payoff, would be worth it. And it would be too late. It would be too damn late."
"Oh - sorry, I'm late - "
"Hunter, we do not require you."
"Miranda - Mr Tomlinson, please, sit down - "
"I'm talking and I don't expect to be finished anytime soon. You may sit and not talk. You remember how to do that, don't you?"
"Mr Tomlinson - Miranda - I'll allow you to continue, but this is a couples session."
"Whatever. All I'm saying is - at any point, is every rung on the career ladder precarious. Particularly more so the higher you go, regardless of the salary or the perks."
"Miranda - I'm sorry I'm late. But we've discussed this."
"Oh, Hunter, not you, too! You are not listening ."
"Miranda, please. I love you. But you have to stop fighting so hard. Look at me! I should be bored stiff with taxes. But I find a way - "
"Oh, your nonsense just bores me, Hunter. You are ridding me of my conclusion. I shall never be this open again if this is my reception. And I care not if you think me sulky. God forbid I open up a little. I am paying for this, not you! And I will tell you - and you - I will tell you both that even now , having put Nigel under the bus, having kept Irv off my back by putting Jacqueline into Jah-mes Holt's company, now is only the beginning."
"Miranda, we're both getting old. You can't fight forever. You have to think about retirement."
"Screw retirement. You see, Briget will now be feeling the effects of Jacqueline's leadership. Irv will be wondering in a year or two if Briget is capable - but she is , she was my protege, until Jacqueline convinced her to focus on her nonsense family - and he will be seeing French Runway 's profits finally decline, despite the expenditures having reduced under Jacqueline for the past six years. And if she will be under the microscope, you damn well better bet that I will.
"For I have made an enemy of Irv. That list I gave him will not last long. You think Demarchelier won't retire? That Gisele won't want a child with that odd-face husband of hers? Exactly, Hunter. And aside from the list, I am continuing to cost Runway . That did not escape his eye. He will keep searching for another, at Italy Runway or British Runway . And now - the profits have hit their peak. Less subscriptions and going digital means more content, which at such a subscriber base, can only drop off all the more quickly for how much content they need. And Runway - nor any magazine - can so saturate audiences without a severe decline in quality. And so Runway will become some lesser rag like Vogue.
"My career is fixed, Hunter. In this day and age, there can be no more done for print magazines. To go digital is to only temporarily increase profits with so many subscribers, but also they will look for other products and expand."
"But Miranda - you have done more of a job than anyone else could. Nobody could do it better than you."
"You are missing the point! There is more I can do. I seek more than just Runway , Hunter. And Irv is a thorn in my side. He is looking for my replacement… in the end, I am just a cog. Me . At first, I thought of getting rid of him, but better the devil you know. Any new CEO, after all, always looks to cut costs without checking if it is connected to the gas to light an explosion. But it is clear to me now. Runway cannot be my only ambition if I am to be pushed out of such a publication."
"But, Miranda. What other interests do you have outside fashion, or publishing?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Hunter. I don't mean to leave fashion or publishing. That is precisely the skill set I mean to bank on."
"But what will you do?"
"I must leverage the power play which will soon lose its effect. Irv cannot lose me - the fallout is too great, until he finds my successor. I must make for him, profits that can be traced to me regardless, expenditures which certain meetings can justify, and a new role that can encompass all this. I shall take responsibility of the other publications as creative director of Elias-Clark. Even Vogue does not have one."
"But Miranda - the other publications? Won't you - will you be their editor-in-chief?"
"My success at Runway will soon dwindle, Hunter. Yet over all the publications at Elias-Clark, this is my stepping stone. Irv's confidence must be renewed because he can only expect profits to increase. He now knows expenditures must , too. Yet on his hopes, must my acceptance be confirmed. And there is star power in my name."
"Will you - Miranda, do you think you can make profits?"
"That is not the point, Hunter. A lot of those magazines are falling. All of them - some will go digital. Their increased subscriber base I can at least take credit for."
"We're almost out of time. Miranda, I'm just letting you know - we're almost out of time."
"Then you must see my plan. For I shall never attend another of these meetings, I simply won't have the time."
"Miranda!"
"Hunter, enough. You see I must take this position, this position I shall propose to Irv. The board he reports to will love the idea, their Runway star taking the reins. You have to take risks in your cah-reer-ah, Hunter. I need the challenge. I will keep going. It - it frightens me how little I know about Elias-Clark's nonsense publications. But that is what drives me. The knowledge that I will succeed. And I will, Hunter. You'll see, and the twins. You don't think I do everything just for myself , do you?"
"But it can't last, Miranda. You'll burn yourself out - even you. Human beings have to stop."
"I'll stop when I'm dead, Hunter. I'll stop when I'm dead . That's all."