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Spotlight · written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy · 2015
Scene 100 of 143 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two
The Boston Globe's Spotlight team pries open the Catholic Church's decades-long cover-up of child abuse — one sealed record, one silenced victim at a time.
Robby's Spotlight team operates comfortably inside its own routine, prospecting a modest police-corruption story under a departing editor's cover.
Baron's outsider question exposes what the paper has never done: investigate whether Cardinal Law knowingly protected an abusive priest.
The team sets aside its own project and enters unfamiliar territory: survivor networks, a hostile plaintiff's lawyer, and a legal fight to unseal church records.
The team pays the cost of the work — hearing survivor testimony, chasing MacLeish's stonewalling, and combing church directories for a hidden pattern of reassigned priests.
The directory search and Sipe's estimate deliver what they set out for: confirmation that the abuse spans dozens, then eighty-seven, priests across Boston.
In a nearly empty bar, Phil Saviano angrily confronts Sacha for going silent on victims for six weeks since 9/11, accusing Spotlight of abandoning the story before storming out.
Marty tells Ben the team should go back on the Church story now that 9/11 coverage has wound down, and thanks him for carrying the burden of that coverage.
In a Miami motel room, Mike learns from Robby that Garabedian has refiled the sealed documents, meaning any paper can now claim them first.
This scene
Robby sitting in his chair.
ROBBY (INTO PHONE)
I know, wrap up what you’re doing
and catch the first flight you can.
MIKE (OVER THE PHONE)
I’ll book a flight, go straight to
the courthouse tomorrow.
ROBBY (INTO PHONE)
Good. Call me when you get it.
Robby hangs up. Sacha is in his door, putting on her coat.
SACHA
Robby, I’d like to let Phil Saviano
know that we are back on it.
ROBBY
Good idea. Go have dinner with
Hansi. Might be the last time for a
while.
SACHA
Okay.
Sacha hesitates, then grabs a clip off her desk.
SACHA (CONT’D)
Robby, after we saw MacLeish, I
started going back through the
clips... and I had a little time
last week finally, so, uh...
(she hands him the clip)
I found that. It’s from ‘93.
Robby looks down. We see the clip. “LAWYER FOR PORTER VICTIMS SAYS 20 OTHER PRIESTS IN AREA ARE ACCUSED.”
Robby’s face CHANGES. Sacha waits, expecting a response.
ROBBY
That it?
Robby’s abrupt tone catches Sacha by surprise.
SACHA
Yeah. That’s it.
ROBBY
Good night.
SACHA
Okay. Good night.
Sacha takes a beat, then leaves, a bit confused and hurt. Robby looks down at the clip. Off Robby --