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Spotlight · written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy · 2015
Scene 93 of 143 · ≈ 2 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.
On the phone, Mike tells Robby the fourteen exhibits are huge and that Albano says a new motion can force Garabedian to refile them.
Marty gets out of his car and walks into the Globe on a beautiful September morning.
Marty spots the burning Twin Towers on TV and tells staff to get every reporter into the newsroom immediately.
This scene
CLOSE ON a TV. Cardinal Law addressing a large group of reporters, citizens in front of the Cathedral.
CARDINAL LAW (REAL FOOTAGE)
You pray for the injured, and those
who survived. You pray, too, for
the nation, that our response might
reflect our best ideals and God’s
teaching as it is found in
Christianity and Islam as well.
REVEAL a group watching TV in the corner of the newsroom, Ben front and center. Robby, Matt, Sacha are off to the side.
BEN
Not bad. Who’s there?
FEMALE EDITOR
Paulson.
Ben starts to move, an editor at his side.
BEN
I wanna talk to him when he’s back.
(to Robby)
Did Rezendes find a way to get to
Florida?
ROBBY
They just opened the airport in
Providence, he’s on his way there
now.
News to Sacha and Matt.
CANELLOS
Ben, I’m gonna need more people on
Massport.
BEN
I’ll give you three of my guys.
Robby, put your team on that too.
ROBBY
Got it.
BEN
And Robby, everything else stops.
ROBBY
Understood.
Ben heads off.
MATT
Why’s Mike going to Florida?
ROBBY
Flight school. It’s where they
learned to fly.
SACHA
Robby, I’ve got a lot of victim
interviews set up this week.
ROBBY
You’re gonna have to cancel ‘em.
SACHA
That’s going to be hard.
MATT
This is nuts. Two days ago, I told
my wife we gotta be working the
biggest story on the planet....
Robby nods as we PAN to Reception. Linda and several others taking calls.
LINDA
Boston Globe. We have no RECEPTIONIST 1 knowledge of additional Boston Globe. One second threats. please.
RECEPTIONIST 2
Yes, if you have a tip I’ll transfer
you to the metro desk.
Off the RINGING PHONES --