Spotlight Page #19

The posh bar of one of Boston’s oldest hotels. Robby is at

the bar, a glass of red wine in front of him.

PETER CONLEY:

Looks like a long day.

ROBBY:

Hey Pete.

PETER CONLEY:

I’m sorry to make it longer. Brian?

Peter Conley sits, nods to the barman: ‘the usual.’

ROBBY:

Anyone ever said no to a drink with

you, Pete?

PETER CONLEY:

Sure. The trick is to keep asking.

(raising his glass)

For Boston.

11/26/14 117.

MIKE (CONT'D)

ROBBY:

For Boston.

(drinks, then)

So, you here for the Cardinal?

PETER CONLEY:

No, no, I wouldn’t presume to speak

for the Cardinal.

(then)

You gotta a lot of people here who

respect you, Robby, respect your

work.

ROBBY:

Good to know.

PETER CONLEY:

It’s ‘cause you care about this

place. It’s why you do what you do,

it’s who you are. But people need

the Church more than ever right now.

You can feel it. And the Cardinal

may not be perfect but we can’t

throw out all the good he’s doing

over a few bad apples.

Robby lets this sink in. Nods as if in agreement.

PETER CONLEY (CONT’D)

I’m bringing this up with you

because I know this is Baron’s idea.

His agenda. And I gotta tell you,

honest to God, I don’t think he

cares about this city the way we do.

How could he?

Robby looks at Conley. A long beat.

ROBBY:

This is how it happens, isn’t it,

Pete?

PETER CONLEY:

What’s that?

ROBBY:

A guy leans on a guy and suddenly

the whole town just looks the other

way.

Stung. Pete downs his drink. Gets up.

11/26/14 118.

PETER CONLEY:

Robby, look. Marty Baron is just

trying to make his mark. He’ll be

here for a couple years and he’s

gonna move on. Just like he did in

New York and Miami. Where you gonna

go?

He starts to go.

ROBBY:

Pete?

(Pete turns)

When we do run the story, I’m gonna

need a comment from the Cardinal.

Conley takes it. Then smiles.

PETER CONLEY:

We’ll talk again later. Good night,

Robby.

153 INT. GLOBE, ROBBY’S OFFICE/SPOTLIGHT OFFICE - DAY 153

Robby, Mike, Sacha and Matt sit working. It’s dark, quiet,

serious. A beat, then Robby’s phone RINGS. He answers.

ROBBY (INTO PHONE)

Robby. What? No sh*t, when? Okay.

(hangs up, calls out)

Hey.

The team looks towards Robby’s office as he walks in.

MIKE:

What’s up?

ROBBY:

Sweeney ruled in our favor. She

ruled to unseal the documents.

MIKE:

Jeez...

The group sits stunned.

154 INT. GLOBE, MARTY’S OFFICE - EARLY EVENING 154

Marty, Ben, Robby, and Canellos (the Metro editor we met

earlier) sit with the Globe lawyer, Albano.

11/26/14 119.

ALBANO:

The Church already filed an appeal.

But the trial court’s ruling is

generally upheld in these matters.

MARTY:

And when would we get the documents?

ALBANO:

Probably takes Cohen a few weeks to

rule, then there’ll be a redaction

process... I’d say they’ll be made

public mid-January.

MARTY:

Okay. Thanks, John. And nice work.

Albano exits.

CANELLOS:

Metro should run something, Marty.

ROBBY:

We can’t run this big.

CANELLOS:

Why wouldn’t we? It’s a major First

Amendment victory. Not to mention,

an Irish Catholic judge rules

against the church? That’s a hell

of a precedent.

ROBBY:

(to Ben)

We don’t want the Herald going too

deep on this.

MARTY:

Why’s that?

ROBBY:

You’re gonna have to step out,

Peter.

CANELLOS:

I’m not stepping out.

Robby picks up a FOLDER OF DOCUMENTS on the table beside him.

He places it in front of Marty. Marty picks it up.

BEN:

Peter.

Marching orders. Canellos exits, not happy.

11/26/14 120.

155 INT. GLOBE, MARTY’S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER 155

CLOSE ON the letters. Reveal Marty and Ben reading, STUNNED.

MARTY:

When did you --

ROBBY:

A couple of weeks ago.

BEN:

A couple of weeks?

ROBBY:

Yeah.

BEN:

And you’re telling us now?

MARTY:

These are substantial. They clearly

show that Law was negligent.

Ben and Marty stare at Robby. A beat, then --

ROBBY:

I need more time. I want to keep

digging.

BEN:

For what? This is the goddamn story.

ROBBY:

It’s not the whole story.

BEN:

(dismissive)

Tough sh*t. We’re on a clock now.

Even if we don’t run Sweeney’s

ruling, another paper could find

these letters and f*** the story.

ROBBY:

Agreed. But we run the letters

alone, Law apologizes, says it’s a

one time thing, he can bury it.

MARTY:

How? These clearly show he knew and

did nothing.

ROBBY:

Look, I’m close to stories on 70

priests.

11/26/14 121.

(MORE)

We nail that along with those

letters, it’s proof that this is

bigger than Law. It’s the whole

system.

Marty considers.

MARTY:

You have multiple sources confirming

the 70 priests?

ROBBY:

On some. I can get more.

BEN:

Too risky. If we’re not buttoned up

on every single one of them, the

Church’ll pick us apart.

Robby’s up against it. He plays his hand.

ROBBY:

I think I can get someone from the

other side of the aisle.

BEN:

Someone inside the Church?

ROBBY:

Yeah, a lawyer.

MARTY:

Will he go on the record?

ROBBY:

Deep background. But he’s a solid

source.

Marty considers. A beat, then Ben steps in.

BEN:

Rezendes needs time to write up the

story. We don’t want to drop this

at Christmas, not after 9/11. We

could run it just after New Year’s,

before the rest of the documents are

released.

MARTY:

Okay. Tell Canellos to bury the

ruling in Metro.

(then, to Robby)

You’ve got six weeks.

11/26/14 122.

ROBBY (CONT'D)

Robby nods, gets up and leaves. Ben follows him into --

156 INT. GLOBE, NEWSROOM OUTSIDE MARTY’S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS 156

Ben and Robby walk out.

BEN:

Tell Mike I want a draft before

Christmas. And we need a response

from Lake Street. Who does PR for

the Cardinal? Still John Walsh?

ROBBY:

No, somebody new, Donna Morrisey,

she came from TV, she’s young.

BEN:

Good, get a quote, we need something

from Law to appear even-handed.

ROBBY:

Got it.

BEN:

And Robby? Next time give me a

goddamn heads up?

Ben exits. Robby takes it on the chin then walks off. As he

does, we hear a child’s voice start into SILENT NIGHT...

157 INVESTIGATION/WRITING MONTAGE 157

As a second child joins in, we see a SERIES OF SHOTS...

157A MIKE’S COMPUTER. 41 days until deadline. The very 157A

start of the story. FIND Mike in SPOTLIGHT, pecking out

the story on his COMPUTER. Matt, coat and briefcase,

walks out...

157I Sacha with Phil, Crowley and another guy at a shitty 157I

DINER, sad Christmas decor. Sacha doesn’t eat, she

writes on a pad.

157Fa MIKE’S COMPUTER. 21 days until deadline. The story 157Fa

is further along...

157Fb Matt drives down the street in HIS CAR, eyes on an old 157Fb

man, putting down salt on the front walk of the

TREATMENT CENTER.

157E In BEN’S OFFICE, Mike watches Ben and Robby read the 157E

story. Cross outs. He hands it back to Mike.

Not there yet.

11/26/14 123.

Rate this script:5.0 / 2 votes