Spotlight Page #2

Marty sits at a table reading “The Curse of the Bambino,” a

NOTEPAD beside him.

ROBBY:

Mr. Baron.

Marty looks up and rises to greet Robby.

ROBBY (CONT’D)

Walter Robinson. Robby.

MARTY:

Thanks for taking time out of your

weekend, Robby.

ROBBY:

My pleasure.

(they sit)

What are you reading?

Marty holds up a book.

MARTY:

‘The Curse of the Bambino.’

ROBBY:

(sitting)

That’s a great book. The Globe has

season tickets at Fenway, once you

settle in.

11/26/14 7.

MARTY:

Thank you. Uh, to be honest, I’m

not much of a baseball fan. I’m

just trying to get a feel for city.

Are you originally from Boston?

ROBBY:

I am, born and raised. A lot of the

newsroom is from here. It really

feels like a local paper in that

way.

MARTY:

And did that change at all after the

paper was sold to the Times?

ROBBY:

No. I don’t think that had a big

impact.

MARTY:

Good.

(then)

So, you’re an editor for, uh, the

Spotlight team?

ROBBY:

I prefer to think of myself as more

of a player-coach. But yes. Are

you familiar with Spotlight?

MARTY:

No. Not particularly.

ROBBY:

Well, we’re a four person

investigative team. We report to

Ben Bradlee Jr. and we keep our work

confidential.

MARTY:

What are you working on now?

ROBBY:

We just put out a piece on this

shoddy construction outfit and right

now we’re trolling around for our

next story.

MARTY:

How long does that typically take?

ROBBY:

Hard to say. A couple of months.

11/26/14 8.

MARTY:

A couple of months.

ROBBY:

Yeah, we don’t like to rush it.

Once we settle on a project, we can

spend a year or more investigating

it.

Marty jots down some notes. Robby sees he’s writing a lot.

ROBBY (CONT’D)

Is that a concern?

MARTY:

Not necessarily. Uh, but from what

I understand readership is down, the

Internet is cutting into the

Classified business and, uh, I

think, uh, I’m going to have to take

a hard look at things.

ROBBY:

So you anticipate more cuts?

MARTY:

I would assume so, yes, but what I’m

more focused on right now is finding

a way to make this paper essential

to its readers.

ROBBY:

I’d like to think it already is.

MARTY:

Fair enough. I just think we can do

better.

Off Robby --

12A EXT. BOSTON GLOBE - DAY 12A

The front of the Globe. Marty gets out of a cab, shuts the

door. He walks inside.

13 INT. GLOBE, NEWSROOM - DAY 13

Ben strides across the newsroom. Robby falls in.

ROBBY:

Mr. Bradlee.

11/26/14 9.

BEN:

Hey. Saw the email on the PD

numbers. Looks interesting.

ROBBY:

Yeah. There’s something there.

BEN:

How much longer you need?

ROBBY:

Another week.

BEN:

(realizing)

Where are you going?

ROBBY:

To the 10:
30.

BEN:

You? Since when?

ROBBY:

Technically, I am an editor.

BEN:

Technically. Your sit-down with

Baron go that well?

ROBBY:

I couldn’t get a read on him.

BEN:

That’s a first.

ROBBY:

How ‘bout you?

BEN:

(shrugs)

He’s a barrel of laughs.

14 INT. GLOBE, LARGE CONFERENCE ROOM - LATER 14

Editors around a horseshoe table, side seats filled. It’s

QUIET, nervous eyes on Marty, who reads some notes. Ben and

editor HELEN DONOVAN, 50s, to either side. Robby sits off to

the side, WATCHING.

HELEN DONOVAN:

Morning everyone. Let’s get started.

Do you want to say something, Marty?

11/26/14 10.

MARTY:

Uh, sure.

(to the group)

Hello. As most of you know by now,

my name is Marty Baron, I’m

delighted to be here. If you can

tell me your name as we go around,

that would be helpful.

Marty looks back to his notes.

HELEN DONONVAN:

Okay. Peter?

Ben nods to METRO EDITOR PETER CANELLOS, 40s.

CANELLOS:

Peter Canellos, Metro. We’ve got a

major Big Dig closure that’s just

been scheduled for early August...

Marty makes notes. Off Ben and Robby, trading a look.

15 INT. GLOBE, NEWSROOM - LATER 15

Mike, cuppa coffee, walks over to STEVE KURKJIAN’s desk. 60s.

MIKE:

Hey Steve. Crappy game last night.

KURKJIAN:

They can’t hit worth a nickle.

Mike looks toward the conference room of editors.

MIKE:

What’s Eileen McNamara doing in the

10:
30?

KURKJIAN:

Do you need something, Mike?

MIKE:

No. Just curious.

KURKJIAN:

I got work to do. Go be curious

somewhere else, will you?

16 INT. GLOBE, LARGE CONFERENCE ROOM - LATER 16

The meeting is wrapping up.

11/26/14 11.

SPORTS EDITOR:

...and it looks like Pedro’s gonna

be out until September 1st. Jimmy

says he’ll be back this year, but

the doc didn’t seem so sure.

BEN:

When’s the Pats opener?

Laughter. Except Marty.

MARTY:

Is that everyone?

HELEN:

Yes, that’s it.

MARTY:

Great, thank you. Uh, did everyone

read Eileen McNamara’s column this

weekend?

The room reacts. Huh? Editors look at EILEEN MCNAMARA, 50s.

HELEN:

That’s the Geoghan case?

MARTY:

Yes, what’s the folo on that?

BEN:

It’s a column, what kind of folo

were you thinking?

MARTY:

Well, apparently this priest

molested kids in six different

parishes over the last thirty years

and the attorney for the victims,

Mr...

EILEEN:

Garabedian.

MARTY:

Thanks, Eileen. Mr. Garabedian says

Cardinal Law found out about it

fifteen years ago and did nothing.

CANELLOS:

I think that attorney’s a bit of a

crank. And the Church dismissed the

claim.

11/26/14 12.

EILEEN:

He said, she said.

MARTY:

Whether Mr. Garabedian is a crank or

not, he says he has documents that

prove the Cardinal knew.

BEN:

As I understand it, those documents

are under seal.

Silence. No one knows what to do. Robby watches.

MARTY:

Okay, but the fact remains, we have

a Boston priest abused 80 kids,

we’ve got a lawyer who says he has

proof Law knew about it, and we’ve

written all of...

(checking his notes)

...two stories on this in the last

six months?

(then)

This strikes me as an essential

story for a local paper. At the

very least, we should be going after

those documents.

CANELLOS:

How would you like to do that?

MARTY:

Well, I don’t know what the laws are

here, but in Florida we would go to

court.

Robby raises an eyebrow. In fact, the whole room does.

BEN:

You want to sue the church?

MARTY:

Technically we wouldn’t sue the

Church. We would file a motion to

lift the seal on those documents.

BEN:

The church will read that as us

suing them. So will everybody else.

MARTY:

Good to know.

11/26/14 13.

Off Robby, intrigued --

17 INT. GLOBE, BEN’S OFFICE - LATER 17

Ben and Robby walk into Ben’s office.

ROBBY:

Gutsy call for the first day.

BEN:

That’s one word for it.

ROBBY:

How do you think it’s gonna play

down front?

BEN:

I think Gilman’s gonna sh*t a brick.

Knock. Knock. Mike’s at the door.

MIKE:

Hey.

BEN:

Door.

Mike shuts the door, looks at Robby.

MIKE:

How’d it go?

ROBBY:

Baron wants to sue for the sealed

docs in the Geoghan case.

MIKE:

He wants to sue the church? That’s

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