Truth Page #10

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All eyes on the progress bar. 20%... 30%... 40%...

SMITH:

This is really tense.

60.

Nobody responds. Finally the computer PINGS with a done

sound. Mary ejects the tape and hands it to Lucy.

MARY:

GO!

Lucy RUNS...

INT. MARY'S HOUSE -- KITCHEN -- NIGHT

Wrolstad sits with Robert. Clock on the wall, 8:00. Straight

up. From their TV -tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

ON TV:

Dan sits in front of an image the reads "FOR THE RECORD"

DAN:

The military records of the two men

running for president have become

part of the political arsenal in

this campaign - a tool for building

up, or blowing up, each candidate's

credibility as America's next

commander-in-chief.

Robert looks up at the TV, toys momentarily forgotten...

DAN (CONT'D)

While Senator Kerry has been targeted

for what he did in Vietnam, President

Bush has been criticized for avoiding

Vietnam by landing a spot in the

Texas Air National Guard - and then

apparently failing to meet some of

his obligations in the Guard.

INT. BURKETT'S HOME -- NIGHT

Burkett and Nicki, together on their couch...

DAN:

Did then Lieutenant Bush fulfill all

of his military obligations?

INT. BEN BARNES' OFFICE -- NIGHT

Barnes sits alone with a glass of scotch, not watching...

61.

DAN (V.O.)

And just how did he land that spot

in the National Guard in the first

place?

INT. 60 MINUTES -- BULLPEN -- NIGHT

Mary, with her team. Push in on her face slowly, taking in

the report, finally going out over the air:

DAN:

Tonight we have new documents and

new information on the President's

military service, and the first-ever

interview with the man who says he

pulled strings to get young George

W. Bush into the Texas Air National

Guard...

Mary smiles. We FADE TO a MONTAGE of different people

watching all over the country--

INT. DINER -- NIGHT

KITCHEN WORKERS and PATRONS eating dinner, watching the TV

bolted to the wall...

INT. AIRPORT GATE -- NIGHT

TRAVELERS waiting for their flights, watching as the story

plays...

INT. TEXAS BAR -- NIGHT

LOCALS sitting on barstools watching the TV among the

christmas lights.

People from all different walks of life, all being touched

by the power of television.

FADE TO:

A MONTAGE of NEWSCASTS - all covering the story. Overlapping

soundbites about Bush's Guard service, growing until we see

a TELEVISION SET - Showing a Local New York NEWSCAST:

LOCAL NEWSCASTER

...The 60 Minutes report which

unearthed new documents regarding

(MORE)

62.

LOCAL NEWSCASTER (CONT'D)

the President is sending shockwaves

throughout Washington tonight...

INT. PIERRE HOTEL BAR -- NIGHT

Later. Our group, celebrating at the bar. Smith and Lucy

watching the TV. The Colonel next to him.

COLONEL CHARLES:

This is what our business is now.

Reporting on reporting. Why break

news when you can just talk about

other news? Thirty minutes from

now, someone's gonna do a story on

this guy doing a story on us. And

then they'll all win Peabodies.

LUCY:

This one mattered.

Smith smiles at her. Elsewhere Mary's phone rings. She

steps away from the group, answering.

MARY:

Hello?

INTERCUT:

WROLSTAD:

Nice. Even the kid liked it.

MARY:

Really?

WROLSTAD:

You're a hell of a reporter, babe.

Mary smiles. Means the world to her.

MARY:

I'll be home tomorrow, okay?

WROLSTAD:

Okay.

Wrolstad hangs up. Mary pockets her phone, turning back to

the bar. Then stops.

ACROSS THE ROOM:

63.

Stands Dan. Talking to some people he knows. He catches

her eye. Raises a glass to her. A dignified salute. A

beat. She raises hers back.

No words spoken. No words needed. A real moment between

them. Dan smiles and returns to his conversation. And Mary

goes back to her team at the bar.

FADE TO BLACK:

As we hear more and more reports about the story, now in

different languages as it is picked up all over the world...

FADE IN ON:

EXT. WEST 57TH STREET -- MORNING

Mary crossing the street, headed for building 555...

NEWSCASTER (O.S.)

...Latest overnight polls which have

Bush's numbers stabilizing and Kerry

rising...

INT. MARY'S OFFICE -- MORNING

Mary, drinking coffee. Checking email. One from Josh.

I was just sitting here thinking about how amazing you are.

I'm buckled in, waiting to see where you take us next. Let's

go!

Josh

Mary smiles. Sips her coffee. A moment of serenity and

peace. And then Betsy West comes around the corner.

BETSY:

Mary, what's going on? These blogs

are saying the memos can be recreated

exactly in Microsoft Word.

Mary blinks.

MARY:

Who's saying this?

BETSY:

A conservative website.

(MORE)

64.

BETSY (CONT'D)

(reading a printout)

Every one of these memos to file is

in a proportionally spaced font,

probably Palatino or Times New Roman.

As she continues reading, Mary swivels back to her computer,

opens MS Word, grabs a memo and begins to RETYPE IT...

BETSY (CONT'D)

In 1972 typewriters used monospaced

fonts. The use of proportionally

spaced fonts did not come into common

use until the introduction of personal

computers. They were not widespread

until the mid to late 90's. Before

then, you needed typesetting

equipment, and that wasn't used for

personal memos to file. I am saying

these documents are forgeries, run

through a copier for 15 generations

to make them look old.

She stops as Mary holds a copy of the memo up to the screen.

Staring at them both. They look nearly IDENTICAL.

BETSY (CONT'D)

Mary... what the hell is going on?

Mary stares at the screen. She has no idea.

SMITH (O.S.)

It's on Drudge!

INT. JOSH HOWARD'S OFFICE -- MORNING

Josh and Mary Murphy, looking at the Drudge Report website.

The headline - BUSH DOCUMENTS FAKE.

JOSH:

(reading)

The spacing is not just similar, it

is identical. Notice that the date

lines up perfectly, all the line

breaks are in the same places, and

all letters line up with the same

letters above and below.

(MORE)

65.

JOSH (CONT'D)

And I did not change a single thing

from Word's defaults; margins, type

size, tab stops, etcetera, are all

using the default settings-

Josh's phone rings. He stops. They look at each other.

MURPHY:

What the hell are we gonna do?

Josh answers the phone.

JOSH:

Hello?

(listens; to Murphy)

Betsy's office, right now.

INT. BETSY WEST'S OFFICE -- DAY

Mary, Smith, Colonel Charles, and Lucy sit on a couch. Josh

and Murphy across from them. Betsy stands with Gil Schwartz CBS

Public Relations.

SCHWARTZ:

Due respect, did you f*** up?

MARY:

We had four document examiners working

separately and not one of them said

the memos weren't real.

SCHWARTZ:

Did any of them try typing them into

Microsoft Word?

MARY:

I don't know, Gil, I'm not a document

examiner, but I'm assuming part of

their job was making sure these things

weren't whipped up last Tuesday.

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