‘Spotlight’ wins for best original screenplay

Boston Globe
February 29, 2016

https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2016/02/28/spotlight-screenwriter-josh-singer-reveals-what-went-into-his-oscar-win/ZaT0BYuRQZWIv6Tum7xBFN/story.html

Just minutes into the Oscar telecast on Sunday night, Josh Singer already knew he’d be going home with at least one little gold man.

The evening’s first award, best original screenplay, went to Singer and Tom McCarthy for “Spotlight,” their telling of the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. Accepting the award, Singer, a Harvard Law grad whose previous writing credits include “The West Wing” and “The Fifth Estate,” thanked the “Spotlight” cast and crew, and his father, “who taught me how to dream.”

McCarthy, who also directed, dedicated the screenwriting award to survivors “whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration.” He added, “We made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable.”

Back in late October, just before “Spotlight” opened in Boston, Singer sat down with the Globe’s film editor, Janice Page, at the Globe offices on Morrissey Boulevard to talk about how the film had evolved, and what he’d learned about journalism — and the private lives of real Boston journalists — in the process.