This film looks to shed light on the rigor behind journalism and why it's all worth it. It’s a piece of work about pursuing the truth wherever it may lead and bringing that truth back in word form for the world to read. This film depicts the risk, guts and fearlessness shown by Rukmini Callimachi, the lead New York Times reporter covering the Islamic State. The film takes us on a journey through leads, sources and contacts across the world as Callimachi looks to understand the intricate details of how ISIS functions as an organization. Our connected thread of words leads us through this journey, carrying us to her groundbreaking discovery: a treasure trove of files that reveals the workings one of the world’s most deadly terrorist organizations.

The film launched at a time of renewed discussion on ISIS, Syria and terrorism. The script had to bring to life this incendiary subject matter while balancing the journalistic integrity of The New York Times. The script puts us in the reporter’s stream of consciousness, adopting her tone of voice and while also maintaining The Times’s inimitable house style. The script, a connected thread of words that appear on screen creating the effect of a continuously rewritten headline, was central to putting to putting the viewer in the Callimachi’s psyche as she forged deeper behind the lines of the world’s most feared terror organization.