Golden Era Productions, the 500-acre worldwide film center for the Scientology religion, boasts an 80,000-square-foot film studio, high definition digital editing suites, a cutting-edge visual effects department and the most advanced recording, reproduction and mixing facilities available anywhere. Staffed by members of the Church’s religious order, the Sea Organization, it’s an idyllic workers paradise set against rustic Southern California hills with the look and feel of a resort featuring four-star dining, spacious berthing and such amenities as a golf course, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, tennis courts and fully-equipped gym available to the staff 24 hours a day.

But on a March day in 2012, Ron Miscavige out of the blue left Golden Era Productions where he was working as a trumpet player in the Church band without a single word to his co-workers or band mates. These were the very people he had worked with for nearly thirty years. Not a phone call, a letter or even a single goodbye to any of them before or since. ...