CAST + CREW PRODUCTION PORTAL

This page is the official production portal for all things production for the film “Junction”.

This page will be updated as we move forward from pre > prod > post and eventually archived after we launch the films official outward-facing film festival + press kit website.

If you have any questions for me (iain), simply shoot them to me in the pop-up chat window below. Additionally, confirmed and tentative attachments for the production are listed below.

– iain pf mcdonald

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

OUR STORY IS ROOTED IN FACTUAL HISTORY

Our story, albeit fictional, is rooted in historical fact; specifically the slaughter of Aponi’s people, the Chemehuevi People can be uncovered from this article, amongst others.

Young Chemehuevi Girl, circa 1900

Young Chemehuevi Girl, circa 1900

THE SKIRMISH OF RABBIT SPRINGS – CHIMNEY ROCK, CA

The Native American Chemehuevi people were the recipients of a famous retaliation assault by white settlers in San Bernardino now known as the Skirmish of Rabbit Springs; its key rampages reaching crescendo near Chimney Rock over a 32 day period from mid-January through February, 1867.

The warring occurred between white settlers and the Piute Tribes of Chemehuevi, Mohave and Mono peoples.

PRODUCTION LOCATIONS

Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA

Abandoned Miner’s Shack – Benton Hot Springs, CA

CHARACTERS

BEAU – played by Dax Spanogle

A Union Army soldier whom, after returning from the American Civil War in 1865, he married the love of his life, Mary.

Shortly thereafter, Mary fell pregnant. Nine months later whilst delivering his child, Beau’s heart sank to discover she was still born and then it broke completely when he looked up at Mary to deicer she had also died passed during labor.

Impacted so deeply by not only the loss of his young family, but also his PTSD from the war. His dreams and waking consciousness are peppered with spats of replaying images of senseless inter-human violence and so much blood that his hands shake until the traumatic images cease their playback in his mind.

Beau is a strong, steadfast rock who aims - still - to live well, despite his feeling of being forsaken in life.

APONI

A Native American of the Chemehuevi people and a survivor of the (factual) Skirmish of Rabbit Springs; a famous retaliation assault on the Chemehuevi, Mohave and Mono peoples by white settlers with its key rampages reaching crescendo near Chimney Rock over a 32 day period from mid-January through February, 1867.

One fateful daytime, Aponi wandered off alone to gather grasses for thatching and weaving and while she was away from the village a posse of retaliative white settlers exacted vengeance on her tribe’s warriors for actions against their new settlement near San Bernardino. After taking out most of the tribe’s men, the posse then came seeking their village in order to finish their women and children.

Midway through collecting grasses Aponi sensed something was up and briskly started toward her village as she could make out smoke and dust to the sound of galloping horses and eventually saw a group of white horsemen rapidly departing her village to rejoin a larger distant posse way out on the horizon.

Properly arriving at her village Aponi is slowly hit by the deluge of so much spilled blood, burning dwellings, dead infants, deceased young women who appear to have been defiled, bludgeoned old men and women. She searched from body to body but not one of her people remained breathing. And then, her whole being collapsed like a dying star as she discovered her murdered blood drenched child in the arms of her barely recognizable dead husband. Immediately Aponi’s pain formed as quickly as it transformed into a burning rage, setting her destiny.

Bursting into an on-foot charge toward the departing horsemen, her tears and rage boiled over as she relentlessly powered on like a steam engine, chasing the posse members until they finally, in the distance, set up camp upon a small mountain at dusk. Knowing their location she continued, knowing time was now on her side.

Upon arriving at their now established camp with a fire burning, she spies silently and commits each face powerfully to her mind’s eye; these are now her targets – her life’s purpose, their death. Spying quietly from a safe vantage, she calmly, quietly but fastidiously sharpened a flat rock against another as she patiently waited, like a wise wild-cat awaiting its perfect opportunity.

Finally, the men settled in for the night as Aponi still calmly was sharpening that rock’s edge; now razor-like.

With cat-like stealth, Aponi silently stalked into the posse’s camp, approached the first, slit his throat effortlessly causing his arms and legs to flail instantly and blood fountained from his throat. The commotion and gurgling blood spilling woke the others and in their panic Aponi attempted to avoids detection by promptly exiting the camp (knowing survival is essential to her vengeance) she slipped away into the night as one of the horsemen fired off multiple rounds in her direction.

In a frenzy the small posse hurriedly packed up, mounted-up and rode off, leaving Aponi, behind a boulder, holding tight her fresh back-to-front torso wound, silently catching her breath to the sound of horses galloping into the night.

The next morning, Aponi woke, unaware she had slumbered, she recommenced her tracking them further west, knowing which settlement they were from. She’d heard about her tribesman’s burning of Frank Talmadge’s sawmill and the wounding of Bill Kane and John Welty and knew this was retaliation. But now, they’ll be damned if she was not going to now have hers.

As she treks, she weakens further and further until finally collapsing halfway across a dry lake bed… where BEAU finds her.

STANLEY KIPROSS

Stanley is the barkeep at the hotel.

BILL KANE

Bill Kane and his posse had a shoot out the next day. See this large number of Indians, 100 to 200 a larger posse was made. The larger posse including: W.F. Holcomb, Bill Kane, Jack Martin, John St. John, Samuel Bemis, Edwin Bemis, Bill Bemis, Harrison Bemis, Bart Smithson, John McGarr, Johnathan Richardson, Frank Blair, George Armstrong, George Birdwell, Joseph Mecham, Jack Ayres, George Miller, David Wixom, ‘Noisy’ Tom Enrufty, Sam Button, a preacher named Stout, Stout's son and his son-in-law, Griffith

JACK MARTIN

JOHN ST. JOHN

JOSEPH MECHAM

FRANK BLAIR

TOM ‘NOISY’ ENRUFTY

SCENES + REFERENCE FRAMES

EXT. DESERT - DAY

Filming Location: Coyote Dry Lake Bed – Barstow, CA

  • Scene 1

    • Sun burning in the sky, tilts down to the vast desert landscape,

    • Beau, riding his horse, appears,

    • notices a face-down young woman in man’s clothing, Aponi, he halts,

    • considers, then relents, dismounts his horse, approaches Aponi,

    • leans over Aponi, assesses whether she’s alive, she is,

    • surveys her chest wound, thinks, surveying his surroundings for threats,

    • commits, lifts her gently, moves back to his horse,

    • places Aponi upon his horse, mounts, moves on.

  • Scene 4

    • Drone flies at high speed across the dry desert lake bed

  • Scene 16

    • Aponi gallops intensely across the desert, pistol in hand (as she is makes her getaway between towns)

BEAU, on his horse, will ascend the ridge toward APONI in foreground along path visible bottom of frame. Camera will be located just off to the right of this location photo although this aspect is not our referential of our storyboard. Local modern…

BEAU, on his horse, will ascend the ridge toward APONI in foreground along path visible bottom of frame.
Camera will be located just off to the right of this location photo although this aspect is not our referential of our storyboard.
Local modern residences will not be visible.

EXT. ROAD FORK - DAY

Filming Location: Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA

  • Scene 12

    • Beau and Aponi both arrive at the fork on his horse,

    • Aponi dismounts, he tips his hat, Aponi looks to the distance, daunted, she looks back at Beau

    • Beau throws her a water flask, Aponi catches it, tips her head in return,

    • Both start down their respective trails, after a while…

    • Both, turn to look at each other as they keep moving apart.

offset_1059545.jpg

EXT. SHACK - DAY

Filming Locations: Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA (functional shooting)
+ Abandoned Miner’s Cabin – Benton Hot Springs, CA (Establishing Shots Only)

  • Scene 8

    • Aponi shoots at can on a fence, she fails to hit them

    • Attempts again, nothing, What am I doing wrong? she wonders,

    • Beau stands and gives her the advice she needs,

    • She turns and gives it a new shot.

  • Scene 10

    • Aponi shoots cans off the fence with speed, accuracy and ease,

    • She turns to Beau, excited, he is impressed, Good job, grasshopper.

EXT. SHACK – NIGHT

Filming Locations: Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA

  • Scene 3

    • The outside of the shack as we hear the hiss of the cauterizing knife as we hear Aponi’s blood-curdling scream!

  • Scene 7

    • Aponi and Beau sit at the outdoor fire-pit drinking from coffee cups,

    • Aponi asks Beau if he will teach her to be as quick as him,

    • He thinks about it, but we know he’s going to.

  • Scene 9

    • Aponi and Beau sit at the outdoor fire-pit eating stew,

    • Aponi asks Beau how’d he get so quick, he tells her he always wanted to be a gunslinger,

    • Beau also shares about his lost wife and son.

  • Scene 11

    • Aponi now a trained fiend with a pistol, Beau hints that it’s time to move on and part paths.

    • Aponi gets the hint.

INT. SHACK - DAY

Filming Locations: Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA

  • Scene 5

    • Aponi wakes suddenly after a deep healing sleep to a strange environment and a strange man, Beau,

    • She reaches for her pistol, aims at him before he advises that it is empty,

    • Disarmed, she relents as he offers her freshly made soup,

    • They engage in conversation as they learn more about each other,

    • Eventually Beau leaves and advises she should rest, she’ll need it,

    • Aponi ets a little more then readies for more rest.

  • Scene 6

    • Aponi wakes to the sound of Beau cooking, this time stew,

    • Beau offers her stew and they converse some more, now more trusting of each other,

    • She reaches for something under her sheet and in a nanosecond Beau draws on her, she is impressed,

    • She shows him it was only a decorative leather band, he disarms,

    • He learns more about where she came from and where she is going,

    • They understand each other much more now.

INT. SHACK - NIGHT

Filming Locations: Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA

  • Scene 2

    • Door swings open, Beau enters carrying a still unconscious Aponi, straight to the bed, where he places her down,

    • he moves a candle past her face to take it in, she’s beautiful, he wonders how she came to be here, before,

    • Beau stands, moves to fire pit, starts fire, draws his knife, heats blade until red hot, then

    • Beau stands, turns grabs a cloth, moves back to Aponi on the bed, sits, exposes her wound, stuffs gag in her mouth,

    • He readies himself, secures her hands, draws her to him, moves red hot blade toward her wound.

EXT. TOWN - NIGHT

Filming Locations: Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA

  • Scene 13

    • Aponi walks through town, apprehensive townsfolk are curious about this indian woman with a six-shooter,

    • She hears a familiar laugh from the Tivoli Club and follows her ears inside.

  • Scene 15

    • Aponi arrives at Noisy while he pisses on the street, she asks him where the rest of his posse is,

    • He turns, purturbed, ready to trash talk her, recognizes her, realizes she is going to kill him,

    • Aponi is too quick, in a single moment she offs him and mounts his horse,

    • She is gone, her stolen horse’s galloping away the only clue the onlookers have.

INT. TIVOLI CLUB - NIGHT

Filming Locations: Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA (Tivoli Club)

  • Scene 14

    • Noisy and his peers play poker while drinking and talking too loudly,

    • Aponi enters and makes her way to the bar, the bartender refuses her on her gender and race,

    • She answers him and he is unsettled by her, pours her a drink,

    • Noisy, her target, exits the Tivoli Club to relieve himself outside,

    • Aponi, gulps the whiskey, slams the shot glass on the bar, then follows him outside.

EXT. SALOON - DAY

Filming Locations: Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA

  • Scene 18

    • Sheriff Beau arrives outside the saloon as townsfolk cower and a posse trains their guns on its entry,

    • He knows it’s up to him, he makes for the front door, stopping ever sol briefly before entering.

INT. SALOON - DAY

Filming Locations: Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA

  • Scene 19

    • A corpse lies dead on the floor, Aponi stands at the bar, Beau comes to a stop in the entryway,

    • From their distance, they acknowledge each other like the old friends they are,

    • Aponi has whiskey in front of her, she is a hair-trigger, a glass drops…

    • Beau and Aponi turn to see

    • Stanley Kipross, the barkeep, afraid out of his mind, stands there, apologizing, begging them not to shoot,

    • Beau asks Aponi if he can leave, she affirms he can, Stanley leaves,

    • Beau and Aponi exchange pleasantries as Beau seeks to diffuse/disarm the situation, Aponi drinks,

    • Beau goes to draw but she’s so fast and his gun is shot from his hand,

    • She has another drink before offering him the gun,

    • As Beau goes to take it there is a twist.

INT. SHERIFF’S OFFICE - DAY

  • Scene 17

    • Beau sits half asleep beneath a newspaper with a headline about the ‘Red Squaw’

    • A townsperson enters, alamrming him that the Red Squaw is here, in town!

    • He promptly grabs his sidearm, it’s bullet belt and exits his office.

  • Scene 20

    • Beau reads yet another ‘Red Squaw’ headline, much to his dissatisfaction,

    • Beau places the newspaper down and makes for the door, then out it, then continues off through town.

DRAFT SHOOTING SCHEDULE

NOT FINAL, PRODUCER REFERENCE ONLY

Please note that this section of this document is not final and is fluidly changing from day to day. Once details are confirmed they will be transferred to their respective official working documents (storyboards, shotlist, call sheets, etc.)

PRODUCTION SCHEDULING - WORKING, NOT YET FINAL

DAY ONE – BOTH HORSES, DRONE

Location 1:
Coyote Dry Lake Bed – Barstow, CA

  • Scene 4,

  • Scene 12,

  • Scene 16,

  • Scene 1.

Location 2:
Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA (map)

  • CRAFT SERVICES – Dinner

    • Scene 7,

    • Scene 9,

    • Scene 11.

DAY TWO - WHITE HORSE

Location:
Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA (map)

  • CRAFT SERVICES – Breakfast (8am)

    • Scene 6 – INT. SHACK - MORNING (9am)

    • Scene 5 – INT. SHACK - AFTERNOON (11:30am)

  • CRAFT SERVICES – Lunch (3pm)

    • Scene 2 – INT. SHACK - EVENING (4pm)

    • Scene 2a – pickup, fire, blade

    • Scene 14 – INT. TIVOLI CLUB (6pm) - EXTRAS

  • CRAFT SERVICES – Dinner (9pm)

DAY THREE – WHITE HORSE, ARMORER REQ’D

Location:
Whitehorse Ranch – Landers, CA (map)

  • CRAFT SERVICES – Breakfast (8am)

    • Scene 8 – EXT. SHACK - DAY (time) – ARMORY

    • Scene 10 – EXT. SHACK - DAY (time) – ARMORY

    • Scene 18 – EXT. SALOON - DAY – REPLICAS

    • Scene 19 – INT. SALOON - DAY – ARMORY

  • CRAFT SERVICES – Breakfast (8am)

    • Scene 13 – EXT. TOWN - NIGHT (8pm) – EXTRAS

    • Scene 15 – EXT. TOWN - NIGHT – ARMORY