california

A racist Georgia farmer who partners with a Chinese immigrant during the California Gold Rush has to choose between his gold, his girl, and his new friends, when a brutal gang who hunts Native villages now hunt him.

synopsis

In the Sierra Foothills...

2 boy-scouts fight over a piece of gold they find. Around a campfire an old Native-American tells the know-it-all kids what the Gold Rush did to his people… Suddenly we see the San Francisco skyline crash down. Out of the dust we’re catapulted to just tents on 1849 San Francisco hills. We meet southerner JACKSON, who just blew the gold he mined on booze, poker and prostitutes over the winter. Now in love, Jackson promises prostitute OLIVIA he will hit it big again, and take her back to Georgia…

"the easy days of mining are over"

Jackson beats a group of 4 hardened Mexican War vets in a poker game to get money for supplies. THE COLONEL warns Jackson that the easy days of mining are over.

Afraid of manual labor, Jackson rescues Chinese immigrant JIN from an abusive boss and makes him a partner to go dig for gold. But, Jackson treats Jin like a plantation slave who gets a paycheck. Once in gold country, they’re shocked to see the fields have been overrun by the 100,000 men arriving. They’re even more shocked to see Natives, who are being turned into slaves…

Jackson must choose between his gold, his girl, or his friends...

We see The Colonel raid a village with his special unit (MAJOR, SARGE, HOUND) to steal gold and slaves… With towns springing up, Jackson crosses paths with The Colonel again, dealing in weapons, booze, prostitutes and slaves as lord of a town.

The Colonel scares afraid-of-a-fight Jackson again, who agrees to partner and run a group of Indian teenagers to dig for gold. Greedy Jackson convinces Jin they can make more money with free labor, led by teenager SQUIRREL. Later, Jackson is beat-up by The Colonel for being too easy on his crew and Jackson turns into a harsh taskmaster. He finally stumbles on the biggest nugget in history, hiding it from Jin and The Colonel. When Jackson is ready to run off with his gold, the Army strolls into town, on the way to attack multiple villages.

Now, Jackson must choose between his gold, his girl, his friends Jin and Squirrel…

CALIFORNIA will keep the audience on the edge of their seats whether watching 500 men feverishly dig for gold, the extermination of Native villages, or the high-speed horse chase to the death.

Audiences will be shocked by California’s hidden history, where the Legislature paid its citizens to turn in the heads of Natives during California’s fabled Gold Rush.

MARKET COMPARISONS

The cinematic language will resonate with fans of films such as...

The Revenant

A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.

Django Unchained

With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation-owner in Mississippi.

Unforgiven

Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner Ned Logan and a young man, The "Schofield Kid."