From Page to Screen: Making the Indie Thriller ‘Stronghold’

Stronghold is a psychological thriller about a mother and daughter living isolated in the woods in a post-apocalyptic world. When a wounded stranger appears, he threatens the life they created for themselves.

It all started with a spark of inspiration. An idea I had of a parent isolated from the world, raising a child alone and how keeping that child happy, healthy and thriving would prove to be a challenge. When all a child has is one parent, what does the world look and feel like outside? Especially if all they’ve heard about the world is tales of danger and desolation. How would that parent keep that child happy when, as humans, we desperately need social interaction? How do you keep the child home when children are born to leave the nest and explore the world on their own?

All of these are questions I hoped to explore when I sat down to write the first draft of this screenplay more than ten years ago. This particular script has had many lives and many versions. It was optioned by a production company and I proceeded to develop it with them. There were meetings, rewrites, more meetings, notes, rewrites, casting ideas and different places the script was submitted. Ultimately, it didn’t move forward with that company.

When the deep desire to sit down and work on it again in the hopes of finally making this film a reality hit, I was at my lowest point. The pandemic was raging and I had lost all hope of ever making a movie again. I had just lost my grandmother and left Los Angeles. At my lowest point, I always find a way to pull myself out of the emotional hole by diving into a creative project.

I worked on the new draft of the script and started to think about how I could put this film together. I knew I was going to need an amazing lead to play Sol, the young and naive woman who is all heart and instinct. The first person that came to mind to play that role was Bianca Santos.

Bianca and I met a while back at an Alliance of Women Directors screening of short films at the Walt Disney Studios. Bianca starred in a short film and I had written one of the other shorts films. I had been a fan of Bianca’s work from watching her on the television show The Fosters and the Lionsgate film The DUFF.

To me, Bianca was Sol, but I wasn’t just offering her an acting role, I wanted her as a producing partner. Bianca and I had talked about her stepping into a producer role and being involved with projects she felt were important.

Once I had Bianca on board, I knew I wanted Oliver Rayón to play Marcus, the wounded stranger that shows up and shakes things up for Sol and Nena. Marcus has a complicated past. He’s not a good guy or a bad guy. He’s flattered by Sol’s attention and attraction, but he’s conflicted and struggling to figure out what the right thing to do is.

Oliver and I also met years ago. He auditioned for my film Open Road and we have stayed in touch since. He then starred in my experimental film In Transit, my feature directorial debut. I knew Oliver could do the role justice and was already an experienced producer. Again, I wasn’t just offering him an acting role, I was asking him to be a producing partner with me.

The three of us then started a search for Nena, Sol’s mom. A woman who is a survivalist, highly skilled in nature, tough as nails, no nonsense. She would do anything for Sol, except let her go. We knew casting Nena would make or break this film. When we saw Jaqueline Fleming’s audition tape, we knew right away she was it. It had to be her.

Jaqueline was essential to this film being made, also stepping in as producer and bringing financing to the film via executive producers Suzette Saffold, Ken Mask, Greg Ward, T. Bankolé and associate producer and actor Keith Allen West.

The process of the financing coming together involved crowdfunding via Seed & Spark and the involvement of associate producers Aaron Ault, Erika Doss, Luci Hamilton, Pedro Cunha, Jake and Eva Casey as well as the high end dessert truck brand Cocoa Forte and the CBD brand Golden Drops. It took a village to get this film financed. There was no studio or film fund financing us, it came down to the people who believed in the story and the talent behind it.

We shot the film for ten days in Thousand Oaks. The drive to the location included going up a mountain on a dirt road. Cell phone reception was spotty. We all felt like we were living like Sol and Nena, the last survivors of a dying planet. The outside world disappeared as we shot the film.

The process of making this film taught me a lot about storytelling, directing and producing. On set, directors are so focused on problem solving and getting the scenes shot, we have to be flexible and listen to your team, but we also have to know when to listen to your inner voice and follow your instincts.

Stronghold premiered at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles on Valentine’s Day 2023. Sharing this film with an audience was so rewarding. Seeing it on the big screen was a dream come true. It washed away all the sleepless nights and anxiety around the speedbumps and road blocks we hit during the process of making this film. There’s a sense of pride in seeing Black women center stage, as leading ladies.

As we gear for our East Coast Premiere at the Harlem International Film Festival, the team is excited to see the Harlem audience react to the film.