Discovering Freedom Via Enjoyable: Mason Greer on Momentum, Which means, and X Marks the Spot

For filmmaker Mason Greer, profitable the Big Indie Pictures Fellowship Award on the Austin Film Festival marked greater than business validation—it affirmed a private artistic reset rooted in pleasure and curiosity. His screenplay X Marks the Spot, developed by way of a fellowship with Big Indie Pictures, emerged from a interval of reclaiming “fun” after years of burnout, and now sits on the intersection of sharp tone, darkish subject material, and rewatchable leisure—an strategy impressed by movies like Life that stability humor with gravity whereas staying deeply human.

Hi Mason, thanks a lot for taking the time to share your journey with our readers. Winning the Big Indie Pictures Fellowship Award on the Austin Film Festival is a big milestone — can you are taking us again to that second and what the popularity meant for you and X Marks the Spot?
I used to be in a spot in my life the place I used to be simply leaning closely into “fun”. I used to be having enjoyable in life, in my relationships and with my work, and that included having enjoyable daily I received to put in writing X Marks the Spot. After listening to that I used to be a semifinalist, I used to be actually glad sufficient, then listening to I used to be a finalist was unbelievable. I instantly received a ticket, not as a result of I believed we have been going to win, however as a result of I had by no means been to Austin and thought it will be a good time. It was such a enjoyable weekend and I met so many unbelievable folks and was capped off by profitable the Big Indie Pictures Fellowship Award. This was very validating as a result of the rationale I used to be leaning so closely into my “fun” period was as a result of for the previous three years I wasn’t having any enjoyable with my life or my profession. Writing this movie took me out of that funk and eradicated any anxieties I had about my life or my profession. So as you may think about, profitable the award was very validating and affirming that the psychological and emotional break I used to be lastly giving myself was really the following step in my skilled improvement.

Being chosen for a improvement fellowship with Karl Hartman at Big Indie Pictures put your challenge in entrance of great business decision-makers. What have been a few of the most precious classes or shifts that got here out of that improvement course of?
I feel the largest factor I discovered from the fellowship was methods to talk tone in my work. This is each in bodily decks I make in addition to how I put together myself for a pitch and what producers and financiers would need to know. These conversions helped me excellent my pitch and landed me a number of conferences with a number of producers. To date I haven’t signed an choice settlement, nonetheless there’s one on the desk that I’m very enthusiastic about.

You’re now within the stage of purchasing the screenplay and having choices discussions with producers and executives. What has stunned you most about navigating the enterprise facet of filmmaking at this degree?
I feel what stunned me essentially the most was how keen producers could be to work with me. Of course there have been a number of “nos” however there was extra optimistic suggestions than I’d have anticipated and a few of these “nos” have been extra like “not for me, but I know somebody else you should talk to”.

Your upcoming dwell desk learn sounds extremely immersive, mixing efficiency with music, storyboards, idea artwork, and animation. What impressed this format, and the way do you hope it adjustments the way in which financiers expertise the story?
I feel I used to be decided to not simply showcase the script in entrance of the appropriate folks however actually make them really feel and perceive the tone. It was precisely what I labored on with Karl Hartman at Big Indie and I needed to discover a distinctive option to showcase this in entrance of an viewers so our “invited guests” wouldn’t simply perceive what this challenge means to them, however to a “theater” full of individuals as nicely.

As an impartial filmmaker pushing a challenge towards market, what retains you grounded and motivated throughout this in-between part the place momentum is constructing however nothing is finalized but?
Any pressures I felt about being “on time” in my profession have subsided. I turned an artist as a result of that is what swims round in my mind all day and daily, and I wouldn’t commerce it for something. So if this takes ten years or if this occurs subsequent week, it received’t make any distinction. In the meantime, I’ve loads of scripts to put in writing and movies to direct that I’m additionally wanting ahead to taking up this yr.

Looking forward, what’s your final imaginative and prescient for X Marks the Spot, and the way do you hope audiences will really feel once they lastly see it delivered to life on display?
There is a film I grew as much as referred to as Life, with Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. This film is crammed with numerous one-liners: “Names Jangle Leg”, “You gon’ eat yo corn bread”, “Don’t be scared”, “STATE OF MISSISSIPPI!” All of those one liners fill us with pleasure and make us come again and watch once more, forgetting the truth that that is type of a darkish movie about two black males being wrongfully accused of homicide and spending their total life in jail. This impact is strictly what I would like for X Marks the Spot. It’s not ok to make an impactful movie that you just watch as soon as, clap, and transfer on. This must be enjoyable sufficient so that you can return on a repeat viewing and nearly overlook concerning the darkish subject material that this movie brings to your consciousness.

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