For filmmaker Mason Greer, winning the Big Indie Pictures Fellowship Award at the Austin Film Festival marked more than industry validation—it affirmed a personal creative reset rooted in joy and curiosity. His screenplay X Marks the Spot, developed through a fellowship with Big Indie Pictures, emerged from a period of reclaiming “fun” after years of burnout, and now sits at the intersection of sharp tone, dark subject matter, and rewatchable entertainment—an approach inspired by films like Life that balance humor with gravity while staying deeply human.
Hi Mason, thank you so much for taking the time to share your journey with our readers. Winning the Big Indie Pictures Fellowship Award at the Austin Film Festival is a huge milestone — can you take us back to that moment and what the recognition meant for you and X Marks the Spot?
I was in a place in my life where I was just leaning heavily into “fun”. I was having fun in life, in my relationships and with my work, and that included having fun every day I got to write X Marks the Spot. After hearing that I was a semifinalist, I was honestly happy enough, then hearing I was a finalist was incredible. I immediately got a ticket, not because I thought we were going to win, but because I had never been to Austin and thought it would be a great time. It was such a fun weekend and I met so many incredible people and was capped off by winning the Big Indie Pictures Fellowship Award. This was very validating because the reason I was leaning so heavily into my “fun” era was because for the past three years I wasn’t having any fun with my life or my career. Writing this film took me out of that funk and eliminated any anxieties I had about my life or my career. So as you can imagine, winning the award was very validating and affirming that the mental and emotional break I was finally giving myself was actually the next step in my professional development.
Being selected for a development fellowship with Karl Hartman at Big Indie Pictures put your project in front of serious industry decision-makers. What were some of the most valuable lessons or shifts that came out of that development process?
I think the biggest thing I learned from the fellowship was how to communicate tone in my work. This is both in physical decks I make as well as how I prepare myself for a pitch and what producers and financiers would want to know. These conversions helped me perfect my pitch and landed me multiple meetings with a few producers. To date I haven’t signed an option agreement, however there is one on the table that I am very excited about.
You’re now in the stage of shopping the screenplay and having options discussions with producers and executives. What has surprised you most about navigating the business side of filmmaking at this level?
I think what surprised me the most was how willing producers would be to work with me. Of course there were a lot of “nos” but there was more positive feedback than I would have expected and some of those “nos” were more like “not for me, but I know somebody else you should talk to”.
Your upcoming live table read sounds incredibly immersive, blending performance with music, storyboards, concept art, and animation. What inspired this format, and how do you hope it changes the way financiers experience the story?
I think I was determined to not just showcase the script in front of the right people but really make them feel and understand the tone. It was exactly what I worked on with Karl Hartman at Big Indie and I wanted to find a unique way to showcase this in front of an audience so our “invited guests” would not just understand what this project means to them, but to a “theater” full of people as well.
As an independent filmmaker pushing a project toward market, what keeps you grounded and motivated during this in-between phase where momentum is building but nothing is finalized yet?
Any pressures I felt about being “on time” in my career have subsided. I became an artist because this is what swims around in my brain all day and every day, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. So if this takes ten years or if this happens next week, it won’t make any difference. In the meantime, I have plenty of scripts to write and films to direct that I’m also looking forward to taking on this year.
Looking ahead, what’s your ultimate vision for X Marks the Spot, and how do you hope audiences will feel when they finally see it brought to life on screen?
There is a movie I grew up to called Life, with Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. This movie is filled with countless one-liners: “Names Jangle Leg”, “You gon’ eat yo corn bread”, “Don’t be scared”, “STATE OF MISSISSIPPI!” All of these one liners fill us with joy and make us come back and watch again, forgetting the fact that this is kind of a dark film about two black men being wrongfully accused of murder and spending their entire life in jail. This effect is exactly what I want for X Marks the Spot. It’s not good enough to make an impactful film that you watch once, clap, and move on. This needs to be fun enough for you to return on a repeat viewing and almost forget about the dark subject matter that this film brings to your consciousness.
Links:
- Concept Trailer
- Writing Directing Featurette
- Instagram: @hybridhoodlum
