Today we’d like to introduce you to Mason Bosworth
Hi Mason, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I consider myself a globetrotting visionary. Born in Guam, I’ve lived in five states and three countries, including Italy and England. Everywhere I go, I filter life through the two lenses on either side of my nose and channel it back out again in the form of photography, motion pictures, graphic design or oil paintings.
My father Bruce Bosworth is a former Naval Officer from Texas and my mother Amy is a personal fitness trainer and healthcare professional from Louisiana. My older brother Jack works with my father providing crop-protection services using drones at their company Sola Drones in Lafayette, Louisiana. My younger sister Madeline works in the healthcare industry in San Diego, California. Due to my father’s career, we moved frequently as kids, although most of my childhood was spent between San Diego, California and Lafayette, Louisiana.
Watching behind the scenes documentaries of various movies at an early age, I became enamored with filmmaking. I experimented with making short video tape movies, Vines, and full fledged short films in high school in San Diego. Not knowing many actors, I began acting in student short films in high school believing it would make me a better director. Once in college, I developed a passion for acting on its own.
A graduate of San Francisco State University’s School of Cinema, I’ve acted in over a dozen films, directed four, and produced two.
Now living in Los Angeles, I work in film production, on such projects as FX’s American Crime Story: Impeachment, Marvel Studios’ Eternals and Disney Channel’s Bunk’d. I’ve held several odd jobs to keep his artistic ambitions alive; bike shop rental boy, babysitter, personal assistants to celebrity DJ’s and mild hoarders, door to door canvasser for a non profit, Trader Joe’s crew member, COVID monitor on film sets, and delivery driver for an Italian restaurant.
Just recently, I founded Corbyn Cross Picture Company with my good friend and creative partner, Nico Lavachek. We’ve made one feature film, “The Chemists” and plan to make bigger and better films, as well as music videos and commercials.
My ultimate goal is to be able to pay the bills as a nomadic creative, continuing to explore the world and tell stories through writing, photographs, and motion pictures.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it has not been a smooth road. I’ve faced challenges both internal and external. The largest of the external challenges is the recent SAG and WGA strikes coinciding with a general contraction of the entertainment industry. I arrived in Los Angeles and got my foot in the door during a “bubble” in Hollywood. Multiple times a week, I’d be turning down people who reached and asked if I was able to work with them. Now a few years later, we’re all competing for the same barista jobs, let alone the gigs on set. This is compounded by the ways in which the infrastructure in LA doesn’t automatically promote and encourage community building. Los Angeles is not an easy place to live in right now. Those external challenges have revealed to me what the internal challenges are. It takes an extra effort to forge connections with my friends in the creative community across town, and feel comfortable relying on them. No artist can survive on their own without a community of other creatives who support one another. I’ve had to dig deep and focus on what I value most in my life, and ask myself if I’m fulfilling those values every day I’m here. For me, its recognizing that I need to exercise this creative energy I have from within me and get it outside of me before it rots and makes me feel ill. I need to do that every day. I also need to be open and available to actively love my community and be loved in return. Balancing all of this while also performing the less glamorous daily necessities of taking care of myself has been the challenge I’m faced with every day.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Primarily, I’m a film director, which equals story teller plus image maker. I love to tell stories through writing, acting, or simply just around the table over drinks with some friends. I make images by shooting photos and painting. What I love most about filmmaking which can be difficult with writing or painting is the collaboration. I love being part of a team working towards the same goal. I love being a leader in that team. One of my strengths is empowering others to express their ideas and incorporate their contributions into a whole. When sometimes I struggle to come up with an initial idea, I’m great at taking an idea to the next level. I’ve developed a very close collaborative relationship with Nico Lavachek, who I made The Chemists with. He wrote this incredible script, and together we figured out how to turn it into a movie. Solving problems and creating an environment for him to be able to direct the best movie possible, while supporting him emotionally and artistically, was something I found incredibly gratifying. Now that we’ve finished The Chemists, we’ve recently started a production company, Corbyn Cross Picture Company, to continue making films together. We’re currently working on a distribution deal for The Chemists, as well as pitching our next project.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
THAT YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE! You’ll have noticed a theme in my responses by now, because it’s something I feel deeply. I consider every day packing up and leaving this city. There are plenty of cheaper places to be an artist. There are plenty of other cities that are designed with better public transportation and you can easily walk to the bar or the cafe or the park to see your friends more frequently. The reason I don’t leave Los Angeles is because of the amazing people I know here who inspire me, support me, believe in me, love me, and need my support in return. My advice is to find your community and to tend to those relationships every day like a vine which will bear fruit and sustain you, especially when you’ve had a bad day and don’t feel like it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://indyfilmlibrary.com/2024/07/08/the-chemists-2023-4-stars/
- Instagram: @masonlikejar @thechemists_film
Image Credits
James Lucas
Mason Sloan
