Grammy and Oscar Nominated Music Producer Harvey Mason Jr. Scores a Cinematic Slam Dunk as Producer of the Film “More Than A Game” Starring LeBron James
LOS ANGELES-(Business Wire)-September 10, 2009 - As a hit making record producer, Harvey Mason Jr. has been nominated for several Grammy Awards, sold over 50 million records, had multiple Oscar Nominations for his music work on films including “Dreamgirls” and is enjoying the #1 Album in the country with the chart topping return of Whitney Houston’s “I Look To You” CD. However, his next triumph as the film producer of the new inspiring LeBron James film “More Than A Game” may be a jump shot to Oscar glory.
Mason’s foray into making the film was purely accidental. Mason’s babysitter approached him four years ago in the hopes that Mason could give her friend Kris Belman advice on what to do with his senior film school project. Turns out he had assembled 300 hours of footage of the St. Vincent/St. Mary’s High School basketball team in Akron, OH, because he had heard their star player, a kid named LeBron James, was quite good. However, after Mason, who himself was a high school basketball All-American, part of the University of Arizona 1988 Final Four team and his son’s AAU coach, watched Belman’s three minute film he immediately knew this could be something special. This could be about more than just LeBron James. It was a heartwarming and inspirational story about friendship, loyalty and hard work that needed to be told. He set off on a four year pitching, editing, directing and marketing odyssey that has already resulted in “Game” earning a first runner-up prize, behind Oscar Winning Best Picture, “Slumdog Millionaire” at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival.
Like many other breakthrough filmmakers who make their rounds to traditional Hollywood studios with unconventional projects, studio executives did not understand Mason and Belman’s vision. “I was fortunate to meet with many major and independent film studios in Hollywood due to my involvement in ‘Dreamgirls’, but none of them saw my vision for the film so I decided to take the financial and creative risk to make it happen myself,” said Mason.
Mason personally oversaw the hiring of editors, special effect editors, sound editors, etc. and the entire creative process including scoring the film, while Belman continued as the film’s director. After working on the film for two years and retuning to Akron for hours more of background interviews, Mason was convinced they had a touching and impressive work but believed the film could be even bigger with the blessing of James himself. Mason had a marketing plan which had never been done for a film like this and he would need James' support to achieve it. A screening of a 15-minute reel of the film was arranged for James who instantly fell in love with it. He loved it so much, he allowed Mason to approach many of his major corporate sponsors including Nike, Coca-Cola, State Farm, HP and the NBA to become involved in the marketing of the film. Armed with a completed film, James’ blessing, a unique and innovative corporate marketing plan and the commitment from Interscope Records to provide an A-list soundtrack, Mason hit the festival circuit and a bidding war ensued for the film’s distribution. Mason and his new partners settled on Lionsgate to distribute the film, which opens on October 2nd.
Harvey Mason, Jr. is currently topping the charts as producer of Whitney Houston’s new CD “I Look To You” which is #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart. Houston’s album includes the Mason produced single “I Look To You”. In addition, he has three songs climbing the charts from the “More Than A Game” soundtrack, “Stronger” (Mary J. Blige), “Drop It Low” (Ester Dean/Chris Brown), and “Forever” (Drake/Lil’ Wayne/Kanye West/Eminem) which he executive produced and released through his label, Harvey Mason Music.
Over the years, Mason has produced and written uniquely musical yet radio friendly hit records for superstars and industry legends including Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Luther Vandross, Britney Spears, Jennifer Hudson, Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Beyonce. In 2008 he wrote and produced the chart-topping hit single “No Air” with Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown. The single “Just A Kiss” (Mishon) produced by Mason is on the R&B Charts as well as BET’s 106 & Park. Mason is currently in the studio with Toni Braxton and Leona Lewis. For more information go to www.harveymasonmedia.com
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6046477&lang=en
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