Film Courage: Harvey is every day a work day for you?
Harvey Mason, Jr: Simple answer, yes.
Every day is a work day.
Yeah, there is a lot to do.
If I’m not at the studio, I’m on the phone, emailing, doing a ton of meetings.
There’s a lot of discussion, talking about what is coming up next, talking about the
song we are working on, talking about the scenes.
It’s always work.
Film Courage: What time do you normally start your day and do you put in eight hours?
Harvey Mason, Jr: …I put in more like 18 hours.
I start anywhere from 9 or 10 in the morning until 10, 11, 12 at night.
Sometimes into the early morning, if I’m working on a project.
It just really depends on where I am in the phase of the project.
Film Courage: You always hear about entrepreneurs that they can’t really ‘turn it off.’
They are always working.
Whether they are at a restaurant and they are on “vacation.”
How do you deal with this, as part of your life?
Harvey Mason, Jr: Yeah, I do suffer from that a little bit.
As I said I have kids.
So that pulls me out of it, for sure.
When I’m around my kids I’m not really thinking about work.
But it’s tough, if you love what you do, you want to continue to get better.
You want to continue to grow.
You want to build.
At least I do.
And I love making music.
I love working with the people that I work with.
I’m excited.
It’s not work to me, it’s fun.
Film Courage: How satisfied are you with your work at the end of the day?
Or are there times where you’re not satisfied and that’s almost a good thing because it
keeps pushing you?
Harvey Mason, Jr: No…I think there are times when I’m satisfied and I try not to stop
a project until I am satisfied.
I don’t do things that I don’t like and I don’t turn in things that I’m not proud
of.
When I’m finished with a project, I’m usually pretty satisfied.
I think production is a series of compromises sometimes because you can’t always get everything
exactly the way you want.
Maybe that is the perfectionist in me?
But I’m always tinkering.
I’m always trying to do something else.
Let me try this tempo.
Let me try to add this instrument or take this background vocal out or build this bigger.
But that’s the fun of it.
It’s like building a skyscraper and doing anything you want.
Just adding another floor and adding some more windows.
And just continuing to build this amazing kind of (hopefully) masterpiece.
And at the end of it, if you’re not happy and you’re not proud, you did something
wrong.
You probably better go back and rework it.
So, I get a lot of satisfaction from my finished projects.
Film Courage: Was [a strong] work ethic something you were born with or something over time
you picked up, whether it’s the sportsman in you…
Harvey Mason, Jr: I think it’s a combination.
I definitely was into working hard but I learned a lot from my Dad who was really, really a
hard worker.
He preached that at home a lot.
Dedicating yourself and sacrificing and making the most of your talents.
My Mom and my Dad were both musicians so they were all about practicing and getting better.
And then I had some great coaches.
I had an amazing high school coach, Coach John Giuffrida and a college Coach Lute Olson
who is in the basketball hall of fame and those guys both showed me the meaning of setting
a high bar, setting goals, accomplishing things you don’t think you can accomplish, expecting
more from yourself than you thought you could do.
And that definitely translated to music.
And I think that is something a lot of musicians don’t have because they didn’t play sports
like I did.
I played sports my whole life.
Since I was 7 years old I was playing sports, all the way through college.
And playing at college at that high, high level you have to be hyper-competitive and
you have to be sacrificing and intense and goal-oriented and all the things you have
to do to play high-level college basketball or professional basketball.
Those aren't things that most musicians do, so I brought that to this end to what I do.
I don’t know.
I think it’s worked for me.
Hopefully I haven’t made too many people angry how competitive I am.
But I think it usually works.
Film Courage: I heard a quote one time that said ‘If people in Hollywood aren’t mad
at you, you aren’t doing anything right [laughs].’
Harvey Mason, Jr: Yeah…I guess so.
I don’t know.
I’ve tried to be easy to work with.
I’ve tried to be the person that people enjoy being around.
I think at a certain level, a lot of the CEOs of these huge companies, that’s when it
gets to the point where people are going to be mad at you one way or another.
Right now I feel like I’m in a good place.
I feel like my company is in a good place, people respect what we do.
They find it easy to work with us.
I think it’s still a service business at some point.
You are providing someone with a service so I think it’s important that you treat people
the right way and I don’t know…hopefully people like me.
Film Courage: I actually meant it in a way that sometimes people in this town resent
people for getting a project they didn’t get or something like that.
Harvey Mason, Jr: Yeah, I think that’s true.
There is definitely some of that.
I don’t do that.
I think there is so much great work that anytime somebody else gets something, I think it’s
great for them.
And it’s not like I’m dying to have all those other peoples’ projects.
I try to stay positive and be thankful for what I have and I try and support other people
and encourage them as well.
So we need more of that in Los Angeles.
Film Courage: We do.
We do.
I saw an infographic that talked about entrepreneurs and it said that (some of the traits were)
that they were 1) obsessive 2) that they kind of had ideas which others couldn’t understand.
That’s what set them apart from other people.
Do you think the people that come here [to Los Angeles] maybe aren’t obsessive enough
or competitive enough and then they leave and go back home because they have friends
and family waiting for them?
Whereas if you have that sportsman’s mentality, where you almost have to win, that is going
to set you apart?
Harvey Mason, Jr: Yeah…I think that is something that sets people apart.
I think that anyone who has accomplished anything really, really amazing…I mean there are
a few that are lucky, but most are not lucky.
It’s just really hard work and it’s competitive or being intense and sacrificing and that’s
really in any craft or trait.
I think if you look at any of the biggest actors, they’re not the biggest actors for
no reason.
I worked with a couple of them on this film [SING Movie].
Reese Witherspoon is a powerhouse.
She produces, directs, she acts, she sings, she does everything.
And she’s that successful because 1).
She’s smart and really talented but there are thousands of smart, talented people.
She is driven and maybe I’m overstepping my bounds because I’m not that close with
her.
But from what I have observed, she’s super hard-working, super smart, super focused and
I’m sure, somewhat competitive.
She wants to win.
So I think that is something that sets you apart.
Question for the Viewers: Do you like to work more than 8 hours a day?