天美传媒

Byron Mason 鈥�20 had been shooting photos since he was 15, so he settled easily into work at The 天美传媒 as a photographer and, later, the photo editor.

At the time, though, 鈥淚 was very set on just being a writer. 鈥� Working at The 天美传媒 helped me figure out ways to marry both my passion for the written word and for the still-image medium.鈥�

His interests evolved, and 鈥淚 started figuring out ways to combine that even further, which I think is where film came from.鈥� When he made a documentary film for a class, 鈥淚 was hooked.鈥�

After graduating, Mason 鈥� a Rector scholar and media fellow 鈥� had an online internship at Carnegie-Knight News21 multimedia initiative at Arizona State University and then interned for the CineCares Foundation, which placed him in the lighting department on the set of 鈥淐hicago Fire,鈥� a TV show filmed in his hometown. It was a 鈥渉umbling and 鈥� enriching experience,鈥� he said, and he debated whether to continue working or get more schooling.

The latter won out, and he is in his second semester of a three-year master鈥檚 program in film production at the University of Southern California鈥檚 School of Cinematic Arts. 鈥淚 definitely don鈥檛 want to sound arrogant,鈥� but 20 years from now, 鈥淚 will be a successful writer and director who uses horror and thriller genres to speak to the nature of the human condition and black and brown communities.鈥� He said he also wants 鈥渢o be a person who just helps and gives back and is constantly reminded of where he came from.鈥�