Keith Sutliff, the writer and director of The Mason Brother, the crime thriller of the year, sears down to talk about the path to his new heist movie. He discusses his intentions, expectations, the production, the tough and interesting part of making this movie, and what he will be up to next.

indieactivity: At what point did the idea to make this movie hit you?
Keith Sutliff (KS): Well I have always wanted to make a heist film since I was a child after seeing the great hits like Point Break and Heat. Since I knew the budget was not going to be too big based on the way I wrote the script it made it manageable for a first feature film.

Did you start writing with a cast (You or any) in mind?
Keith Sutliff (KS): Yes, I wanted to play one of the leads or the lead as I did in this film. I had a handful of other actors I had in mind for some of these other characters too in the film.

How long did you take to complete the script? (Do you have a writing process?)
Keith Sutliff (KS): Took 4 weeks. I usually just write with the idea I have in mind with no preexisting notes I have written for the script in the past. However this second feature I am working on now I took many notes over a year while I was doing The Mason Brothers (the film I just did) on a word document so I would not forget what I wanted to write when I had the time to write the script. I didn’t start writing this other feature I am in development with right now until I finished The Mason Brothers this year.

During production, what scene (that made the cut) was the hardest to shoot?
Keith Sutliff (KS): Hard to say. I would say a death scene that takes place in the earlier part of the film. Just because the entire scene was a tracking shot that was all done in one shot/take. Took a lot of blocking and rehearsals on set to get what we wanted. It was a big scene.

Keith Sutliff on Making the Indie Crime Thriller The Mason Brothers

You wrote, and directed the film, what measure of input did it take to don these two hats?
Keith Sutliff (KS): A lot, but it helped out a ton since I wrote it I knew what type of vision I wanted the film to be from a directing stand point.

Let’s talk finance, How did you finance the film?
Keith Sutliff (KS): Me and a private investor.

How did you get Adler & Associates on board?
Keith Sutliff (KS): I believe I met them at The American Film Market in Santa Monica California a while back. We connected months later through email and it went on from there.

How much did you go over budget? How did you manage it?
Keith Sutliff (KS): None during production or post production. Just a little with the prints and advertising at the end. Was able to manage the budget pretty tight especially through production since we finished on schedule.

What is next for you?
Keith Sutliff (KS): I am working on my next feature film “The Refuge” that is currently in development right now and raising the financing for it. Another crime thriller film and higher budget film that will be better than The Mason Brothers.