HardX: The House that Mason Built, Elegantly
In her book “Bossypants,” Tina Fey writes that “being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way.” This seems to be true of Hard X, a studio formed in 2013 that has already accumulated some impressive awards and that proudly maintains, like Evil Angel, the tradition of a director-centered company.
But where founding director Mason might disappear at Evil Angel (as well as fit right in) with that company’s Europe-in-the-1990s hardcore style, the publicity-shy porn veteran instead carries on a style she crafted at Elegant Angel over the past decade.
If this along with opening a porn article with a Tina Fey quote that doesn’t even have anything to do with Sarah Palin sounds confusing, start with the fact that Mason is a female director who got her start creating some savagely hardcore films for Elegant Angel back in 2002, when that company was less stylized (and less elegant, really) than it would become a decade later. Back then Elegant Angel owed much to the style (and, obviously, the name) of crosstown rival Evil Angel. But Evil Angel didn’t have Mason.
While her career was mostly at Elegant Angel (learning the ropes from her friend and mentor, the great William H. Nutsack), Mason quickly established herself as a fearless director whose easy way with dirty girls allowed the latter to get up to some seriously filthy hijinks on film. She also moonlighted for companies like the late VCA and Platinum X.
Mason films of this period include “Lady Fellatio in the Doghouse,” “Internally Yours 3,” “Annette Schwarz Iz Slutwoman,” and “Riot Sluts.” By the late-aughts, Elegant Angel had evolved its style and Mason only got better. Aided by a newer, cleaner boxcover format designed by Carlos Dee, Elegant Angel’s titles were distinctive and compelling. A single girl on the cover, a white background and, inside, Mason deftly maneuvering a comfortable young woman into all sorts of debauchery against a masterfully-scored tease sequence.
All the while, Mason eschewed interviews. Her only public appearances were at trade shows in a burka, and those were long ago. But her work and her questions posed of talent from behind the camera were always compelling.
Instability at Elegant Angel led to a massive migration from that company in the early teens, and Mason landed with a leadership role at Hard X, which launched big with the award-winning “Anikka.”
If Hard X of the 2010s looks like Elegant Angel of the late 2000s, you can trace that to Mason’s signature style. Since launching the company (and its softer, sister imprint Erotica X), Mason has attracted other veteran directors like William H. and Manuel Ferrara.
