iNDUSTRY KiDS

Meet Maximilian Shelton, one half of Industry Kids. Originally born in Burbank, CA, Maxx spent his formative years in New Jersey and made his way back to Los Angeles in 2018. Maxx’s career started at a young age when he began making home films with his neighborhood friends with the goal of becoming a director one day. Fast forward, he began his studies at University of the Arts in Philadelphia where he rapidly accelerated through the program and left when the opportunity to tour Europe with Killiam Shakespeare & DJ Jazzy Jeff as a videographer and photographer arose. “Seeing Jazzy and Killiam through the lens across the world made me realize, I was meant to be behind the camera - whether it be as a director, a photographer, or an editor - I am meant to tell stories through a lens.” Upon completion of the tour, Maxx expanded his professional skills and career beyond videography and photography into editing and directing.

Maxx took this to the next level in founding his directing and editing business with his sister in 2012 - Maxx and Madison, a Black brother sister director and editor duo. In his work with Maxx and Madison, he has honed his skills in client relations, project management, time management, editing schedules, executing visions and managing budgets. Maxx and Madison have directed and edited documentaries, music videos, social media campaigns, and commercials including campaigns for Kia, Sirius XM, Athleta, and Instagram / Meta and videos for Paris Hilton, Steve Aoki, Bazzi, Dani Leigh, and more. Maxx’s editing work within Maxx and Madison gleamed the attention of Tastemade which landed him his first in-house editor position.

At Tastemade, Maxx had the opportunity to be a lead editor on content for Nike for their Training App as well as Nike’s Athlete’s Cook Book - Season 1. This is where Rodney and Maxx first met. “I could’ve never imagined my first big in-house editing gig would ultimately lead to the founding of Industry Kids and I couldn’t be more excited to see how we grow”. From there, Maxx moved to Westbrook where he worked closely with the Smith family on content for Will, Jayden, the cast of Bel Air, and content and promotional roll outs for shows and movies including Emancipation, Bel Air, Bad Boys III, and Welcome to Earth with Will Smith.

In 2023 Rodney and Maxx would cross paths again; Rodney brought Maxx to The Spring Hill Company. Since, Maxx has been responsible for editing YouTube Original series at Spring Hill including Honorary Local, These Pieces, Two Ways About It, a longer form docu-series around mental health - sponsored by Bank Of America - titled Inspiration by the Mile, and more.

While Maxx continues to direct, his passion for post production, in both the corporate environment and in his own career, has continuously pushed it’s way to the forefront of his mind. Maxx has been fortunate enough to contribute his skills to major productions, commercials, music videos, documentaries, and has had the privilege of working with severals brands, production companies, and teams. Maxx’s relationships and experiences have prepared him to support the partners and clients of Industry Kids and he is thoroughly looking forward to inspiring a new understanding of the importance of post production - “post is necessary for so much more than just long form content; it’s social media, it’s photoshoots, it’s everything. Tight and strong post production is what make this all work”.