Production Team

Michael Maxxis

Michael Maxxis

2008

  • Directed music video for Bedouin Soundclash
  • Directed music video for Cradle of Filth
  • Directed music video for Ramona Rey
  • Directed short film STEAK AND MILK
  • Won AMPIA for Best Music Video – OURS, Live Again and God Only
  • Signed to RW Media in Los Angeles
  • Signed to SPY Films in Canada
  • Ours music videos received major international release
  • Directed third video for OURS in Valencia, Spain
  • Nominated for three AMPIA awards (best director drama under 60 mins, best music video, and best director non-dramatic)

2007

  • Directed two videos for OURS (signed to major American record label (Columbia Records), and album produced by multiple Grammy winner Rick Ruben (Dixie Chicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Beastie Boys, Linkin Park, Jonny Cash, JayZ, etc.)
  • Directed music video for The Cliks (singed to Warner Music Canada)
  • Directed 3rd Murder City Sparrows music video for Black Hole Betty
  • Directed music video for Mother Mother (signed to Last Gang Records)
  • Hammer Click music video selected by Yahoo.ca as one of year’s 10 best
  • Nominated for three AMPIA awards
  • Won AMPIA for Best Director (drama under 60 mins)

2006

  • Directed first music video (Murder City Sparrows - Burn in Water)
  • Signed to Revolver Films (one of the top video production companies in the world)
  • Begins working with David Hogan (has directed over 400 music videos, including Shania Twain, Mark Anthony, Dave Matthews, Kylie Minogue, and Sheryl Crow)
  • Produced music video for GRADY (1st major label video)
  • Produced music video for Rocketface (signed to Maple Music)
  • Nominated for two ‘best video’ awards at the AMPIA’s
  • Directs 2nd music video for Murder City Sparrows ‘ Hammer Click’ in Washington DC
  • Produced music video for Jimmy Rankin (singed to EMI Canada)
  • Video for Hammer Click is selected by VideoFACT/MuchMusic as one the best videos of the year


Christopher Walters - director of photography

Christopher Walters

Christopher Walters, from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, began shooting when he was eight years old and ran a profitable video production business in his home town when he was only twelve.

At the age of 18 he migrated to New York, allured by mentorship, and worked as a production assistant for actor Tim Robbins at his company, Havoc. Walters began working in a creative capacity two years later when he created, shot and directed the online series d. Life, syndicated by Warner brothers for their entertainment web portals.

At 22, he began a kind of informal training under commercial mogul Bob Giraldi and DP'd many of Giraldi's personal projects. Later, he would progress to shoot Giraldi's mainstream commercials.

Walters began working with Director Michael Maxxis, in 2007. Since then the two collaborators have made three music videos and one short film, each one an exhilarating experiment and more of an aesthetic departure from convention than the last...

Walters has recently completed photography of an homage to the French film "Le Balloon Rouge," for exhibition at the Parisian arts festival, Nuit Blanche.

He is 31 and lives in Paris, Toronto and New York City.



Keith Hamm - editor/producer

Keith Hamm

Keith Hamm is a young filmmaker living in Los Angeles, CA and a graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography. As a youth he began making shorts using the family camcorder and photographing with his mother's 35mm SLR. His earliest forays into editing came when he wired two VCRs together. Keith began his career at Brickyard VFX, in Santa Monica, CA giving him a strong foundation in visual effects. While at Brickyard he had the fortunate opportunity to direct and edit two Volkswagen spots for the 120 Feature Films campaign at vw.com. Keith recently joined the staff at Cut + Run Editorial to pursue commercial editing.

Keith's collaboration with Director Michael Maxxis for the short film Steak & Milk comes on the heels of numerous music videos, PSAs, promos and documentaries they have completed together, including three videos for Columbia Records’ OURS and P.O.D. He cofounded the production company One Lung Films in 2007 and the online film-community, Video Militia in 2008. He aspires to be a feature film editor and director.



Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Time Magazine credited Chris as one of the "movers and shakers who are building the entertainment industry" and Billboard Magazine repeatedly cites him as one of the country's most influential music lawyers. Founder of Taylor Mitsopulos Klein Oballa, one of the country's leading entertainment and new media law firms as well as the founder of Last Gang Entertainment, an internationally successful entertainment company working with Metric, MSTRKRFT, The New Pornographers, Chromeo and Crystal Castles. In the early 90's, Taylor was lead vocalist for Virgin recording artist, "One" - widely renowned as one of the country's finest live acts.

Jay Sparrow - composer

It was a hot Thursday. The day I woke up. I knew it was time to destroy all my fathers records. I carefully laid them out on the sidewalk pavement in front of the low-income housing project where we lived. It was early morning... maybe 7 a.m. I knew by sunny noon there would be just black, oily puddles... flattened vinyl grooves where Strummer & Dylan & Lennon once lived.(Good-bye my friends, you've earned your sleep) the summer sun would melt away all that had come before me and I would finally be left alone... naked... to create and destroy... and tell you all what I think, unfettered by history's wordsmiths.

Jay Sparrow is the lead singer and songwriter of the acclaimed touring rock ensemble; Murder City Sparrows. www.murdercitysparrows.com



Randi Wilens - executive producer

Randi Wilens is a graduate of The University of Southern California’s prestigious Cinema-Television Program. She often returns to the university as a guest lecturer, offering insight into music video and commercial production as well as a variety of motivational speeches. She also lectures yearly at the film department at Loyola University.

Presently, Randi is managing music video and commercial directors for features as well as representing high-profile feature directors for music videos including; GEORGE HICKENLOOPER (recently released Factory Girl featuring Guy Pearce and Sienna Miller, the documentary Mayor of the Sunset Strip chronicling pop star impresario Rodney Bingenheimer, The Man From Elysian Fields starring Mick Jagger and Andy Garcia, and the revered documentary, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse), STEVEN SHAINBERG, whose film credits include The Secretary starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr., FERNANDO MEIRELLES, whose film credits include Children of Men and City of God, TIM STORY -The Fantastic Four Series and Barbershop, FOREST WHITAKER - Hope Floats and Waiting to Exhale and WIM WENDERS.

She also represents live concert – DVD – documentary director Christian Lamb, whose credits include Lenny Kravitz, Counting Crows, My Chemical Romance, Incubus, John Legend, Madonna, and Tori Amos. As well as Julia Knowles, renowned live concert events director for television and long-form music video projects including The Australian Video Music Awards, Spike TV Video Games Awards, The Nobel Peace Prize Concert, The MTV Europe Music Awards, and Destiny’s Child – Destiny Fulfilled concert DVD.

Randi also manages still photographers, animators/illustrators and graphic designers, and composers.

In 2007 RW MEDIA embarked on managing musician/composer Asdru Sierra, one of the founding members of the Grammy award winning Latin/fusion/ jazz collective Ozomatli, for Film and Television scoring. His work has been featured in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Nacho Libre, Never Been Kissed and 21 Grams.

In the early nineties Randi gained lot of notoriety when she produced Nine Inch Nails “Happiness in Slavery” and Danzig “Its Coming Down.” The videos hit the music industry by surprise using themes of S&M and performance art, creating major buzz amongst top industry executives. The marketing of the videos were ahead of their time as promotion came by way of word or mouth due to their extreme imagery and content. These videos set a precedent for what was to become the viral market.

Being a big fan of Country music, Randi has embraced the Nashville music scene. Her directors have worked with such artists as SUGARLAND, LEE ANN WOMACK, THE WRECKERS, JOHN FOGERTY, KEITH URBAN, GARY ALLEN, RHONDA VINCENT, and CRAIG MORGAN.

In 1997, Randi launched RW Media, which she independently owns. She acts as executive producer, director’s manager/agent for music video, commercial, and feature directors at their respective production companies. Partial list of credits include: CELINE DION, KANYE WEST, THE HIVES, MADONNA, JOHN LEGEND, P.O.D., OURS, SHAKIRA, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (London Concert DVD 2005), COMMON, SUGARLAND, LENNY KRAVITZ, THE WRECKERS, THREE 6 MAFIA, THE DEFTONES, RICKY MARTIN, GOO GOO DOLLS, OZOMATLI, INCUBUS, COUNTING CROWS, JENNIFER LOPEZ, DAVE MATTHEWS, ALANIS MORISSETTE, MARILYN MANSON, KORN, MATCHBOX TWENTY, SEAL, AUDIOSLAVE, AVRIL LAVIGNE, ENRIQUE IGLESIAS, THE SHINS, HIM, MANA, MARY J. BLIGE (FEATURING P. DIDDY & MARIAH CAREY), BLINK 182, TORI AMOS, CRAIG DAVID, MOBY, BEN LEE, THE DECEMBERISTS, PAUL OAKENFOLD, MORPHINE (Grammy Nominated for “Video of the Year”), CYPRESS HILL and the FUGEES. She also extensively works with A&R executives and product managers in developing and imaging artists.

Additionally, she has worked with many film studios and independent producers on feature film tie-ins for such projects as; TRANSFORMERS, LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (beginning and end title sequences), DAREDEVIL, SHREK 1 and 2, BIG DADDY and THE GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING (featuring Scarlette Johansen).

Her most recent commercial production is the UNITED AIRLINES animated spot “Dragon”, which aired during Super Bowl XL. And her video for THREE 6 MAFIA’s “Stay Fly” was nominated for the “Best Hip-Hop Video” at MTV’s Video Music Awards in 2006.

Prior to forming RW MEDIA, she was promoted to president of her own music video and commercial company ALTER EGO –a division of Bedford Falls. She managed the Los Angeles and New York offices, overseeing Sales, Marketing, Production, Post Production and Operations. Additionally, Randi worked extensively with major film studios on music video feature film tie-ins. A partial list of produced projects includes five major videos which aired concurrently on MTV: MICHAEL JACKSON, SEAL, DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, STING, SYSTEM OF THE DOWN, METALLICA, THE DANDY WARHOLS, AND NINE INCH NAILS. Randi also did a variety of work at ALTER EGO with advertising agencies working on campaigns for LEE JEANS, SEGA, NIKE, ADIDAS and MOLSON BEER.

Finally, Wilens spent the first few years of the nineties at INDUSTRIAL ARTISTS – A Bedford Falls subsidiary as Executive Producer. There she headed the music video division for a commercial/Interactive production co acting as a liaison with all record and management companies.



Clay Schmitt

Clay Schmitt

Clay Schmitt is a young, creative professional currently working out of Princeton, NJ with a degree in Sound Design. A musician since the age of 14, he started out with the same goal as every other kid interested in sound - to become a rock god. However he quickly realized that his true passion was producing, focusing on the nuts and bolts of sound, instead of aspiring to shred face melting guitar riffs on stage.

Clay's first experience with professional clients was assisting at Gray Martin Studios in Santa Monica, CA mixing and sweetening shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Parental Control, Next, and The Hills.

Finishing his last year at Savannah College of Art and Design, he was involved in a wide variety of projects ranging from very commercial to strictly artistic and unpaid. He has acted as lead sound designer for 6 short films which saw success in film festivals around the country. He has recently been working on various projects with large production companies in LA such as BNQT and Smuggler. One of these projects was creating all of the music and sound design for a long running international spot for the 2008 Dew Games. He also just finished producing 2 full length indie rock albums.

Although he is young, Clay's goal is to stand among the top creative producers in the world.