OUR HISTORY

The year 2000 was a time when the film & TV industry sat on the cusp of a digital transformation. Think dial-up internet connections, early rudimentary mobile phones, MP3 music sharing and a reliance on desktop PC’s with disc drives and CD-ROMs.

Max had finished a lens-based media course at Plymouth College of Art & Design and was fascinated with interactive storytelling and the emerging potential of digital platforms.

He started out as a videographer working with agencies producing corporate content. He worked with brands such as Budweiser, creating content to support their World Cup sponsorship, and with the newly launched Virgin Active gyms. He also collaborated with CNBC Europe on a series exploring Europe’s fastest-growing companies. This work took him across the continent from filming luxury yachts by helicopter to documenting the six-month construction of a major data centre through time-lapse, as well as conducting extensive interviews with founders and business leaders.

This work was invaluable for Max to learn his craft, but there was a drive to be more inventive and to push the boundaries of this new emerging technology. So alongside this work, Max was forming a production company of his own and in 2004 TMAX Productions was founded. At the time, a production company specialising in the creation of interactive video and animation.

TMAX’s early work focused on developing interactive educational content at a time when the internet was not yet a viable platform for video, and CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs were at the cutting edge.

The company produced a full British Sign Language course on interactive CD-ROM, created a DVD-ROM resource for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), and developed At Home in Spain, an interactive language-learning programme featuring filmed scenarios for British families buying property abroad. They also published a DVD cookbook designed for self-confessed “bad cooks,” combining filmed recipes with accessible, step-by-step guidance.

By blending video, animation and interactivity, TMAX was working with formats we now take for granted, pushing boundaries at a time when this kind of content was still in its infancy.

Max has always worked as part of a close-knit team of like-minded, talented people.

Collaborators like Mike, a gifted 3D animator he met at university, who has gone on to work at the very top of his Industry, producing adverts and short films for major brands. Or Dom, a talented cinematographer and photographer that Max has worked with now for over 15 years. Harry brought a touch of comedy to the business, a multi-talented director of photography with a love of scripted comedy, and Julia, an expert at storytelling, works with academics to transform complex ideas into clear, compelling short films.

Beyond the core team, TMAX has always thrived through collaboration with brilliant clients and creative partners. People like David at the Wales Millennium Centre, an expert in immersive experiences, or Jon, an art director and also the singer of the legendary post-punk band Gang of Four and Arthur at Sadler’s Wells, a world champion disco dancer turned inspiring choreographer. It’s these diverse, often unexpected collaborations that continue to push the work in new and exciting directions.

That spirit of collaboration, the shared energy of working with inspiring people, is at the heart of the company. It’s the team that makes the “T” in TMAX.

A big turning point came in 2009, when English National Opera asked TMAX to create content for their Digital Opera Guide. That one project turned into a long-term creative partnership that lasted over 15 years.

TMAX became an extension of ENO’s creative team, producing everything from behind-the-scenes films to full performance capture for cinema and TV, plus trailers, campaigns, and brand films. It was a wonderful opportunity to be creative and experimental in the content that they captured and the stories that they told. It also meant working with some incredible talent, including Emma Thompson, Glenn Close and Terry Gilliam. They learnt a bit about opera too, capturing over 100 performances on the Coliseum stage.

From there, things grew naturally into the wider arts world and they began working with organisations like the BBC, Sadler’s Wells, Southbank Centre, The National Portrait Gallery, and many more.

During this time, TMAX worked on a film for The Heart of the Great Alone exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery for the Royal Collection Trust. The piece was designed to be experienced in a unique way. To watch the film viewers looked into a replica of the kind of camera used by Frank Hurley, the photographer on Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition. It was paired with a binaural soundscape, creating a deeply immersive, almost transportive experience.

That project also proved to be a turning point. After collaborating with the sound designer in his Soho recording studio, TMAX ended up moving into the offices just above it, on Great Chapel Street. It was an exciting chapter, working in a building shared with some of the Monty Python creative team, while collaborating with London’s leading cultural institutions.

They worked with organisations such as the Imperial War Museums, telling stories like the remarkable making of Peter Jackson’s ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’. With Royal Museums Greenwich, they partnered with historian Mary Beard to uncover the stories behind iconic artworks. They collaborated with the Royal Drawing School to develop and launch their online drawing programme and with the Design Museum to produce a film exploring what homes of the future might look like for the Home Futures exhibition. They created a video podcast series for the publisher Harper Collins, featuring conversations with authors such as Michael Morpurgo and Huck Scarry, and with BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour on a documentary film featuring interviews with the most powerful women in Britain.

TMAX has worked across a wide range of formats, but at the heart of everything is storytelling. Whether documentary or behind-the-scenes, their “bread and butter” has always been crafting memorable, human stories.

That might mean following plant doctors supporting cocoa farmers in Vietnam and coffee growers in Rwanda for CABI (Centre for Biosciences International), a film that went on to be viewed by over 6 million people. Or creating a film for a YouTube audience exploring David Bowie’s art collection. It could be spending time with Emmy and BAFTA award-winning composer Jennie Muskett, uncovering the thinking behind her album designed for unborn babies to experience in the womb.

Their work has taken them behind the scenes to Cornwall with artist Denzil Forrester on his commission for the Government Art Collection, to Madrid with The Shard to document the creation of a major new public sculpture by Jaume Plensa, and to New York to capture the lives of three gallerists navigating the city’s art scene as emerging entrepreneurs. They’ve also sat down with legendary photographer Terry O’Neill to reflect on a lifetime spent documenting Hollywood’s greats.

Whatever the story and wherever it takes them, TMAX has built its reputation on telling it in a way that resonates and lasts.

When Covid hit, TMAX had to adapt fast. They threw themselves into the world of live streaming, determined not just to replicate existing formats, but to create interactive experiences that felt genuinely new. In the process, they became involved in a series of innovative projects that explored the limits of the technology.

One of these was a full-length filmed version of La Voix Humaine for Welsh National Opera. TMAX devised a way to capture the performance remotely, setting up unmanned static cameras in the singer’s home and filming the pianist in a separate space. By feeding live audio and visual between them, the performers were able to stay in sync and perform “as live,” resulting in a uniquely intimate operatic experience streamed online.

They also created a hybrid live stand-up show for BBC Studios, combining a small, socially distanced in-person audience with a much larger online audience watching from home. Viewers could interact in real time, commenting live during the performance and becoming part of the experience.

For Sadler’s Wells, TMAX produced a filmed version of The Little Match Girl, working with director and choreographer Arthur Pita to reimagine the show for the screen. By bringing cameras onto the stage and capturing the performance from perspectives not normally seen by an audience, they created a more intimate and immersive experience. The film is now broadcast on Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage and has become a Christmas favourite.

Across almost every project, TMAX found themselves working alongside experts, helping them shape their ideas, tell their stories, and share their knowledge in ways that were both accessible and compelling. It was a natural progression that led them deeper into the education sector.

In 2013, TMAX began working with Sotheby’s Institute of Art (SIA), a higher education institution specialising in the business of art and closely linked to the auction house. What started with course trailers, marketing content, and brand films quickly evolved into something broader. TMAX went on to produce editorial films for YouTube, content for online learning platforms, and short, impactful art world stories designed for social. They continue to work with SIA today, creating a wide range of educational content that showcases their experts and strengthens their global brand. Winning a couple of awards along the way too!

Since then, TMAX has built a strong presence in the education space. They’ve produced content for institutions such as London Metropolitan University, developed courses with partner organisations for the FutureLearn platform, and collaborated with The School of The New York Times. They’ve also worked with the BBC on projects for its BBC Teach and BBC Bitesize platforms as well as teaching kids ‘how to write a comic’ with The Beano. More recently, they’ve been working with experts at The National Gallery, bringing to life the rich and often surprising stories behind some of the world’s most famous artists and artworks.

Across the cultural sector, they’ve helped organisations unlock the value of their expertise, transforming specialist knowledge into engaging, accessible educational content.

Projects are now produced for multiple-platforms and formats. TMAX specialise in collaborating with subject-matter experts to transform knowledge into content that performs just as effectively as a 10-minute YouTube lecture as it does a 90-second Instagram short. Understanding platforms and the algorithms that power them, has become an integral part of their storytelling toolkit.

TMAX built @underthecover from the ground up into a thriving Instagram community of over 150,000 followers. They’ve turned Sotheby’s Institute faculty into social media personalities, transforming specialist art world insight into widely shared, engaging content. By pairing comedians with the Affordable Art Fair, they’ve brought fresh energy to its social presence, and their ‘celebrity reads’ announcement films for The Booker Prize have attracted many millions of views.

TMAX have also refined their approach to video podcasts, adopting a multi-camera, live-edit workflow that streamlines both production and cost. This efficient capture method enables content to be shaped in real time, producing a full-length episode for platforms like YouTube alongside shorter, tailored cuts for social.

The model was successfully adopted on their collaboration with Hat Trick Productions on a new comedy podcast series, demonstrating a smart, scalable way to create multi-format content without compromising quality.

Today, TMAX work with top experts from Universities, companies and Institutions to translate their knowledge in the most effective way for the platforms used today. It’s a long way from CD-ROM to TikTok, but TMAX still find themselves at the cutting-edge of storytelling and are still enjoying every moment of it.

At its heart, TMAX has always been about people, those they work with, those they collaborate with, and those they tell stories about. While the industry continues to evolve, that human focus remains constant. It’s what connects everything they do, and what will continue to shape the next chapter.