Trey Edward Shults was born in Houston, Texas. In 2010, he made his directorial debut in the short film Mother and Son, which he also wrote, edited, and produced. It starred Krisha Fairchild and Lucas Quintana. In 2011 and 2012, Shults variously served as film loader, post-production intern, and intern, on three of Terrence Malick's films, Song to Song, Voyage of Time, and The Tree of Life. At the time, Shults was a business management student but dropped out to work on films and study films himself. In 2011, Shults wrote, directed, produced, and edited, a short film starring Krisha Fairchild, titled Two to One.