Makino was born in Kyoto on September 22, 1878. His mother ran a theater, and his association with movies began when the motion picture producer Einosuke Yokota of Yokota Shōkai asked for his help in filming jidaigeki. Shozo discovered actor Matsunosuke Onoe working in an itinerant kabuki troupe. He enlisted Onoe and made him into Japan's first film star, and began directing over 60 Matsunosuke films a year in the early 1910s, all if not all short films.