Secret Location

Last updated

Secret Location was a multi-Emmy award winner and Cannes Lion Award winning content studio across web, mobile, tablet and platforms such as Virtual and Augmented Reality, based in Toronto and LA.

Contents

Background

Secret Location was launched in 2009 by founders James Milward, Ryan Andal and Pietro Gagliano. It has content studios in Canada and the US. [1]

Secret Location staff have worked with clients including Samsung, Red Bull Canada, TELUS, Toyota, Cadbury, Air Canada, Mitsubishi, National Film Board of Canada, Stanfields, War Child, Focus Features, Fox Studios, NBC, Warner Bros., Disney XD, BET, PBS/Frontline, Nickelodeon/Teen Nick, Family Channel, CBC, MTV UK, YTV, CTV, TELETOON, City TV, Global TV, Showcase, OLN, MGM, Endemol, Sony Pictures / Television, eOne, Shaftesbury Films, and Temple Street.

In 2014, eOne made an equity investment in the studio. [2] , and in 2016, eOne fully acquired Secret Location [3] .

In 2019, eOne and Secret Location were acquired by Hasbro [4] and in 2022, Hasbro announced the close of Secret Location and its merging into the larger Hasbro organization [5]

Since then, they have partnered with VRSE [6] and LA talent agency UTA. [7]

Awards

The company is a two-time Emmy [8] Winner. Secret Location won its first International Emmy for the interactive the Canadian TV Series Endgame [9] episode. They won a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award [10] in the User Experience and Visual Design category for a tie-in to the drama series Sleepy Hollow. It is the first time a virtual reality project has been awarded an Emmy. [11] [12] The company is a three-time Webby Award, 13-time Canadian Screen Award/Gemini, AToMiC, Creativity International, CASSIES, Marketing Awards, and Banff World Media festival winner.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hasbro</span> American multinational toy and entertainment company

Hasbro, Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of Kenner, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Wizards of the Coast, among others. As of August 2020, over 81.5% of its shares were held by large financial institutions.

<i>VR Troopers</i> Television series

VR Troopers is a syndicated live-action superhero-adventure television series produced and distributed by Saban Entertainment from 1994 to 1996. The show tried to profit from the fascination with virtual reality in the mid-1990s as well as the success of Saban's other property, Power Rangers. VR Troopers was the first official "sister series" to Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Much like it, this was an Americanization of a Japanese tokusatsu children's program series by Toei Company. The series is a co-production of Toei and Cyberprod.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American global mass media and entertainment company. Originally a Canadian company, it was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, California. In addition to its flagship Lionsgate Films division, its other divisions include Lionsgate Television and Lionsgate Interactive. It owns a variety of subsidiaries such as 3 Arts Entertainment, Pilgrim Media Group, Starz Inc., and Entertainment One.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Zim</span>

Jake Zim is the Senior Vice President of Virtual Reality for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Zim oversees global virtual reality production and strategy for the motion picture group and he has produced a wide variety of interactive projects across the spectrum of distribution channels including location-based, mobile and in-home. Zim has been instrumental in the development of virtual reality experiences such as the Emmy® nominated Spider-Man: Homecoming VR, Ghostbusters: Dimensions, The Emoji Movie VR Experience, Can You Walk The Walk and Jumanji: The VR Adventure, and Hotel Transylvania Popstic VR. The L.A. Times called Zim's appointment "the first VR czar at a major studio." Jake Zim joined Sony Pictures Entertainment Worldwide Marketing and Distribution as Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing in 2011. Before joining Sony, he was vice president, Digital Marketing at Twentieth Century Fox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Milk</span> American entrepreneur

Chris Milk is an American entrepreneur, innovator, director, photographer, and immersive artist. He is co-founder and CEO of Within, a virtual reality technology company, and co-founder of Here Be Dragons, a virtual reality production company. Milk began his career directing music videos and commercials for leading artists and brands, and in subsequent years became best known for bridging the gap between emerging technologies and new mediums for storytelling.

Pixomondo (PXO) is an Academy and Emmy award-winning international visual effects and virtual production company with studios in Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and London. The company provides virtual production and visual effects for feature films, television, and commercials. As of 2019, PXO employs over 655 people worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Burns (executive)</span> American entertainment executive and Vice Chairman of Lionsgate

Michael Burns is an American entertainment executive and Vice Chairman of Lionsgate, a film studio and global content platform. He joined Lionsgate's Board of Directors in 1999 and became Vice Chairman of the studio in March 2000. During his 22-year tenure, Lionsgate has grown from a fledgling independent studio into a diversified global entertainment company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MWM (entertainment company)</span> American film production company

MWM is an American diversified entertainment company. Founded by Gigi Pritzker and Clint Kisker in 2015, MWM produces film, television, live theater, podcasts, and interactive experiences.

nDreams Video game company

nDreams is a company that develops and publishes video games. Based in Farnborough, Hampshire, UK, it was formed in August 2006 by former SCi and Eidos creative director, Patrick O'Luanaigh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entertainment One</span> Canadian entertainment company

Entertainment One is a Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allspark (company)</span> American production and distribution company

Allspark, formerly known as Hasbro Studios, LLC, was an American production and distribution company located in Burbank, California. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of the American toy and multimedia company Hasbro. Originally just a TV production division, many of its TV shows were based on Hasbro properties and were broadcast on multiple media platforms, including Discovery Family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darren Throop</span> Canadian businessman

Darren Throop is a Canadian businessman who is the founder and CEO of Entertainment One (eOne). Through corporate acquisitions and partnerships, Throop has expanded Entertainment One's global footprint and network which includes film and television studio The Mark Gordon Company; content creation venture Amblin Partners with Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Pictures, Participant Media, and Reliance Entertainment; leading feature film production and global sales company Sierra Pictures; unscripted television production companies Renegade 83, Paperny Entertainment and Force Four Entertainment; world-class music labels Dualtone Music Group and Last Gang Records; and award-winning digital agency Secret Location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STX Entertainment</span> American media company

STX Entertainment is an American entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Within (company)</span> Technology company

Within Unlimited, Inc, or commonly Within, is a studio based in Los Angeles developing the VR fitness service Supernatural on the Meta Quest. The company was founded by Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin in 2014 and initially created, acquired, and distributed 360-degree video, AR, and VR experiences across web, mobile, console, and headsets. The company was acquired by Meta Platforms, Inc., in February 2023.

FoxNext, LLC was a virtual reality and theme park unit of 20th Century Fox, now known as 20th Century Studios. It was established in 2017 prior to Disney's acquisition of Fox and operated under the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products unit of The Walt Disney Company. It handled the development and publishing of virtual reality and augmented reality titles, as well as the development of 20th Century Studios's theme and amusement parks. The division's president was Salil Mehta, a former executive from NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company, who has been with Fox since 2013 and later returned to Disney after Disney acquired Fox in 2019 until on January 23, 2020, when the company's gaming assets were sold to Scopely.

The Fox Innovation Lab was Twentieth Century Fox's research and development center, located in Los Angeles. Working across all film and television divisions, the lab was created in 2014 as a hub for Fox's short- and long-term projects aimed at producing new consumer technologies and experiences. Hanno Basse, CTO, Twentieth Century Fox and Danny Kaye, Executive Vice President, global research and technology strategy, co-managed the Lab. In March 2019, Fox was acquired by Disney, and Fox laid off about 4,000 employees, including both Basse and Kaye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabo Arora</span> American filmmaker and creative technologist

Gabo Arora is an American filmmaker, creative technologist and Founder/CEO of LIGHTSHED, a studio focusing on emerging technologies. He is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, where he is the Founding Director of the new Immersive Storytelling and Emerging Technology (ISET) program and lab. Formerly, he was a Senior Policy Advisor for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN's first Creative Director, with over 15 years of field experience. He has directed, produced and pioneered a series of virtual reality documentaries for the United Nations that have premiered at film festivals, featured at the World Economic Forum in Davos, screened at the White House, and have exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art's inaugural program on immersive storytelling.

DEVAR Entertainment LLC is an American technology company headquartered in Marlton, New Jersey, that specializes in the development of augmented reality content and products. The company was founded in 2011 and has branches in Cyprus, United States and Eastern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Semionov</span> Russian artist

Denis Semionov - is a Russian new media artist.

Felix & Paul Studios is a Montreal-based creator specializing in virtual reality (VR) entertainment. The studio is known for its originals Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, and Traveling While Black.

References

  1. Vlessing, Etan (February 12, 2015). "Secret Location makes key hire for new Los Angeles office" . Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  2. "Entertainment One Makes Strategic Investment in Leading Interactive Agency Secret Location". Marketwire. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  3. Pinto, Jordan (August 17, 2016). "eOne acquires full stake in Secret Location" . Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  4. "Hasbro to Acquire Entertainment One Adding Brands and Expanding Storytelling Through Global Entertainment | Hasbro". Hasbro . Archived from the original on 2023-02-05. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  5. "EOne-owned VR studio Secret Location closes amid Hasbro strategic review".
  6. Haynes, Megan (January 27, 2015). "Secret Location signs with Chris Milk's VRSE.works" . Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  7. "UTA Signs Digital Content Studio Secret Location (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . 20 October 2015.
  8. "Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  9. "2012 INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL EMMY® AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED – International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences".
  10. "Taylor Swift and Secret Location win the first two Emmys ever for VR". 11 September 2015.
  11. UTC, Adario Strange2015-09-16 01:17:00 (16 September 2015). "'Sleepy Hollow' wins first-ever Emmy award for a virtual reality experience". Mashable. Retrieved 2015-11-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. McCormick, Rich (2015-09-15). "Virtual reality wins its first Emmy". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-10-06.

[1] [2]

  1. "UTA Signs Digital Content Studio Secret Location (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . 20 October 2015.
  2. "Secret Location signs with Chris Milk's VRSE.works".