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Sekretagent is a production company based in Los Angeles, California, focused on providing content creation, screenwriting, development and production for both films and video games. Founded in 2001, the company has provided writing services for games such as Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones , Assassin's Creed , and Army of Two . Since 2009, the company has also been operating as an ad agency alternative providing creative marketing consulting and commercial production.
The company was founded in 2001 by Dooma Wendschuh and Corey May upon their graduation from the University of Southern California's Peter Stark Producing program. Before graduation, Wendschuh and May sold their first screenplay, a re-imagining of the 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows . [1] The two men established sekretagent using the funds from the sale, and began providing writing and development services to both film and game studios.
In 2009, the company received its first major job in the advertising world. The company was hired by William Morris Endeavor Agency to provide creative writing and production services to a dual web-based marketing campaign for Coca-Cola Zero and James Cameron's Avatar. The largest component of this project was a web commercial for Coca-Cola Zero set in the future titled "Coca-Cola Zero: Nanodisk". Sekretagent conceived the original concept behind the commercial and oversaw operations from development through post production. The commercial was featured on www.avtr.com. [2]
The collaboration with Coca-Cola Zero led to a continued relationship between the two companies. In 2010, sekretagent was hired to produce the first ever 3D commercial for Coca-Cola. The company eventually produced two 3D spots, one of which was a joint effort with Coca-Cola Zero, Mentos, and Eepybird of YouTube fame. The spot garnered millions of views online, earning sekretagent and Eepybird a place in the viral video realm. [3]
Currently, sekretagent Productions consists of two studios: the core studio, sekretagent, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Agent Sekret Productions, Inc. based in Montreal, Canada. The core studio deals in content creation and production services in the marketing and advertising industry, as well as production of highly commercial "event" films, such as The Wind in the Willows (currently in development at Fox 2000). Agent Sekret Productions, Inc., founded in 2011, has become the headquarters for video game writing as well as development of original video game concepts. Agent Sekret currently works in collaboration with Ubisoft Divertissements and Warner Brothers Games, both in Montreal.
A former subsidiary of sekretagent, S2 Filmed Entertainment, was dissolved in 2010 so that the company could focus more intently on larger films, video game development, and expanding its advertising reach. S2 Filmed Entertainment's first feature film, The Plague, was released in 2006. [4]
Jordan Mechner is an American video game designer, graphic novelist, author, screenwriter, filmmaker, and former video game programmer. A major figure in the development of cinematic video games and a pioneer in video game animation, he began his career designing and programming the 1984 martial arts game Karateka for the Apple II while a student at Yale University. The game was a bestseller. He followed it with the platform game Prince of Persia five years later; it was widely ported and became a hit. Both games used rotoscoping, where actors shot on film by Mechner were drawn over to create in-game animation. Prince of Persia has become the basis for a long-running franchise, including a 2010 live-action film released by Walt Disney Pictures and an ongoing series of video games, published by Ubisoft.
Platinum Hits is a term used to refer to a line of select Xbox games that were considered by Microsoft to have sold considerable units on the platform in the nine months after release, and have dropped in price from their original MSRP to a newer, lower price, generally that of $19.99, although multi-game packs may sell for more. A similar budget range in PAL markets is known as Xbox Classics for £19.99 and Best of Classics for £9.99. In Japan, they are known as Platinum Collection games and generally cost ¥2,800, with certain games such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Dynasty Warriors 6 at a higher price point of ¥3,800. Sales requirements may vary by region.
Assassin's Creed is a 2007 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first installment in the Assassin's Creed series. The video game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2007. A Microsoft Windows version titled Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition containing additional content was released in April 2008.
Streamline Studios, founded in 2001, is a global creative and technology company for video games and beyond. Their partners include Capcom, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Square Enix, BBC Sport, and Balenciaga. GenVid Technologies, Epic Games, Unity3D, and 2K Games.
Ubisoft Anvil is a game engine created by Ubisoft Montreal and used in the Assassin's Creed video game series as well as other Ubisoft games. The engine is used on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Stadia. Ubisoft Anvil is one of the primary game engines used by Ubisoft along with Disrupt, Dunia, and Snowdrop.
Prince of Persia is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is centered around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia.
Ubisoft Divertissements Inc., doing business as Ubisoft Montreal, is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Montreal.
Patrice Désilets is a Canadian game designer best known for creating the Assassin's Creed series. He served as creative director for Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. He is also known for being the director of Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. In 2014, he founded the Montreal-based indie studio Panache Digital Games, where he worked on the game Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey.
Numerous video games were released in 2010. Many awards went to games such as Red Dead Redemption, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Mass Effect 2, God of War III and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Kinect from Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 was also released this year.
Corey May is an American video game writer. He is currently the Narrative Director for Austin video game developer Certain Affinity. May is also the co-founder and President of Sekretagent Productions, a production company based in Los Angeles, California working in the film, video game, and internet industries. May is the main writer of the Assassin's Creed series. May worked as the lead writer on Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, and Assassin's Creed III. Corey May also helped Jeffrey Yohalem as a writer on Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Darby McDevitt on Assassin's Creed: Revelations. May helped Jeffrey Yohalem once again on Assassin's Creed Syndicate, making it the last game he worked on before departing from Ubisoft. May also helps in the production of most other entries into the Assassin's Creed franchise to make sure everything flows together into one coherent narrative.
Assassin's Creed II is a 2009 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montréal and published by Ubisoft. It is the second major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, and the sequel to 2007's Assassin's Creed. The game was first released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2009, and was later made available on Microsoft Windows in March 2010 and OS X in October 2010.
Assassin's Creed is a historical action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond, and Corey May, the Assassin's Creed video game series depicts a fictional millennia-old struggle between the Order of Assassins, who fight for peace and free will, and the Knights Templar, who desire peace through order and control. The series features historical fiction, science fiction, and fictional characters intertwined with real-world historical events and historical figures. In most games, players control a historical Assassin while also playing as an Assassin Initiate or someone caught in the Assassin–Templar conflict in the present-day framing story. Considered a spiritual successor to the Prince of Persia series, Assassin's Creed took inspiration from the novel Alamut by the Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol, based on the historical Hashashin sect of the medieval Iran (Persia).
Ezio Auditore da Firenze is a fictional character in the video game series Assassin's Creed, serving as the principal protagonist of the series' games set during the Italian Renaissance. An Italian Master Assassin, his life and career as an Assassin are chronicled in Assassin's Creed II, II: Discovery, Brotherhood (2010), and Revelations (2011), as well as the short films Assassin's Creed: Lineage (2009), Ascendance (2010), and Embers (2011) and various spin-off media of the franchise. In 2016, all three major games featuring Ezio, as well as Lineage and Embers, were re-released as an enhanced bundle titled Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection. Throughout most of his appearances, the character has been voiced by American actor Roger Craig Smith, while Canadian actor Devon Bostick portrayed him in live-action in Lineage.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the third major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, and the second chapter in the "Ezio Trilogy", as a direct sequel to 2009's Assassin's Creed II. The game was first released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November and December 2010 and was later made available on Microsoft Windows in March and June 2011. A remastered version of Brotherhood, along with Assassins's Creed II and its sequel, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, was released as part of The Ezio Collection compilation for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 15, 2016, and for the Nintendo Switch on February 17, 2022.
Assassin's Creed Revelations is a 2011 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the fourth major installment of the Assassin's Creed series, and a direct sequel to 2010's Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, concluding the "Ezio Trilogy". The game was released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows in November and December 2011. A remastered version of Revelations, along with Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood, was released as part of The Ezio Collection compilation for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 15, 2016, and for the Nintendo Switch on February 17, 2022.
DIGIC Pictures is a Hungarian 3D animation studio based in Budapest, specializing in the production of 3D animated game cinematics CGI. Digic also provides motion capture services at its own studio, Digic Motion. The company produces 3D animated shorts and visual effects in association with video games, feature films or commercial advertisements.
Power of Darkness is a demonstration album by the music production group Two Steps from Hell, originally released exclusively to clients in the motion picture and advertising industry for the purpose of licensing in March 2010. It was uniquely distributed on a flash drive, rather than a physical disc. It includes 32 principal tracks, split into two themed volumes. Additionally, it contains a large collection of alternative versions; therefore, in total, Power of Darkness consists of 77 tracks. They are composed by Thomas J. Bergersen and Nick Phoenix. The album was recorded in Prague, Czech Republic, in Los Angeles, and in Utah, United States. The cover artwork and the sleeve are designed by Steven R. Gilmore.
Assassin's Creed Unity is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in November 2014 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in December 2020 for Stadia. It is the eighth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, and the successor to 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. It also has ties to Assassin's Creed Rogue, which was released for the previous generation consoles on the same day as Unity.
Assassin's Creed is a 2016 historical science fiction action film based on the video game franchise published by Ubisoft. The film is directed by Justin Kurzel, written by Michael Lesslie, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, and stars Michael Fassbender, as well as Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Charlotte Rampling and Michael K. Williams. The film is set in the same universe as the video games but features an original story that expands the series' mythology. The plot revolves around Callum "Cal" Lynch (Fassbender), who is abducted by the Abstergo Foundation because of his heritage. Cal's ancestor, Aguilar de Nerha, was a member of the Assassin Brotherhood—a fictional organization inspired by the real-life Order of Assassins—active during the Spanish Inquisition in the late 15th-century, who swore to protect the Apple of Eden, an artifact believed to contain the key to humanity's free will. Cal must accept his Assassin heritage and stop Abstergo, the Templar Order of the modern-day, from finding the Apple and using it to enslave humanity.