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Secret Location

Immersive & Virtual Production
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Founded
2008
Employees
11-50
Offices
2

About Secret Location

Secret Location is an independent Canadian immersive entertainment studio founded in Toronto in 2008. Its work combines cinematic storytelling, interactive software and physical environments, spanning spatial media, projection mapping, interactive installations and virtual and augmented reality. Originally established as a digital media and interactive agency, the studio now focuses on shared experiences that audiences explore together.

The studio develops projects from creative conception through technical production and live operation. Its capabilities encompass narrative development, world and game design, sensor tracking, custom hardware integration, mobile companion software and multi-display show control. Production work also includes projection and acoustical planning, AV integration, installation, rehearsals and ongoing venue maintenance. Alongside commissioned experiences, it offers turnkey exhibition kits and modular immersive environments.

From virtual worlds to shared spaces

Secret Location's earlier work includes the serialized VR mystery Halcyon, the puzzle game Transpose, the cinematic adaptation The Great C and the multiplayer title Nerf Ultimate Championship. This background in interactive narratives informs its subsequent work in location-based entertainment, where audience movement and participation become part of the experience.

Recent productions include Waking Wonderland, Lite-Brite: Worlds of Wonder and Mythos. These projects use interactive environments to bring story worlds into physical venues. The studio has presented and distributed immersive work across North America and Australia, serving entertainment attractions, cultural institutions, touring exhibitions and brand activations.

Ownership and renewed direction

Entertainment One first invested in Secret Location in 2014 and acquired the studio outright in 2016. Hasbro's acquisition of eOne in 2019 brought the business into its entertainment portfolio. After Hasbro closed the former division in 2022, a management buyout recovered the studio's name and creative assets, enabling its relaunch as an independent Canadian company.

The renewed business shifted its emphasis toward collective experiences in shared physical spaces. Its collaboration with Illuminarium Experiences helped establish a permanent immersive venue in Toronto in 2023, providing an exhibition setting for large-scale interactive productions.

More about Secret Location

Founders and leadership

  • Ryan Andal, James Milward and Pietro Gagliano founded the original business.
  • The report identifies Andal as President, Co-Founder and Director, and Kathryn Rawson as VP Production & Operations and Director. Milward and Gagliano are identified as historical founders, without a current executive role established.

Production methods and technology

  • LiDAR tracking enables audiences' movements and gestures to influence projected environments. The studio combines this with Unreal Engine-based real-time projection and spatial audio.
  • Its rapid playable prototyping approach is described as “Proof of Play.”
  • During its earlier VR-focused period, the studio developed Vusr, a proprietary cloud content-management and distribution platform for VR/AR publishers.

Industry recognition

  • Secret Location won an International Emmy Award in 2012 for Endgame Interactive.
  • In 2015, the studio won the first Primetime Emmy Award granted to a virtual reality production, for the Fox Sleepy Hollow VR Experience.
  • The Great C received the Positron Visionary Award at the 2020 Cannes XR Film Festival.

Notable credits

10 credits
  • Mythos
  • Lite-Brite: Worlds of Wonder
  • Waking Wonderland
  • Sleepy Hollow: VR Experience
  • The Great C
  • Transpose
  • Nerf Ultimate Championship
  • Halcyon
  • Vusr / Vusr Publisher
  • Endgame Interactive

Offices

Where Secret Location is based

2 locations

  • Toronto office

    Headquarters
    28 Distillery Lane, Toronto, ON M5A 3C4, CanadaToronto, Ontario, Canada
    About this office

    Global headquarters, creative workshop and production base in the historic Fermenting Cellar. The separately listed registered corporate address is 505 Huron Street, Toronto, ON M5R 2R6, Canada.

    hello@secretlocation.com
    View map

  • Los Angeles office

    Los Angeles, California, United States

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