What is it like to be inside a film? This is the driving question behind the creative, cutting-edge work at Secret Location, an immersive design studio that operates at the intersection of entertainment and technology.
You might want to see it to fully grasp the kind of all-encompassing experience that Secret Location creates, like this interactive exhibition created with projection sensors at the Illuminarium Space exhibit:
Secret Location's team continues to push creative boundaries by combining artistic mediums to fully immerse and engage with visitors in new and innovative ways. Its current project brings to life the L. Frank Baum book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” as an animated, immersive musical.
"You see this happen a lot in theater, where they take advantage of the exterior, the aisles, and you feel like you're enveloped by a musical number," says Ryan Andal, CEO of Secret Location. "That idea is what we're trying to replicate in this medium of being surrounded by projection on the floor, on the walls. How do we give that big musical crescendo that feels like you are inside that big musical number?"
Andal says he thinks they've succeeded in creating that inside-the-musical feeling. Yet challenging themselves to even more development and growth in their outside-the-box craft is the guiding light for Secret Location.
"We're nowhere near perfecting that medium at all. And it's still very interesting to me to try and chase that idea," Andal says.
Andal has been chasing the idea of bringing an immersive film experience to life for 15 years now. He and two friends started Secret Location—whose not-so-secret home base is in Toronto, Canada—after working on a creative project together, and the business has evolved to fulfill its mission throughout its lifespan.
"It's been a lot of different things. We've created apps, games, and websites. We work with all the different broadcasters here in Canada and some in the U.S. as well," Andal says. "We won hundreds of awards for our work, including two Emmys®, a Peabody, and a bunch of Canadian Screen Awards."
As the staff and business grew, so did Andal's role as a leader. Like many business owners who start by doing what they love, he had to learn a new set of skills to lead.
"For a long time, I put myself in the box of a programmer. That's what I'm good at. But that was only because that's all I ever did. Getting comfortable talking to a large group of people, giving an award speech, or rallying everyone around an idea—those are all very learnable skills," says Andal, encouraging other entrepreneurs to learn to overcome their fears by growing their leadership skills.
Then came a pivotal transition point for any business owner: Secret Location had grown successful enough to be acquired. The trio of owners sold the company to Entertainment One, the multimedia business behind beloved shows like Peppa Pig. They, in turn, were acquired by Hasbro, and Andal's co-founders peeled away from the operation.
"I stayed on and really worked the corporate job; I was interested to see what that would look like, what I could learn," Andal says. "And then a couple of years later, there was a change of CEO at Hasbro, and I ended up buying my company back."
With new experience under his belt, Andal restarted Secret Location as its president and CEO.
After starting a small business, growing it to 100 employees, selling the business, and being acquired by a multinational corporation, Andal has circled back to the beginning in many ways: He's running a small business.
"We restarted the company," Andal says. "I brought a bunch of the employees over, a bunch of the projects over, and we opened up an immersive exhibition space here in Toronto."
The space, called Illuminarium, is a venue for bespoke private events, creative events like fashion shows and immersive meditation nights, and Secret Location's latest interactive exhibits – with themes spanning from pop culture favorite stories, to beloved toys that may have had a place in your childhood toybox. It's one of many choices that Andal drives as the head of his own company again.
"[Being a business owner is] equal parts stressful and fulfilling," Andal says. "When you're at a big company, I was running four different divisions—but you have to seek a lot of permission, and it’s not as fulfilling. But with your own business, you're not seeking anyone's permission. If you fail, that's really on you."
The autonomy over Secret Location's path was a big reason why Andal was excited to buy back his company. He found other lessons in corporate leadership that he's translating into his own leadership style now that he's CEO.
"I found working in corporate, there's a lot of shielding people from information they don't like. So now I feel like we're very transparent about everything, and I think it helps people grow," says Andal, underscoring the value of transparency among himself and his staff. For example, Andal shares when he's infused money into the business, what kinds of risks they're taking, and the reasoning behind business decisions.
Secret Location also fosters a culture of collaboration that celebrates the unique talents of each individual staff member. When Andal restarted the company, seven people left secure corporate jobs to effectively re-enter startup mode. To say it's critical for everyone to be willing and able to wear many hats might be an understatement.
"In a 17-person company that's growing, there are a hundred things that everyone needs to do, and if someone can take on one of those things or has a surprising knack for something in particular, it's pretty amazing," says Andal, who often looks for other helpful hidden talents during the interview process.
Other times, however, their talents are serendipitous.
Like the Secret Location technician, whose job is keeping the technology repaired and shows running smoothly, who is also in a band.
"[The technician is] really into composing music, and he actually composed the music for our Lite-Brite show," Andal says. "We had hired somebody else to do the music, didn't like it, and he asked to take a run at it, and it was incredible."
Andal has come a long way, as a leader and a creative, since the earliest days of Secret Location. Other things haven't changed, and they've been worth repeating—like using QuickBooks for business management.
"We originally used it when we were an independent business, and then when I bought the business back, we started using QuickBooks Online," says Andal, who originally set up the business's accounts. "We're a small business, so it took care of us not having to start from scratch with a lot of things."
Having financial software that's cloud-based was a must-have for Secret Location, which was working remotely before moving into the space at Illuminarium.
"We basically started with it as soon as we restarted the business," Andal says. "There were two options when I was making that decision. The part-time CFO that we had hired was more familiar with using QuickBooks Online. We ended up using it because it was the easiest."
Among Secret Location's new hires in its first two years of rebirth is a financial director, who lives and breathes QuickBooks. Even though Andal has moved out of the day-to-day financials, he's always attuned to the company's cash flow and funding, which he can keep tabs on with QuickBooks' custom financial reports.
Success for Secret Location means "the ability to create without worrying about keeping the lights on," Andal says. "Success over the next few years will be wholly defined on, 'Do we have the ability to scale without worrying too much about cash flow?'"
Cash flow is always a huge concern as an independent business, Andal emphasizes. And QuickBooks is his window into current cash flow and opportunity. Autonomy and financial freedom to unleash creative work is at the heart of Secret Location's goals.
"Do we have the ability to create something—a project, a show, whatever it is—and just finance it ourselves, as opposed to going to outside sources for financing? Can we succeed and fail on our own merits without necessarily having to ask permission or dollars from somebody else? Those will be the key markers for success," Andal says.
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