James Milward is the founder of the award-winning digital agency, Secret Location, and a regular speaker on digital entertainment, transmedia and interactive documentary. An entrepreneur as well as a producer, he has developed and built several original concepts into successful IP and venture-funded businesses, including the mobile music discovery application, Herd.fm, and FanViewr, a Facebook app that extends and deepens the TV experience for fans.
As executive producer at Secret Location, James has built numerous award-winning, large-scale digital entertainment and brand projects. In just four short years, he has taken Secret Location from a small boutique to a bustling agency and has secured a place as one of the top entertainment and transmedia production houses in Canada. Under his watch, Secret Location has won over 50 awards, including multiple AToMIC, Creativity, Clio and Marketing Awards. The agency has also been nominated for an International Emmy, shortlisted three times for a Webby Award as well as a Cannes Lion Award (2011).
James is a regular speaker at international conferences around the world including: SXSW Interactive, FITC, nextMEDIA, the Banff World Television Festival, Realscreen, Kidscreen, FNC Montreal and meshmarketing. He also serves on the digital advisory board of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, Strategy Magazine’s AToMIC Summit, The Playback Summit and nextMEDIA.
He has a degree in Economics from Bishop's University and a postgraduate degree in Interactive Art and Entertainment from the New Media Lab at the Canadian Film Centre. James worked extensively in TV commercial production and documentary film, prior to defecting to the dark arts of digital.
Connect with James:
Website -- http://thesecretlocation.com
About Secret Location
Secret Location is an Emmy Nominated interactive agency using a new model to launch exceptional projects and products. We don’t just build creative technology. We tell stories, digitally. To create successful interactive experiences, we believe our company needs to strike a balance between three industries: working to build and extend our clients’ BRANDS, creating ENTERTAINING experiences and developing our own ORIGINAL TECHNOLOGY to build on the skill set we provide to clients. Our goal is to always find unique concepts where these different verticals intersect, creating solutions that connect with audiences and generate awesome results.
Our Services include:
Strategic Insight
Creative Development
Branding
Online & Mobile Website Production
Interactive Narrative (Cinematic) Experiences
Mobile and Tablet Application Development (iPhone, iPad & Android)
Games Design and Development
Social Media Application Development & API Integration
Original Video Content Production (including Stereoscopic 3D shooting)
Animation (3D / 2D) & Post Production
Distribution & Audiences Building, (Pre & Post Launch)
Despite the tools, our philosophy is to lead with the idea, find and extend the story and then choose the right platform, technique or technology, based on the strategic problem we’re trying to solve.
Ultimately, we consider the medium and its interactivity as fundamental to the story, and the story fundamental to success.
Just three years old, Secret Location currently employs 16 full time people and 10 to 20 specialists on contract at any given time.