This was the year Secret Level stepped fully into the spotlight. Between conference stages, industry panels, podcasts, and press, the conversation around AI-native storytelling stopped being theoretical and started becoming practical. At the same time, we launched more work than ever across brands, music, shorts, and long-form development. The range was wide, the pace was intense, and the learning curve was steep. What we built this year laid the foundation for what comes next. And if this year was about momentum, 2026 is about impact..
Global Stages, Conversations, and Thought Leadership
This year took us everywhere. From CES and Digital Hollywood to Sundance, SXSW, TED, Artist and the Machine, AICP, AI on the Lot, Upscale, World Summit AI, Infinity Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, and more, the conversations around AI and storytelling were constant and evolving. Speaking at these events wasn’t about predicting the future, but about sharing real, practical experience from actually making work. One of the most surreal moments was creating a short film live on the TED stage, turning audience prompts into a finished piece in real time and showing what AI-native storytelling can look like when guided by craft and intention.
Cinematic AI Work That Cut Through The Noise
We released projects that stood out not because they looked “AI-generated,” but because they felt directed. Shorts like The Heist, The Heist 2 and Dreamland proved that AI could be used to create controlled pacing, tone, and narrative clarity. One of the most meaningful moments of the year was screening Anxiety for Tomorrow at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles as part of Infinity Festival programming. Music videos like Mandingo for Wu-Tang Clan pushed stylized worldbuilding into culture, while experimental pieces like Satanizer explored immersive storytelling in entirely new ways. The throughline was always story first, technology second.
Major Brand Campaigns At Scale
This year saw Secret Level working across some of the most ambitious brand projects of our career. From Mercedes-Benz and eToro to Kalshi and Coca-Cola, we delivered cinematic work that blended AI-native and hybrid production. The Whole Darn Rock for Kalshi introduced a fully realized sci-fi story world. Coca-Cola’s Stitch Together for Tết pushed a handcrafted aesthetic that required extensive hybrid animation and illustration. These projects weren’t experiments. They were real campaigns, delivered at scale.
Recognition From The Industry
The work didn’t go unnoticed. We were named an Ad Age Production Company to Watch, Jason Zada was honored to be included on Ad Age’s Tech Power List, and The Ankler highlighted Secret Level as one of the AI companies “doing it the right way.” These moments felt validating not because of the accolades themselves, but because they recognized an approach grounded in taste, restraint, and real production discipline.
Building the Infrastructure for What’s Next
As the year progressed, it became clear that success was exposing new pressure points. We were making too much work, too fast, at too high a level to rely on off-the-shelf tools alone. That realization led directly to the development of Liquid Engine and the foundation of Secret Level Academy. Both were born from necessity, not theory, designed to support feature-scale, series-level, and long-term production.
Year-End Cinematic Fun
Right at the end of the year, we launched A Very AI Yule Log 2 in partnership with Kling, and the response was incredible. It became a living, participatory holiday experience, inviting the internet to shape what happened inside a single living room where anything could occur. It was playful, weird, joyful, and a perfect example of how AI can create communal, evolving experiences at scale. We also closed the year by releasing Imperfectly Perfect, a short film that embodied everything we’ve been exploring: speed, emotion, music, and visual storytelling coming together through an AI-native workflow. It was a reminder that AI doesn’t eliminate humanity from the process. When used intentionally, it can amplify it.
Gratitude Above All
More than anything, this year was about people. The clients who trusted us. The artists who took risks. The collaborators who challenged assumptions. The team that grew, adapted, and pushed through exhaustion with care and humor. None of this happens alone. We’re closing out the year proud, grateful, and more convinced than ever that we’re building something meaningful. The work will keep evolving. The tools will keep changing. But the focus remains the same: tell great stories, do it with intention, and build the future responsibly.
