March 31, 2011, Updated September 14, 2012

Israel’s AnyClip has cut a dream deal with Universal Studios to bring favorite clips from the movie giant’s enormous library to the Internet.

AnyClip movie

Israel’s AnyClip can help you mind memorable moments in film.

The sexy spots in Last Tango in Paris; the scary moment when the shark in Jaws is about to chomp into the leg of victim number three; or the “Oh yeah” in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — there are so many classic moments from the movies we’d like to find, see again and share, and now the Israeli company AnyClip will help us do it.

Founded by a high-tech entrepreneur from Israel, AnyClip has developed a technology that can tag and trace elements in digital film, and with human editing can hand over bite-sized clips that can be replayed and relived over and over and over again.

Recapturing memories

AnyClip can help you find that memorable moment in the last film you and your first date saw together, or help you find exactly what the starlet wore in the final scene, so you can buy the same outfit.

The company was founded in 2008 and has already cut a dream deal with Universal Studios to splice and clip moments from Universal’s library. According to the deal, AnyClip will cut up a large number of Universal movies into searchable clips, and can sign on distribution partners such as IMDB, Fandango and Hulu for the clips, which are expected to be embeddable on blogs and social media sites like Facebook.

Universal’s Sam Nouri says that the deal is about bringing a new audience to the content. “AnyClip’s unique ability to tag, provide custom keywords and allow searches within a full feature film is an extremely valuable asset. An authorized and licensed searchable database of movie moments has never existed before. The AnyClip platform creates a fundamental shift in the way we can promote, enhance and revitalize our catalog of content.”

Monetizing every moment of entertainment

AnyClip allows for searching and browsing movies by association through queries of characters, actors, scenes, behavior and objects. The company is now negotiating with several film studios, which like the idea of every clip being linked to online sources for buying the entire movie.

AnyClip office in Jerusalem

Privately-held AnyClip, based in Jerusalem, is a Jerusalem Venture Partners company.

Driven by an ad revenue model, AnyClip is a privately held company with a 30-person team headquartered in the Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) media quarter; JVP is the company’s primary investor. On its board are industry luminaries such as Mickey Schulhof, former president and CEO of Sony America and Sony Media and Entertainment; and Art Levitt, former president of Disney Regional Entertainment and CEO of Hard Rock Café International.

AnyClip founder and CEO Oren Nauman, a rumored ET fan, tells ISRAEL21c that he has no specific favored clip. “I have a few favorites and it depends on the mood and the context,” he says.

Nauman comes from the online media world, having previously served as the deputy CEO and board member for the Israeli startup Libox, and before that as CEO of Mobival from Python Media group, a leading online media distribution group.

Now steering AnyClip light-speed into the future, Nauman says, “AnyClip wants to be the premier service for movie and television studios to enhance, promote and revitalize their libraries of content online. AnyClip gives studios the opportunity to monetize every moment of entertainment.”

He also wants to provide a platform for independent filmmakers to expose their films and portfolios to both consumers and other studios. “We are building a network of distribution partners that will value the enormous business and interaction possibilities,” says Nauman. “With AnyClip’s open API, we want developers to use licensed video content to help change the way consumers interact with film and television.”

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