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'Casablanca' at your fingertips: AnyClip lands deal with Warner Bros.

AnyClip has signed an agreement to make thousands of movies--including classics like "Casablanca"--searchable, creating an SEO-friendly video player.

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Regina Sinsky
Regina Hope Sinsky writes about startups. She studied journalism at the College of Charleston and spent several years in television writing and production. After moving to the Bay Area she decided all the best stories came from startups, so she jumped into tech writing. Regina specializes in interviews with interesting people doing nonobvious things with technology.
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Regina Sinsky
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AnyClip's home page features "trending clips" and "clips being watched now." AnyClip.com

Jerusalem-based AnyClip has just signed a deal with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution to make thousands of films searchable online.

You know that scene in "Casablanca" when Rick says, "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine"? AnyClip just made "Casablanca" searchable, so you can get to that line of the movie and perfect your new pickup line.

AnyClip has signed a content licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution to create a library of clips from movies like "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Batman Begins," "The Wizard of Oz," and "Dirty Harry." Each film is tagged with more than 5,000 individual elements and added to AnyClip's online library. That library now has more than 12,000 films and 50,000 live clips from production companies including Universal Pictures, Vivendi Entertainment, First Look, and Virgil Films.

AnyClip helps movie studios monetize their content libraries by creating promotional channels for movies. By using AnyClip affiliates, third-party brands and publishers can also legally get access to the content, as well as consumers on the AnyClip Web site.

The major motion picture industry has been a tough one for startups to crack. Competitors include ClipBlast, VideoSurf, and blinx. AnyClip has been the most successful at securing the partnerships that will make its database the most extensive.

AnyClip was founded in 2008 by Aaron Cohen, Michael P. Schulhof, and Erel N. Margalit. The current CEO is Oren Nauman (since 2010). AnyClip is funded by Jerusalem Venture Partners. The company hasn't announced its total funding to date, but it did raise a $3 million round in 2009. Board members include Mickey Schulhof, former president and CEO of Sony America and Sony Media and Entertainment; Erel Margalit, founder and managing partner of JVP who has led 15 Nasdaq IPOs; and Art Levitt, formerly CEO of Fandango, president of Disney Regional Entertainment, and CEO of Hard Rock Cafe International.