The Founding Story

For my first blog I want to give readers a better idea of who I am, where I came from, and how it led to the founding of Sceneclips. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota (go Vikings!), and attended a private high school. After graduation, I went off to Iowa State University to study business. While there I learned many valuable life lessons, ie: how to build 1 gallon tri-split tripple-valve beer bong, how to continuously draw crowds north of 200 people to weekend parties, and how to squeeze by classes holding a B average while doing as little work as possible. Needless to say I didn’t feel the least bit challenged, and more importantly what a colossal waste of money.

I decided like many artists in Hollywierd once did, “hey I love movies, why not give acting a shot?”. So, after my sophomore year I packed up my bags and moved out to Burbank, CA. While there I took a one month intensive acting for film course at the New York Film Academy and fell in love. Over the next several months I got more and more into acting, it quickly became my passion. I almost immediately got an agent, booked two commercials, and co-stared in a soap opera. Life was looking fantastic! …until the shit hit the fan. In the winter of 2005 my father’s health took a drastic turn for the worse. He was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease schleroderma, and shortly after my move to California to pursue the dream, he died.

Following the funeral I went back west, although my head and heart were still with my family. The decision to move back to California was the hardest I have ever made in my life. I moved to North Hollywood to save on rent and started working as a waiter to support myself. I realized that I had become one of the thousands of actors in Los Angeles caught in the vicious circle of auditioning during the day and waiting tables at night. At this point in my life an intense feeling on loneliness and failure took hold.

Over the next few months I battled with the idea of moving back to Minnesota. I knew it was time for me to make another big decision, stay or go. I thought to myself, what the hell am I going to do if I move back. I knew I could go to work for my late fathers financial planning firm, but wow talk about failure… that would be completely giving up. So I made the decision to stay and stick it out for two more years.

Over the course of those two years I went to hundreds of auditions for everything from non-union commercials to big budget films and television shows. Each audition followed the same pattern: rush through LA traffic to get there one time, sign in… wait… wait some more, then go into a stale room, put on a smile and introduce yourself, and sit in a stiff plastic chair to read lines with the person across from you. The audition process is run like a factory, rotating through an assembly line of actors.

After so much rejection, like any human being I began to get discouraged. Sure, I would would book every now and then, but amount of “no’s” combined with the monotony of going into a restaurant day in and day out just to make rent made me sick. The one day while sitting in my North Hollywood apartment I just got so fed up and thought, there has got to be a better way!

I began writing random notes on sheets of paper. One night while laying in my bed after a closing shift at the restaurant, it just popped into my head: “SCENECLIPS”. I jumped out of bed as if the biggest earthquake in the world was heading right for my apartment, I raced to the computer and I went to check if the domain was available. I was dumbfounded, every single Sceneclips domain was available.

In the following months my interests shifted from acting to Sceneclips. I must have read close to 50 business books in during that period. My idols of Anthony Hopkins, Robin Williams, and Christian Bale shifted to Jim Cramer, Jack Welch, and Charles Schultz. I looked at the acting class I was taking in Santa Monica as more of an informal focus group. Each class I would try to learn something new, not about acting, but about my market.

Soon enough I had a polished business plan, and because of those books I knew exactly what to do with it. I referred to the appendixes of a book called High Tech Startup by John Neishem. There I found all of the attorneys who had assisted in the IPO’s of some of Americas greatest tech companies. Knowing that a powerful attorney provides a start-up with invaluable guidance, not to mention ties to the venture capital community, I went to all of their websites emailed my pitch and about shit my pants when a couple of them called back.

After I got an attorney on board it was time to get some seed money. So we drafted the investment docs, I pitched some friends and family, and got some seed funding. During this period I had simultaneously been interviewing web developers, and after reviewing numerous proposals, the choice was clear and I signed the development contract.

Currently we are in the programming stage of development. Sceneclips should have a beta launch in Fall 2008. I remain on the endless hunt for investment capital, more excited than ever about Sceneclips and the impact that I know it will have on the motion picture industry. I am 100% committed to our success!

If you made it this far, I am impressed . Thanks for taking the time to read. Oh, and if you have some millions to spare, throw a few my way and I will return the favor with much more. -John Dugan

Company Description

Sceneclips is an exclusive film industry and film investors network that connects the motion picture industry. We make it easier for filmmakers to find financing by connecting them with high net worth individuals, film distribution companies, and motion picture studios. Sceneclips creates the most comprehensive film industry network to solve the industry’s problems.

Exposure:

Many artists possess talent, but suffer from a lack of exposure because they have poor or no representation. Sceneclips solves this problem, exposing artists to their enablers: investors, distributors, casting directors, producers, and directors.

Networking:

Relationships are everything. Sceneclips connects artists with their peers, employers, and investors in an exclusive film industry network. We help develop and maintain professional relationships.

Financing:

The cost of financing a film or TV pilot is prohibitively high, and the perceived high risk factor makes it difficult to raise capital. Sceneclips increases investors’ return on investment potential by creating a vehicle to measure contents’ relevancy among the industry, thereby mitigating the loss risk and increasing its value proposition.

Independent Filmmakers:

Sceneclips gives indie filmmakers an alternative marketing solution and provides various film investing opportunities. Filmmakers can utilizing Sceneclips as a tool to test content and gauge market reaction prior to the film’s distribution.

Producers, Directors, and Casting Directors:

Sceneclips provides a comprehensive overview of the industry’s talent pool and facilitates the casting process with specialized tools and functionality.  Our features allow producers, directors, and casting directors to screen talent, receive profile update feeds, and maintain relationships with talent.

Major Motion Picture Studios:

Sceneclips supplies studios with volumes of creative and original content, providing various investment, development, distribution, and acquisition opportunities.

The Sceneclips Strategy

The business of show business is suffering. The industry is paralyzed by a lack of creative and original content. Filmmakers do not have the capital to finance and distribute their films. Artists suffer from a lack of exposure, and the casting system provides a narrow view of talent. These problems plague the motion picture industry resulting in the best stories never being told, leaving studios to produce remakes and sequels of sequels simply because they work. Filmmaking is the greatest form of storytelling that exists, so many brilliant minds and exceptional talents go unseen.

Sceneclips believes that for every aspiring artist looking for their break, there is an investor looking to capitalize on it.  Our ability to expose talent and deliver superior content expands the scope of artists available to employers and provides viable investment opportunities high net worth individuals, film distribution companies, and major motion picture studios.  Sceneclips’ proprietary industry marketplace allows independent film investors to capitalize on our content, changing the way films are bought, sold and financed.

The motion picture industry is in poor health.  Sceneclips anticipates a period of contraction.  Increasing bandwidth and broadband inception have resulted in the emergence of new content delivery platforms over the Internet.  This turmoil has caused studios to tighten their budgets and limit their investments while seeking alternative business models to capitalize on this change.

Sceneclips is in a unique position to take advantage of this problem. Our business model benefits as a result of capital seeking alternative avenues for TV and film investment.  The specialized service presents the opportunity for long-term growth in the motion picture industry.  Sceneclips will leverage the internet as a tool to find an cultivate our customers, growing to a far greater capacity outside of the internet.

John Dugan : Founder/CEO

Sceneclips was founded by John Dugan as a solution to the problems he experienced in the motion picture industry. In 2004, John moved to Los Angeles to study acting after two years of pursuing a business degree at Iowa State University. In Los Angeles, John studied at schools including The New York Film Academy, The Larry Moss Studio, and The Film Actor’s Workshop. John has worked on many films, commercials, and television programs, including ER, Greek, and CSI Miami. John has developed an intimate knowledge of Sceneclips’ market. He understands the problems and frustrations that artists face each and every day, and has created Sceneclips to provide the solution.

“Sceneclips fundamentally changes the motion picture industry.  We expose brilliant minds and enable creative content, connecting artists with investors in a proprietary industry marketplace that provides the highest ROI potential.” – John Dugan.

For a more personal and informal bio check out John’s first blog post.

Prospective Investors

Sceneclips is currently seeking start-up funding to expand its staff and fund further development. Investment to date has been raised with the assistance of Martin Nichols of DLA Piper.  Sceneclips needs to raise an additional $1.5 million within the first 6 months of the beta launch. Sceneclips is interested in developing partnerships with industry companies involved with production and distribution.  For more information, or to receive a business plan, please use the contact form and give us your name/company along with the relevant information pertaining to your inquiry.