Dave Long

"LaFlute? No, La . . . La . . . LaFleur? . . . No, that's not it . . . LePew? Ha! Oh man, this is killing me."

Dave Long, creator and CEO of the DVD movie trivia game "Scene It?" is fighting a brain cramp. The name of Tim Robbins' character in the 1988 comedy "Bull Durham" is wafting at the edge of his tongue and memory.

His face scrunches and his eyes close as if that will unlock what is right . . . there. "LeFluffy?"

"I know this," he says, giving up. He's not on a timer, like the players of his popular game always are, but he does have a growing company of more than 100 employees to run. The answer is "Nuke" LaLoosh, the pitcher with the million-dollar arm and 10-cent head. And, of course, he says he knew that.

Moments of angst like this, he knows, are what have made a hit of his idea for a trivia game based on movie clips. People love movies. Why else would the Academy Awards, on TV tonight, be such a draw?

Long was working for a San Diego commercial-real-estate firm in 1992 when, to liven up his Halloween party, he spliced clips from 20 scary movies onto a video cassette and held a guessing game around it. It was the life of the party, so much so that he developed a board game along the same lines. The idea died because VHS, with its rewinding, stopping and starting, was too clunky.

He and his wife moved to Seattle. He bought his first DVD player in 2000 and quickly saw his idea would now work. He found a partner in Craig Kinzer, investors and studios willing to sell rights to certain clips.

His company, Screenlife, also had to negotiate with the stars, all of whom wanted to know why they should trust some guys from Seattle.

"The first question every one of them asked was, 'Who else is in the game?' " Long recalls.

The company began with D-list actors. Kevin Costner (of "Bull Durham") was the first A-lister.

Melanie Griffith said no to a clip from "Working Girl" in which she passes out and must be carried to her room over Harrison Ford's shoulder. Her behind was not her best side, she said. Instead, she suggested the clip in which she tells Ford, "I have a head for business and a bod for sin."

Long, 43, loves movies, and is rooting for "Walk The Line" tonight, but concedes there is a drawback to his game.

"Instead of getting lost in a great scene, I'll say to myself, hey, that's a good place to start a clip."