Rockwell Scharer III
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DropKey®, Inc. | *Thomas A. Edison Award Recipient-Best Digital Innovation in Media* | Ex-Disney, NBC, Viacom, Paramount Pictures, Live Nation | Author | Top 40 Recording Artist |
About
Rockwell Scharer is an innovative digital media entrepreneur and pioneer in camera and lighting technology. He’s the inventor of DropKey, a live, real-time Chroma key video background replacement platform for all content creators using smart devices. Lighting is a core challenge for content creators, so Scharer invented the DropKey® Pop-up Studio® line of personal media studios that solve the lighting problem with three-dimensional lighting structures. Recruiting an Academy and Emmy award winning team, Scharer developed an entire software-as-a-service ecosystem including MediaBook.tv, an eCommerce library of curated video clips used as green screen backgrounds. The searchable, location-based video clips empower all content creators to shoot “on location” at home or office, no experience or post-production required using smart devices. The DropKey line of Pop-up Studios pair via Wi-Fi with the AI-enabled mobile camera application where users can perform live, real-time “location shooting at home or office”. DropKey is revolutionizing the $100Bn creator economy according to Forbes. Scharer received the Thomas A. Edison Award for Best Digital Innovation in Media.
Scharer is a top-40 recording artist and 4x-exited serial entrepreneur. He recruited an Academy and Emmy Award-winning team to develop the DropKey content creator platform, effectively Consumerizing broadcast quality real-time background replacement on smart devices without any post-production or experience required.
Besides his professional recording career, Scharer served as Founder and President of Diversified Telcom, Inc., a software engineering firm with solid Fortune 500 M&A experience. As a Consultant and IT Architect, Scharer was on the team that built the Space Shuttle for Rockwell International, implemented the cost-tracking system for motion pictures for Paramount Pictures Creative Affairs, and successfully merged NYU Medical Center with Mt. Sinai Hospital onto the Y2k platform from 1995-2001, resulting in the largest hospital IT system in the world.
As a recording artist Scharer released four pop music albums as a producer, songwriter, singer and engineer with a top-forty single in 1996. An award-winning screenwriter and novelist, the technology futurist invented the DropKey Pop-up Studios technology with MediaBook, a turnkey ecosystem for content creators. A pioneer in new media, Scharer is a graduate of the University of Oregon’s Charles Lundquist School of Business with a B.S. in Finance with post-graduate work at UCLA with a Masters Mentorship in Creative Writing. Scharer published two books, Thornwillow: The Story of Young Santa and My Letter to Emily. All books and music can be purchased on this site in addition to Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, Tidal, Pandora, Deezer, and Napster.
Scharer’s strong creative endeavors and business acumen led to his early examination of the billion-dollar Mobile Content Capture (MCC) market where he solved a difficult physics problem in light to invent tools to deliver broadcast quality “location shooting at home” for content creators. He founded DropKey®, inc. to monetize his inventions to provide better creator tools for journalists, educators, students, corporations and media producers all over the world. DropKey is the culmination of Scharer’s goal to make the world smarter and better, using technology to serve the Humanities.
recent news
April 18, 2023 (Las Vegas, NV) – DropKey® Founder and CEO Rockwell Scharer with Venture Capitalist and Advisor Dennis Taibl, and Chief Product Officer Sergio Verdu attend NAB 2023. DropKey has recently received global distribution for its SaaS and Infinity Base and Infinity Pro line of Pop-up Studios.
Dropkey® Launches the Pop-up™ Studio in a Bag® in Public Beta in Crowdsourcing Campaign
DropKey plans to launch it’s line of Pop-up Studios called Infinity Base, Infinity Pro and the Dragon, a robotic single-user Pop-up Studio™ that includes the foldable Raptor™ “Light Stick” that fits in small spaces and looks great as furniture in a home/office.
Resume
Experience
Scharer is founder and Chief Executive Officer of DropKey, responsible for the research and development of the DropKey® inflatable Pop-up Studio™ line of products, leading a twenty person team of Academy, Emmy and Edison award-winning experts who are building tools for the Metaverse, including Web 3.0 and the future of television content production. DropKey is pioneering the Consumerization of Chroma key background replacement on smart devices which enables the TikTok generation to perform location shooting at home or on the road — no experience required with SaaS features to assist amateurs and professionals.
Scharer is the Inventor of the DropKey® App and the recently announced single-user DropKey Pop-up DeskBot™ and CamBot™ light stick, a replacement for your tripod with lights and a universal smart device holder. The CamBot will be sold alone and is being developed into a telepresence lighting robot that will automatically block the subject in the shot.
Walt Disney Studios – (2019 – 2020)
Live Nation Entertainment – 2017 – 2019
President, Senior Portfolio Manager
Diversified Telcom Consulting Services, Inc. 2000 – 2014
Assisted in designing the cost-tracking systems for the Space Shuttle (Rockwell Int’l), merged Mt. Sinai and NYU Medical Center onto the Y2K platform, and 25 other Fortune 100 Technical Consulting Assignments. Also specialized as a Technical Architecture Liason between the CEO and the respective CFOs and CTOs. Consultant and IT Project manager for twenty-five full life-cycle implementations and integrations of media and financial software for large and small companies. Scharer was the Chief Architect of the Capital Projects system for the Space Shuttle (Rockwell International) and the
Chief Architect of the Capital Projects system at Paramount Pictures
Education
College of Business Bachelor of Science in Finance
Clients
