(continued from p1)... Just around the Andie MacDowell period which is really when I came into the scene, I remember when Andie MacDowell was first recognized as a potential movie actress after she had done a Calvin Klein TV commercial. She had to work a long time to reorient people in the movie industry to accept that she wasn't just a model trying to be an actress. A lot of that had to do with managers and agents shying away a model/actress combination. Today however, you don't have this stigma. I think the movie industry is a lot more educated and the models aspiring to be actresses are a lot more educated. What makes it interesting is that in terms of management, the talent industry has learned it's not smart to do just cameo appearances. If it's a model who wants to be a legitimate actress, you have to take a very legitimate approach with positioning her in a movie. Before someone would have said "do this movie because it's going to be really fun for you", now it's "The role is a very small role, as a model. Don't do it because it's going to create a very bad stigma for you in the industry. If you're going to do something, do something that introduces you as an actress." If you look at Blow, that was a cameo appearance by James, but it was a significant cameo appearance, as the older daughter. You have a relationship with this character through-out the movie for a very long time and then you see her .

Tearsheet: Alexis Bledel of the "Gilmore Girls" in Seventeen Magazine

MDC: And she wasn't playing off her model celebrity status
MF: Exactly. I think that's been strategically one of the strongest assets we have in that we position ourselves with a very knowledgeable team of people from within the entertainment industry who know how to make those choices. We're also taking it a lot more seriously in that we're constantly reading scripts, we've forged relationships with the William Morris', the Gersh's and the ICM's..the agencies that really control Hollywood and television.
So rather than working against us, we are --and I think the industry's following suit-- we are creating an opportunity for the synergy to develop between a management company and a Hollywood agent to work together on developing a talent, not based on their looks but on the actual integrity of their talent. Not that looks don't help but I even notice in the way I scout, and I always had a tendency to scout this way, I look for character and substance and not just a pretty girl to be a mannequin. Historically when I look back on all the girls I found and developed, whether it's Jaime Rishar or Amy Wesson or Beri Smither or James King, I think about all these chic girls having this incredible intuitive ability to develop a character. Developing that character in front of a camera that Steven Klein is shooting for Vogue is really not that different than doing it for Michael Bay for Pearl Harbor. But to go back to my scouting I now really recognize that there is an opportunity for the girl who is looking at the profession of modeling as a way of getting into the movie industry. That arena or venue is a very good scouting ground for young women and men who are going to be actors. On my last scouting trip, I called back a lot of people who normally I wouldn't have called back and the other agents in the room were really like...surprised. There were wondering "Why is Michael calling back all these girls who are 5' 5"" and 5' 7" And talking to guys when his agency doesn't represent guys?" But I was looking outside the box. I was thinking, I really could discover someone and rather than bringing them back to develop them as a model, I really could bring them back and develop them as an actor or actress.

Tearsheet: James King for Coach

MDC: Would the strategy still be to work in tandem with those Hollywood agencies?
MF: Oh yes. Management companies provide a service to talent that is very very much needed because there is a knowledge base because we come from a point of view of being very knowledgeable about the industry. There is a connection base. We're very connected with a lot of people in the movie industry. And there is a protection base because you protect your client by not selling them out. It's not about a short term, "Let's do this movie and see how well she does in it and if she does well she might have other options". It's about selecting the right projects and guiding the agents and working with the agents about developing that career. Managers historically have been around for a very very long time. It's really not a new profession that we've invented. The only thing we did at Flutie Entertainment really is sort of take the assets of Company Management and look within our organization to see who had the potential and go on to develop them.

MDC: What inspired that transition from a fashion focus to full entertainment management?
MF: Demand. I saw that there was a need to be able to manage talent on that higher platform. I remember the time that Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer both left their modeling agencies and went to theatrical agencies and then Christy Turlington followed suit by going to UTA. These models who were being developed by their modeling agencies basically saw that they now needed to move on to theatrical agencies and they were right because their agencies weren't prepared to manage their careers to that next level. So Robert and I, with Paul Brown sat down and said if we are going to evolve into the twenty first century then we have to develop the ability, within our company, to provide our talent with these services. This way they don't have to leave us for a theatrical agency. You have a relationship with these immensely talented individuals that starts when they are very young. You know them better than anybody else. My role in James King's life today is not any different than what it was. I'm still managing the day to day events of her life. Whether it's making sure that she has the right publicity or making sure all the personal aspects are taken care of. That's why its called personal management. It's not just about making movies and cosmetic contracts. When Alexis Bledel was awarded the Gilmore Girls as a TV series, she had to go to LA. A part of going to LA is finding a house, getting a car. We did that with her. And those are the opportunities that we provide.

What is aesthetic to me as a model agent is completely different than what is aesthetically pleasing to me as a theatrical manager. Obviously Hollywood is a little bit more commercial. But one of the things that we have taken from Company Management and its edginess is the ability to develop clients who are not doing "cheese". We are very selective about the type of movies, production companies and directors we become involved with. If you saw the Dead Eyed Boys or Blow, those were pretty edgy projects. I want to be the artistic and creative management force in someone's life. I don't want to be the agent who drives around in a white limousine smoking a cigar saying "I'm going to make you a million dollars, babe" I want to be the kind of manager who sits down and talks about William Saroyan or Tennessee Williams. My role is to help a creative individual fine tune and develop that part of their life. There is a part of my vision in terms of creating a management company that is about more than just being a Hollywood manager.

Tearsheet: Laura Prepon of "That 70's Show" in Maxim Magazine

MDC: It's wonderful the way though, synergy is actually starting to work where a Jennifer Lopez can transition from Hollywood to fashion to music and find acceptance. It's almost as if all media is on the same plateau for talent these days.
MF: Oh certainly. Laura Prepon who was one of the first clients who we broke through via "That 70's Show". And the 70's show was sort of like this little underground TV show and a lot of people really didn't know what was going to happen with that show. But now it's going to be syndicated all over the world. That led to her film career and now she's looked at as a serious actress. There was a time where it was thought that if you did a TV show, you would never be seriously considered as an actress. Now those barriers don't really exist anymore.

MDC: I guess we're dealing with a new consumer, who doesn't differentiate between the many kinds of screens on which entertainment is being presented these days.
MF: It's a new consumer who grew up in a multiple media world. 60 years ago people only associated entertainment with the movies. Then came television, then the by-product of television: cable. Then videos and DVD's. Then music videos. This generation then starts to accept all media as entertainment. The improvement of the quality of television through things like HBO also contributed to that change. Sex In The City is a television show but Sex In The City could have been a film. The character development improved. The topics improved. Television is a lot more informative, real..relevant. My five year old nephew doesn't differentiate between what he sees on his TV screen at home or a cinema screen.

MDC: Too true. From modeling mogul to Hollywood power player..what's next on the horizon for Mr Flutie?
MF: My next step would be going into production, actually helping my clients produce their dream projects, the things that they've always wanted to do. That's the challenge. It's to develop to the point where you're much more involved than just getting them to a booking. Now you're involved in the whole creation of what might be immortalized one day into references as its own.

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