Robert A. Flutie

I am the President of Flutie Entertainment, a Talent Brand Management Company. Flutie Enertainment was founded in 1996 in New York City, New York and our offices in Los Angeles opened in 2001. Over the course of the decade plus years that we have been in business, we have established and been involved in the production of feature movies (The Event, Directed by Thom Fitzgerald), and TV programs (Hollywood Hold ‘Em, for E! Television).

My background in business began in 1986 after I graduated Mercer University. I was living in New York and became employed as an analyst for the Dime Savings Bank of New York. It was an exciting and rewarding time for me as I learned the inner workings of the banking community. I was recruited by Citicorp in the early 90’s and began the core part of my banking career in the asset backed division of Citicorp.

One of the turning points of my professional career began in 1990 when my brother Michael and my mother Victoria began a high end, high fashion women’s modeling agency - COMPANY MANAGEMENT. I had developed a desire to pursue a more creative path and made the decision to enter into NYU’s Film School. I also began to contribute my time and energy into helping at the agency. At first I thought that I would manage and split my time between helping out the business and administrative side of the agency while pursuing my degree NYU. In a short period of time I became involved in many aspects of the agency, including advertising and marketing. I found this work to be highly rewarding and satisfying. In a short period of time, I began to pursue the artistic, yet creative, side of the agency.

Over the next several years we began to expand and grow the agency. The business was healthy and we began to forge relationships and partnerships across the world. Strength in the foreign markets lead us to a strong network of professional affiliations that presented new opportunities. The natural and most logical steps of progress was to create a presence in these new territories. Over a period of four years, we had offices in NYC, Paris and Los Angeles. The Los Angeles office gave way to a new era as Hollywood and Madison Avenue began to merge interests. Supermodels where being replaced by celebrities on the covers of major fashion magazines like VOGUE, BAZAAR, ELLE, and ALLURE and the Hollywood elite producers and studio’s used that exposure to promote their TV and Feature Film projects. By that point, however, fashion models and their tremendous recognition and popularity (Cindy Crawford, Naomi Cambell, Jaime King, Linda Evangelista, Rachel Stewart, etc), began to draw the interest of Hollywood and therein became the definitive crystallization of models crossing over to the small and big screen. It was also the birth of what is now FLUTIE ENTERTAINMENT.

Most notable among our fashion clients is Jaime King. Jaime was discovered in Omaha Nebraska by Michael Flutie who was invited to be a participant on a review board for The Nancy Bounds School (http://www.thecityofomaha.com/nancy-bounds-studios/index.html). Her work in a short film called ” Four Faces of God, ” produced by then Los Angeles Laker Rick Fox, created instant recognition to the hip, cool and edgy vibe that Jaime possessed. Add to this mix the front page New York Times Magazine portrayal, entitled ” JAMES IS A GIRL ” of Jaime’s personality and the life that she left in Omaha Nebraska at the age of 13 and you had instant success. In a very short time, Jaime was cast in the world blockbuster hit “Pearl Harbor” (produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Michael Bay), “Happy Campers” (produced by Denise Denovi and directed by Daniel Waters), “Bullet Proof Monk” (produced by Chuck Roven and directed by Paul Hunter) “Sin City” (produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein and directed by Robert Rodriquez), many more. Jaime’s greatest”Talent Branding” success was through a Revlon Cosmetics campaign ( http://www.revlon.com/ ). By being a key part of the Revlon campaign, Jaime’s brand awareness skyrocketed.

Although our introduction and foray into TV and FILM came by way of an introduction through the modeling world, the overwhelming support and positive response from the Hollywood community quickly gave way to FLUTIE ENTERTAINMENT becoming a premier first class management firm. Our  Management Team (Paul M. Brown, Amy Slomovits, Brady McKay and Ben Bitoni) work hand in hand with our clients, which includes the highly talented and gifted Laura Prepon (That 70’s Show and October Road), Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Sin City, I’m Reed Fish), Kaitlin Olsen (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Curb Your Enthusiasm), Sunny Mabrey (Snakes on a Plane, xXx: State of the Union), Jose Pablo Cantillo (Standoff, Crank, ER, Law & Order SVU, Disturbia), Aaron Himelstein ( The Informers, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Fast Food Nation, Joan of Arcadia, House M.D., Austin Powers: Goldmember), Tommy Dewey (The Mountain, Grey’s Anatomy, I’m Reed Fish), Noel Fisher (The Riches, After Sex, Standoff, Huff, Two and Half Men), Greg Pitts (The Office, Sons & Daughters, Bickford Shmecler’s Cool Ideas, Grey’s Anatomy), Ray Wise (Reaper, Good Night Good Luck, “24″ ), Hayes MacArther ( Lower Learning, How I Met Your Mother, The Game Plan, Home Erectus) and many other highly respected and gifted clients.

As our business headed towards new and fun directions, there began to occur a shift in the media and advertising space. It has become increasingly challenging for advertisers to create and capture an effective ad campaign. Viewers speed through their recorded programs skipping the commercials. Now we watch “short form” content on the internet (YouTube, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace), or catch up on their favorite NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, or CW programs by turning on their laptop or desktop. I’ve enjoyed my favorite comedy (30 Rock with Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin), while sitting in my bed with my Bose Noise canceling headphones!*This has led to the growing and exciting stage of FLUTIE ENTERTAINMENT in the “Talent Brand Management” business. We now manage the professional careers of Ellie Krieger (Food Network), Carter Oosterhouse (HGTV), Mary Alice Stephenson (Vh1), Rainbeau Mars (MTV) and others. Our firm creates a media strategy to identify and launch our clients so that they can develop into a consumer brand. This strategy includes Broadcast, Broadband and Print platforms.

As we continue to forge into the new frontier of this convergence of media, we have set a goal to bring all of the resources that we’ve established in the 12 plus years of FLUTIE ENTERTAINMENT’S history to redefine the advertising, marketing and consumer landscape.

* FLUTIE *