Supermodel agent thinks Michael Jackson's daughter Paris has runway potential
By The Daily
November 29, 2011
NEW YORK -- The supermodel manager who launched the careers of Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour and Milla Jovovich has his eye on a budding beauty -- Paris Jackson, the only daughter of the late King of Pop.
Michael Flutie, creator and star of the new modeling industry E! reality show "Scouted," told The Daily Tuesday that he wrote to 13-year-old Paris in hopes of making her a model.
"I just basically introduced myself and said, 'If you want to talk about this, there's an incredible opportunity and I would be very selective,'" Flutie said. "I think she's stunning. I said I would actually become a modeling agent again and only represent her, because that's how beautiful I think she is."
After three decades in the high-gloss industry, Flutie knows how to transform girls into glamazons.
He discovered 15-year-old Jaime King at an amateur fashion show in Nebraska, signed Rhea Durham (the model wife of Mark Wahlberg) outside a nightclub in Paris, and sent a young Crawford on bookings that would turn her into an iconic supermodel.
Flutie's passion for fashion models inspired "Scouted," which he calls "the most organic process you'll watch in a Cinderella, fairy-like docu-series."
"Shows like 'Project Runway' and 'Top Model' have sort of created a misrepresentation of what really the business is about," he said matter-of-factly. "I know that both of those are very successful shows, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for them, but that's not how it really happens."
There are no tense judges' tables or contrived challenges on "Scouted," which shows how leggy potential models are plucked from shopping malls and parking lots in the heartland and then shipped to New York, where Flutie and his staff, along with One Model Management head Scott Lipps, test the models for greatness.
Some of the "Scouted" contenders get signed, some are rejected and some get to rub bony elbows with One models Bar Refaeli and Selita Ebanks. All are counseled by Flutie, a fast-talking and fabulous natural reality star.
"I'm looking for models with spirit and confidence," he said. "If we're going to go away for 21 days, and we're gonna be on a caravan in Africa, and we're gonna shoot the next resort story, someone who's not gonna complain, who's gonna ride an elephant or walk through the jungle barefoot!"
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