Frutiger entered the entertainment industry as a set designer and property maker on the 1995 film Carnosaur 2, starring Star Trek alumni Cliff DeYoung and John Savage. He then worked as a set designer or assistant art director on the 1997 films Warriors of Virtue (featuring Lee Arenberg), The Maker (featuring Jeff Kober and Lawrence Pressman), Flubber (starring Clancy Brown, Christopher McDonald, and Wil Wheaton), and Breast Men (starring Louise Fletcher and Terry O'Quinn).