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By Josh Dean Photographs by Jill Greenberg Family

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlaneValues nabbed a record $100 million deal with Fox and is teaching Google new ways to exploit the Web. Could this crude frat-boy cartoonist really be a model for business in the modern age?

November 2008 Fast company 99 toIt’s find not someone hard who delights in attacking the show Family Guy. Which isn’t a criticism, per se. Much of the and closing themes, and those, too, are when he writes a song, it’s going to be lush animated sitcom’s purpose seems to be to frequently updated, just because. Now, it and jazzy and, at least musically, exactly stoke the opposition, to offend the easily is not unprecedented to use a live orches- as you might hear it in something by offended. But that’s not the only reason it tra in today’s TV world. But it is highly Irving Berlin. It’s all part of a manic atten- annoys people. There is a school of thought unusual. “All the shows used to do it,” tion to detail that not only gives the show that says the show is hackish—crudely laments Walter Murphy, one of Family its layered humor but also has made Mac- drawn and derivative of its cartoon fore- Guy’s two composers. “It’s mostly elec- Farlane a massive, multiplatform success. bears. Members of this school would tronic now—to save money.” The Simpsons, But MacFarlane is more than just an include, most prominently, Ren & Stimpy he says, still uses an orchestra, as does eclectic entertainer. Because if you strip creator John Kricfalusi, and Trey Parker Lost. King of the Hill has a small band. And, away the crude facade, Family G uy—indeed, and Matt Stone, the fathers of South Park, of course, there’s an orches­tra on American all of MacFarlane Inc.—exposes itself as a which is probably the only show on televi- Dad, the other show created by MacFar- quintessentially modern business with sion that rivals Family Guy for objection- lane, who is now the highest-paid writer- lessons that extend far beyond TV land. able content per half hour. South Park has producer in the history of TV. MacFarlane has divined how to connect devoted entire episodes to attacking Family MacFarlane, despite being 35 and look- with next-generation consumers, not sim- Guy, portraying the show’s writers as man- ing like an average dude, possesses the ply through the subject of his jokes but by atees who push “idea balls” with random musical inclinations of a septuagenarian embracing a flexibility in both format and jokes down tubes to generate plotlines. drag queen. A significant percentage of distribution. In some ways by accident, he Kricfalusi has said, “You can draw Family Family Guy’s episodes feature extravagant has stepped outside the siloed definitions Guy when you’re 10 years old.” Broadway-inspired song-and-dance num- of a single industry and exploited oppor- What does Family Guy creator Seth bers (because, really, why have the cartoon tunity wherever he could find it. And per- MacFarlane—who earlier this year inked doctor tell his patient he’s got end-stage haps most instructive, his success is not a $100 million contract with Fox, followed AIDS when a barbershop quintet can predicated on his product being all things by a breakthrough deal involving break the news via song?)—and only some to all people. He has bred allegiance from Google—have to say about that? of them are sacrilegious or scatological. his core customers precisely because he’s “I would say, ‘How many violas do you Among the features of his new contract been willing to turn his back on (and even have?’ ” with Fox is a Family Guy movie he imagines offend) others—a model of sorts for how to MacFarlane is hovering over the sound- as “an old-style musical with dialogue” in create a mass-market niche business in board in the control room of the Newman the vein of The Sound of Music, a poster of our increasingly atomized landscape. Soundstage on the 20th Century Fox lot in which hangs above his desk. “We’d really MacFarlane is a fairly unassuming Los Angeles. Various engineers twiddle be trying to capture, musically, that feel,” young man. He is partial to long-sleeve knobs and adjust levels as he looks out on says MacFarlane, whose father moon- T-shirts, fraying jeans, and laceless black a gymnasium-size room full of classically lighted as a folk singer. “Nothing today Chuck Taylors. Various stories have trained musicians tuning their instru- feels like it’ll play 50 years from now, like described him as prematurely graying, ments. Every piece of music on Family Guy Cole Porter or Rodgers and Hart.” but today his hair is convincingly black is recorded live by an orchestra that on If you’re waiting for the punch line and lightly gelled, and he’s wearing wire- this day numbers 56. The only music that here, there isn’t one. Critics might dismiss rimmed glasses. Beard stubble is a staple. tyling by Brian Primeaux for Art Mix Beauty. Gray heathered henley by Boss ever repeats, even once, are the opening MacFarlane’s show for being vulgar, but The net effect is the look of a full-grown, S by Hugo Boss. Black t-shirt by Jockey. Pants by Joe’s Jeans.

100 Fast company November 2008 thinking man’s frat boy, which also ­pretty InMultitasker 1999, Fox gave MacFarlane three months well sums up the target of his comedy and $50,000 to create a pilot. He came back with Family Guy, having drawn every frame (minus, perhaps, the full-grown part). and voiced every character. Today, he still His show concerns the Griffins of Qua- writes much of the show, directs it, does dozens of voices, and writes songs. And hog, Rhode Island, whose patriarch is Peter, oversees a few spin-offs, too. voiced by MacFarlane. Like Homer Simp- son, he is lovable but bumbling, overweight, and a little slow-witted (a recent plot devel- opment is that he’s mentally retarded, but just barely). His wife is Lois, cartoon sexy and much sharper; she adores him despite his flaws. They have three children (as do the Simpsons): Chris, overweight and dim, in so many ways his father’s son; Meg, smart, but underappreciated and ever the butt of jokes about her homeliness; and Stewie, the infant pedant with the football- shape head who secretly wishes to murder his mother. Rounding out the clan is Brian the talking dog. He lusts after Lois, drinks martinis, and has been known to snort the occasional line of blow. (MacFarlane also voices both Brian and Stewie.) Back in the soundstage control room, with the orchestra on the other side of the glass, a bank of flat screens is frozen on an image of Stewie staring out a window, for- lorn. MacFarlane tells me that in this future episode, Stewie has been left home alone while the family goes on vacation. “Let’s try it once with the dialogue,” Murphy says to his musicians. Stewie’s quasi-British voice—inspired by Rex Har- rison, MacFarlane says—booms through the control room. “Oh, Mommy! Thank God you’re home! I promise with all my heart that I’ll never say or do anything bad to you for the rest of the evening.” Comedic pause. “By the way, I disabled the V-chip and watched so much porn.” Out in the orchestra room, trombon- graphic in advertising, Family Guy is the off course for no apparent purpose. A ists erupt in laughter. highest-rated scripted program in all of human-size chicken, for example, has been It is a violent collision of high and television (American Dad ranks sixth). It is known to show up and battle Peter, apro- low—classical musicians accustomed to also the second-highest-rated show among pos of nothing, in elaborate fight scenes the Hollywood Bowl recording music for males 18 to 49. It is among the most-down- that mimic movies like Raiders of the Lost a show heavy on poop jokes—and a per- loaded shows on iTunes and the most- Ark and stretch for more than a minute. fect lens for examining why this man sip- watched programs on Hulu. It was the The show’s tangents are intentional, in ping coffee from a paper cup emblazoned eighth most-pirated show of 2007 on Bit- no way intended to advance plot. They are with the Fox logo has such a gigantic and Torrent sites. there, MacFarlane says, simply because perpetual grin. This spring, MacFarlane will introduce they’re funny; plot relevance should never The Cleveland Show, a spin-off starring the trump a laugh. As a result, Family Guy is ***** Griffins’ African-American neighbor. The easily digested in bite-size portions—the show will be MacFarlane’s third in prime breakout gags, like the musical numbers, It would be fair, at this point, time and the first new product of his mega- can be watched in isolation, at any time, to call Family Guy a juggernaut. If you’re deal with Fox. (He is also prepping a live- and still work. This makes MacFarlane’s looking to get ­acquainted, it airs Sunday action movie, but no title or dates have model of comedy especially well suited to evenings at 9, just after The Simpsons, which been announced.) the Internet and mobile devices—perfect it has surpassed as the most-popular ani- A common complaint about MacFar- for viewing during a boring history lec- mated show on TV. Among males 18 to 34, lane’s shows is that they are random and ture or on the dreary commute home on often cited as the most desirable demo- disjointed, with episodes that veer wildly the 5:07 to Ronkonkoma.

102 Fast company November 2008 Easily masticated comedy, combined with a fervent audience of college kids in baggy cargo shorts bursting with dispos- able income and electronics, made Mac- Farlane a perfect fit for Google. In Septem- ber, the first of 50 bizarro animated shorts by MacFarlane appeared online. Seth Mac- Farlane’s “Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy,” distributed by Google via its AdSense net- work, is a series of Webisodes that MacFar- lane describes as edgier versions of New Yorker cartoons come to life. Running from 30 seconds to just over two minutes, the shorts are sponsored by advertisers and noteworthy for a host of reasons. For fans, they are MacFarlane’s first non-TV venture and so exist outside the reach of censors and network suits and will introduce a universe of entirely new characters. For the entertainment industry, they mark the first experiments with a bold new method of content distribution (and the entry of the beast Google into its world). But for anyone who cares about the new-media business, this purportedly unsophisticat- ed hack comic has found himself, in some ways by accident, at the intersection of advertising, content, television, and the Web—all of which are blurring together. Perhaps it’s not surprising then that while a MacFarlane product like Family Guy may seem slapdash when you’re watching it, the creative process behind it is decidedly sophisticated. “He’s kind of a modern-day cross between George Lucas and Norman Lear,” says his manager, John Jacobs. “He thinks on a big canvas.” Says Norman Lear himself, a man who was once also the highest-paid creator on TV: “I’m crazy about him and his work. I can’t think of anybody doing a better job right now of mining the foolishness of the human condition.”

***** A Family Guy episode is more or less a nine-month undertaking, from first script to finished animation. All episodes take shape in the writers room on the third floor of an unremarkable office building on Wilshire Boulevard that is home to Mac- Farlane’s Fuzzy Door Productions. It’s pretty much as you’d imagine it: a confer- ence table surrounded by rolling chairs and covered in computer monitors, action figures, and the assorted detritus of the comedy writer’s diet: soft-drink cans, candy wrappers, half-finished bags of beef jerky. MacFarlane takes a chair in front of a dry-

November 2008 Fast company 103 erase board as his 16 writers stagger in Family, Syndication fee drinking coffee and stabbing at cups of per episode: fruit. One of them asks the boss how a con- Valued cert he’d seen the night before had gone, Fox execs and MacFar- and when MacFarlane complains about the lane reps won’t put a $2 million bathroom lines, the guy suggests he stick to hard dollar figure on the “lesbian shows, like the Indigo Girls.” value of the Family Guy Estimated The typical show begins with a single empire. But our calcula- total revenue writer producing a script, but then the tions show it’s worth from syndication fees: almost $2 billion. No whole team gets involved, dissecting each Rate for a scene and line to decide a) if it’s actually wonder he got a record- funny and b) if it can be made funnier. It’s setting contract. 30-second $400 primetime ad: a loose but laborious process, each gag chewed over ad infinitum in this peanut- gallery forum. The goal is to produce an Number of copies million $200,000 episode overstuffed with jokes—something sold of Family Guy’s Networks airing reruns: Estimated that gives fans plenty to discuss late at Family Guy ad revenue first DVD set: Fox, TBS, Cartoon from 2005-2008: night on bulletin boards. “I think we’re the Network, and most joke-per-minute show on television,” 20 channels owned $500 million says executive producer David Goodman, 2.5 million by Tribune Broadcasting who’s been with Family Guy since 2000. American Dad This late summer afternoon, the chal- Total DVD sales ad revenue from 2005-2008: lenge is to fill out a scene in which Stewie to date: and some friends are at nursery school. $300 million Ideas are tossed out in various impres- almost sions of Stewie’s voice: There’s a molesta- $400 million tion joke, some poop jokes, a joke about a More than rogue chicken because, according to the DVD sales from writer who pitched it, “chickens just wan- Stewie Griffin: The der around the yard at some schools.” Untold Story: “Is that safe?” MacFarlane asks. “Aren’t chickens aggressive and, like, poke your almost 500items eyes out?” $80 million have been licensed to Anyone can speak, and jokes are called out with no introduction. MacFarlane sits 10,000including stores up front, along with Goodman, reclining Number of ring tones, in his seat and appearing in no way dicta- Target, Wal-Mart torial. He’ll chime in, but his input seems voice tones, wallpaper, and no more or less important than anyone games sold for cell phones: & Kmart else’s. “If the writers in that room don’t Total merchandise and laugh—it’s not going on,” says Goodman. licensing revenue: “That’s a tough room. If we laugh, it’s At least probably funny.” 2.3 at least The prevailing meta-joke about Stewie is that, despite being an infant, he is the million $200 million most intellectual character on the show, even if the only family member who can There isn’t a comedy writers room in “Jesus Christ” as an exclamation unless the hear him speak is Brian the dog. America where the banter doesn’t often deity himself is present), homosexuality, “Stewie could wear a cop hat and go up veer toward the extreme subjects. The dif- bestiality, pedophilia, the physically to a white girl standing with a black kid ference with this crew is that the extremes impaired. A favorite example tossed out by and say, ‘Are you okay, miss?’ ” one writer are the goal. Watch enough Family Guy and opponents is a sight gag that involved a JFK suggests. you’ll almost certainly see something that Pez dispenser in which the candy emerged Awkward, almost embarrassed laughs makes you cringe; it might not offend you from a hole in the president’s head. (Mac- break out around the table. It’s a joke that personally, but you can imagine how some- Farlane later admitted that maybe, just could be viewed as offensive, or as fairly one won’t find it funny. Family Guy savages maybe, that one crossed the line.) pointed social criticism. A digression on politicians and celebrities, and is more than MacFarlane doesn’t argue with the race breaks out, before everyone moves willing to tackle any manner of touchy sub- notion that many of his jokes border on on to another idea, about toddlers as jects in the name of comedy—race, Islam, offensive, but the notion that the content is obnoxious art critics picking apart one Christianity (Jesus is a recurring character, actually offensive irks him. Each episode is another’s finger paintings. because FCC rules stipulate you cannot use vetted by a team of Fox censors reading Photograph: Fox/Photofest (characters)

104 Fast company November 2008 with the FCC in mind. But beyond that, ­sketches on Mad TV. “I had gone into the meeting not know- “There’s an enormous amount of self-polic- A few years later, Fox asked MacFar- ing why I was going in there,” MacFarlane ing that goes on and a lot of intelligent con- lane, then 25, to develop an animated recalls. “He said, ‘We’d like to put this versations about whether a show is worth pilot. They gave him a scant $50,000 to do back into production,’ and I almost fell doing. I would stack the ethics of one of my it. MacFarlane emerged three months out of my chair.” writers up against the average Washington later with a nearly completed pilot, for David Goodman says that when the bureaucrat on censorship any day.” Mac- which he had drawn every frame and show was initially canceled, MacFarlane Farlane is mystified in particular by the voiced every character. told him his job would be safe if it ever two things that most upset the FCC—two Fox bought the show, gave MacFarlane returned. “I’d been on 14 canceled TV basic elements of human life that, in his a reported $2 million–per-season con- shows,” he recalls. “They never come back. view, are far less sensitive than, say, reli- tract, and premiered Family Guy in the It’s never happened before—ever.” gion. “For the FCC, it’s sexual references,” highest-profile slot possible, following Fox brought the show back in a big way, he says. “But even more than that, shit the 1999 Super Bowl. He was the youngest ordering 35 episodes (22 is typical) and jokes. Any time we even show somebody person ever to be given his own prime- handing over the Sunday at 9 slot, where MacFarlane doesn’t argue with the notion that his jokes border on offensive. But the notion that they are actually offensive irks him.

on a toilet, we get in trouble.” time network show. the show boomed. The 100th episode aired Which brings us back to the writers It drew 22 million viewers but then in November of 2007, pushing the show room. A source of ongoing consternation is became a sort of network foster child. For into syndication. Though schedules vary Stewie’s inability to master the commode. the next two years, Fox execs moved the by market, Family Guy airs up to TK times a MacFarlane assumes the child’s erudite show all over the schedule, trying it in 11 day, with reruns on Fox, TBS, the Cartoon voice and says, speaking in character to his time slots, including for a period in the Network and in 20 major markets on chan- fellow children, “I’d like to make an death zone opposite Friends. Despite the nels owned by Chicago’s Tribune Co. announcement: It’s the elephant in the fact that Family Guy tracked well with “Animation is something that, if it room. I made a stool. Now let’s just all go young men, the show’s ratings were low. works, it’s more profitable for a studio than about our business as if nothing happened, Fox canceled it in 2000, revived it briefly any other show,” MacFarlane says. People and it’ll take care of itself in due time.” the next year, then canceled it again. don’t buy Everybody Loves Raymond T-shirts, Most everyone in the room laughs. Then a funny thing happened. The but they do buy shirts bearing the devious The joke is in. show lived on over at the Cartoon Net- visage of Stewie, as well as action figures, work, with even edgier versions specially stickers, posters, and video games. Increas- ***** edited by MacFarlane. Regard for the show ingly, they also buy song clips and ring was so low that Fox gave the Cartoon Net- tones. And Fox, which owns the show, also Seth MacFarlane was basi- work the first 50 episodes for free; Fox sim- owns the intellectual property. Reports cally fated to this life. His middle name, ply asked for promotion of the show’s DVD have valued the Family Guy franchise at as Woodbury, was chosen by his mother as in exchange. (They were having trouble much as $1 billion, and though neither Fox an homage to the town drunk back in Kent, persuading retailers to stock it—another in nor MacFarlane’s team would claim that Connecticut. “Some of the foulest jokes a list of miscalculations that seems incon- number, a little back-of-the-envelope math I’ve ever heard,” he has said, “came from ceivable in retrospect.) Family Guy’s audi- indicates that figure is conservative. At a my mother.” MacFarlane started drawing ence, ignored at every turn, followed the reported $2 million per episode, Family Guy at 2 and published his first cartoon, “Wal- show to the Cartoon Network, dug in, and has garnered at least $400 million up front ter Crouton,” in a local paper at the age of swelled, regularly beating both Letterman from syndication. DVD sales have totaled 8. At 18, he left for the Rhode Island School and Leno in the most desirable demo- almost another $400 million, while 80 of Design and, after his adviser sent his graphics. When Fox released the first 28 licensees contribute at least $200 million in thesis film, “Life of Larry” (starring a lov- episodes on a series of DVDs in 2003, sales various clothing and baubles, actual and able schlub with a tolerant wife and a talk- exploded—more than 2.5 million were digital. Fox’s ad revenue off Family Guy can ing dog), off to Hanna-Barbera, he was sold. (In 2005, a straight-to-video movie be estimated at at least $500 million over hired to work as an animator and writer on called Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story sold the years. “Suffice it to say, with it being a shows like Dexter’s Laboratory and Johnny about 3.5 million copies, bringing in studio-owned show, and being on the Fox Bravo. In 1996, he created a sequel to “Life almost $80 million for a single DVD.) network, it’s of substantial value,” New- of Larry” that aired in prime time on the Twentieth Century Fox TV president man told me. And none of this figures in Cartoon Network. Fox development exec­ Gary Newman summoned MacFarlane revenue from MacFarlane’s other hit prod- utives took notice and hired him away to his office in 2004 and did the unthink­ uct, American Dad. to work on interstitials to run between able: He asked him to restart production. Team MacFarlane, of course, also rec-

106 Fast company November 2008 ognized the value of what he has brought to return fire. He wrote a joke in which rally), MRC partners with content cre- to the network. By the time negotiations Peter’s per verted friend Quagmire attacks ators—whether that’s director Alejandro on a new contract began more than two and molests Marge Simpson. Fox, he says, ­González Iñárritu on Babel; or Sacha Baron years ago, the challenge for both sides nixed the idea. “They said, ‘We want the Cohen on his next film, Bruno; or MacFar- was how to put a number on MacFarlane’s feuds to end.’ I thought it was very con- lane—giving them funding and a share in worth, considering that he isn’t just a spicuous that this came about only when ownership, plus creative control. writer-producer but also an animator and we decided to hit them back.” MacFarlane produced the Cavalcade actor, and given that nobody is quite sure What did he do? He left it in any way, and shorts with a team of six writers. The ani- what the future of TV content will look delivered the edit to Fox, which then edited mation is instantly recognizable as his, as like but all are quite sure that MacFar- it out. “It’s still a sore point,” MacFarlane is the humor. The shorts lean heavily on lane’s work is going to be a big part of it. says. “It’s still this wound that has never pop culture (say, “Fred and Barney Try To MacFarlane’s team felt the need to let his quite healed that says, ‘We don’t value you Get Into a Club,” which is fairly self-

Seth MacFarlane’s “Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” joins TV on the Web a mixed bag of other attempts at original cyber-shows.

Quarterlife LonelyGirl15 Dr. Horrible’s Squeegees Funny or Die The teen-targeted drama After starting as a faux Singalong Blog The debut from ABC’s Stage Searching for a way to make “aired” in 36 eight-minute video diary, it broadened Buffy creator Joss Whedon 9 Digital, these teen-targeted money, the Will Ferrell– spots on MySpace and on a into a multiple-character offered this musical, with shorts arrived on YouTube backed comedy site created Quarterlife Web site. show that ran for two years. Neil Patrick Harris, on its and abc.com in February. a Web-only video for DID IT WORK? Well-received DID IT WORK? The creators own site (and later iTunes). DID IT WORK? Panned on Unilever’s Axe Body Spray. on the Web, but later recently got $5 million in VC DID IT WORK? Jury’s out. A blogs but paid for by Toyota. DID IT WORK? Unilever paid a bombed as a full-length money and debuted a new bonus-packed DVD and Stage 9 has 20 more projects “high six-figure” commis- NBC show. project, “The Resistance.” soundtrack are on their way. in the works. sion. Will others?

contract expire, “to have him on the open quite as much,’ which I can’t imagine is explanatory); they’re rude (in one, Tara market,” explains one of his representa- true, but . . .” The thought trails off and, Reid’s grotesque belly flab talks); and of tives. For more than two years, MacFar- perhaps realizing that it’s best not to follow course they’re crude (a boy is told he is lane worked on Family Guy in good faith, this logic, he turns a corner. “To be fair to adopted by two parents with nipples that without a contract. “There were a couple Fox—for the most part, creatively they have stick out of their chests like javelins; his days when I was ‘sick,’ ” MacFarlane says. been a very easy company to work with. name, they tell him, is not Michael Stick- “At times, that helps bring the negotia- This was kind of a rare lapse in judgment.” nipples but rather Albert Horsefeet Turd- tions back when they’re stalled.” sneeze—who then sneezes a turd that When the writers strike broke out, he ***** sprouts horse feet and gallops off). sided with the guild and walked off the The Cavalcade shorts are also distrib- set. Fox decided to go forward and edit An enormous wallet bulge uted in an innovative way: targeting young episodes without MacFarlane’s participa- wasn’t the only benefit to MacFarlane’s males where they lurk by popping up in tion—they did own them, after all. Mac- contract hiatus. While Fox was noodling ad windows on sites like maxim.com and Farlane called it a “colossal dick move.” on the deal, MacFarlane’s management fandango.com (while simultaneously When asked about it now, he says it’s a team went out and signed him up with a appearing on YouTube). “The idea is not to sore that’s been salved ($100 million has a little company called Google. The result- drive someone to a Web site but to make way of doing that). “They gave us money ing “Cavalcade of Comedy” is outside the content available wherever the audience to go back and edit the shows the way we bounds of the Fox relationship. “In a com- will be,” explains Dan Goodman, presi- wanted, and we made nice.” pletely perfect world,” Dana Walden, dent of digital at MRC. One Fox-inflicted bruise that has yet to chairman of 20th Century Fox Television, Also unprecedented is the way Mac- fade involves shots taken at Family Guy by has said, “he wouldn’t be able to do that.” Farlane is being paid. MRC is not Fox; it The Simpsons, a show that MacFarlane He did. The idea stemmed from conver- can’t just write him a nine-figure check. admires greatly. Most famously, in an epi- sations between MacFarlane’s lawyer and Instead, MacFarlane’s status as an equity sode called “Treehouse of Horror,” Homer agent and representatives of Media Rights partner in the deal entitles him to split creates a sea of clones even dumber and Capital, an L.A.-based multimedia finan- the ad revenue with Google and MRC. more dim-witted than himself. One of cier. Loosely tied to the talent agency Because the whole idea is new, it’s hard to these is Peter Griffin. MacFarlane decided Endeavor (which reps MacFarlane, natu- draw parallels to current entertainment

108 Fast company November 2008 and marketing models but, essentially, lane wins no matter what. He has zero For a show that likes to pick on celebrities, MRC provides the funding and sells the financial risk. Unlike his Family Guy char- Family Guy has little trouble attracting ad partnerships, MacFarlane provides the acters, every horny frog and lusty princess them, especially those whose résumés content, and Google serves as distribu- and sarcastic talking bear is owned by include the kind of wonderfully awful per- tion outlet, providing the “broadcast” via him. formances that ultimately get embraced as its AdSense network. Then all three split cult in-jokes: Drew Barrymore, Haley Joel the profits. It can, and will, be replicated Osment, Gene Simmons, Bob Costas, Phyl- with other content providers. Already, ***** lis Diller . . . Michael Clarke Duncan was in MRC is working with the Disney Chan- A couple of years ago, Mac- earlier this morning. Richard Dreyfuss is nel’s Raven-Symoné on kids-targeted pro- Farlane nearly worked himself to death. He due to arrive this evening. gramming. You could easily imagine it collapsed at his desk and was rushed to the Cole has done the show 23 times. with, say, Rachael Ray. hospital. He was sick, he says, and “didn’t Today, he’s doing Mike Brady, reprising a “The idea is to take the TV experience have the time to stop.” So he passed out role he played in The Brady Bunch Movie. and prov ide it on the Web,” says Alex Lev y, right there under the Sound of Music poster. In this script, Mr. Brady is verbally abus- Google’s director of branded entertain- He ended up spending, as he tells it, “a ing Mrs. Brady in one of those classic ment. “But brought to the people you want lovely afternoon at the emergency room.” pop-culture tangents. to reach, when, where, and how you want “We’ve been behind schedule on Family “You know, you can really go as loud to reach them.” For a company that likes to Guy since day one,” he explains. “In reality, as you want,” MacFarlane says in director say it’s not in the content business, that’s a you can’t do a prime-time animated show mode. “We’ve never heard Mike Brady remarkable statement. Google, in essence, in the time allotted, so that always puts a yell before, so this is new territory.” He is trying to use its ad distribution network glaze of stress over the whole process.” He then assumes the role of Carol Brady. to turn content distribution upside down. takes a breath. “I refuse to let that control “Huh, I don’t remember asking for a (Google calls it the Content Network.) my life. I did that in my twenties. Now I warm beer,” Cole says, his voice quiet but Each Cavalcade short carries a single insist on a balance.” seething. advertiser. The first 10 were bought by MacFarlane has handed off the day-to- MacFarlane, as Carol, flips out: “I didn’t Burger King, and—in yet another unprec- day control of both American Dad and The want to quit working—you made me!” edented move—MacFarlane animated Cleveland Show, and he is increasingly dele­ Five minutes later, Cole exits and Mac- their ads for them. It’s an option available gating on Family Guy. He still reviews all the Farlane is off to the next thing, laying down to any of the sponsors if they choose to drawings and obsesses more than a little lines in furious fashion, typically in three “Animation is something that if it works, it can be more profitable for a studio than any other kind of show.”

pay extra for it. over the music. There is some stuff he just or four takes, which he then selects from on For Burger King, the appeal was obvi- can’t give up. And what’s easy to forget is the fly. His sound engineers tag his favorite ous. “Seth’s fan base intersects squarely that MacFarlane is also the star of Family takes and move on. He swaps from voicing with our audience of young men and Guy. Actually, several stars of Family Guy. Stewie to Peter to Quagmire to various odd women,” says Brian Gies, vice president of He voices three of the six main characters, parts, including a bit as Paul McCartney marketing impact for Burger King. In and is in virtually every scene, sometimes and another as Vince Vaughn. other words, MacFarlane’s comedy pro- playing several parts at once. He’s also the Next up: A writer is doing Patrick vides a very powerful and friendly connec- voice of Quagmire, a major secondary Swayze, who is not, as you might expect, tion to a very targeted audience, one that player, and hundreds of ancillary charac- the butt of a cancer joke, but rather a tight- tends to get the munchies. Says Google’s ters and one-timers. And, of course, he’s jeans joke followed by repeated takes of the Levy, “We know where to find them, and the voice of Stan, the lead on American Dad, w r iter g rowling, as throat y redneck Swayze, we’re putting the advertising in an envi- and almost certain to guest-star often on “Roadhouse!” It’s another one of those cult ronment they’re comfortable in.” The Cleveland Show. This summer he showed jokes, a little snippet of Dada theater. There’s no guarantee the new model is up as a voice actor in Guillermo del Toro’s “Even a hair more badass,” MacFarlane going to stick, of course—advertisers could Hellboy II and is very soon planning to step directs, and over and over they go until decide they get as much value by just buy- in front of the camera in live-action proj- that one simple word becomes absurd in ing regular Web ads and avoid paying ects. He also plans to direct movies. its own right. You can already hear it as a extra. But early returns showed viewers One afternoon in August, MacFarlane ring tone. FC were responding well to the shorts. In its and two sound engineers are in the tiny first days, Cavalcade instantly became the control room outside the recording booths Josh Dean wrote about the legal woes of Bodog most-watched channel on YouTube, rack- in the Family Guy offices. In strolls the actor CEO Calvin Ayre in July/August. ing up 2.5 million streams. And MacFar- Gary Cole wearing shorts and sunglasses. > Feedback: [email protected]

110 Fast company November 2008