Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, has been honored with the 2015 lifetime achievement award from the Writers Guild of America West’s Animation Writers Caucus. The award was presented Thursday night at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly HIlls, with Patrick Stewart presenting.
“It’s great that the WGAW’s Animation Writers Caucus has voted to give Seth this award that values his contribution to the field,” sai WGA West Vice President David A. Goodman, who hosted the awards. “His unique talent has completely changed the form and raised the profile of the animation writer. From a union perspective, we need to applaud the fact that he ensures all his shows are WGA-covered — he himself employs more animation writers working under a WGA contract than any other showrunner, now or ever.”
MacFarlane became the youngest television showrunner ever when Family Guy arrived on FOX in 1999. The highly animated jack of all trades has since earned Emmy Awards for voice-over performance and music and lyrics. In addition to his animation production work, he was executive producer of the reboot of Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey and comedy series Blunt Talk starring Patrick Stewart, which was recently greenlit by Starz for a second season. His first feature film, Ted in 2012, became the highest-grossing original R-rated film of all time, according to Variety. He has also directed A Million Ways to Die in the West and Ted 2.
Thanks for covering the much-deserved award to Seth MacFarlane, a talented writer who has also done a lot for animation writers and on behalf of the WGA. I’m a little surprised at the coverage though. The barest of mention of Patrick Stewart, who gave a pretty hilarious speech in praise & roast of Seth. And while I’m not sure anyone was actually “host” of the evening, since no one spoke more than once, I’d guess that I’d have had that title, since I started the evening by welcoming everyone, introducing and thanking folks, talking about the work and recent accomplishments of the Animation Writers Caucus, telling a story about Seth and my not working together on a show I produced, and introducing David Goodman.