May 15, 2023

Seth MacFarlane and showrunner from "Family Guy", "American Dad."Join beating the Wga writers.

Seth MacFarlane and Family Guy and American Dad showrunners. They have joined the ranks of the American Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike and will not return to their show until the WGA gets a new contract.

McFarlane's Involvement in the Strike - McFarlane has been involved in the strike since it began on 5/2 and has been seen many times in the picket line with other writers. He was also very involved in the last WGA strike from 2007 to 2008 and was advocating on behalf of the WGA and its membership.

Who else is involved - MacFarlane is a common name here, but the departure of American dad Brian Boyle and Matt Weitzman and Family Guy Richard Appel and Alec Sulkin matters. Each was among the ranks of showrunners who received a letter that they were expected to fulfill all non-WGA obligations related to their roles. The letter fueled an ongoing debate between the wga and the Alliance of film and television producers about the duties considered to be writing, with the wga claiming that writing was involved in all parts of the showrunner's work.

How this will affect the show - in the short term, there is little. According to Deadline, who first reported the news of the Walkout, MacFarlan's voice acting job for the next season of Family Guy is already over and is an American dad. About three months of script and audio work has already been completed. In the long run, even if production is down for a while, both shows could be finned as they update each two seasons in May.

Check out the strike coverage and all the animated shows affected here.