Dan Povenmire Family Guy When did Dan Povenmire start drawing Family Guy? Povenmire later became a director on Family Guy, starting with the season two episode, "Road to Rhode Island Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? Povenmire brought realism and material from his own experiences to the visual direction of Family Guy. What other things did he do when he was working on Family Guy? Povenmire drew on his childhood in the Deep South to create and sequence a background scene in which the redneck character nonchalantly kicks a corpse into the nearby river. When did he stop working on Family Guy? During Family Guy's brief cancellation, Povenmire was offered a job as storyboard director of the series SpongeBob SquarePants. Did he write the storyline for Family Guy? Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" (January 17, 2002), a Family Guy episode which Povenmire directed, won the Emmy Award for Best Song. Did he win any other awards while working on Family Guy? Povenmire was nominated for an Annie Award for Directing in an Animated Television Production for the episode "PTV" ( Is there anything in this article that has any interesting facts about it? Povenmire brought realism and material from his own experiences to the visual direction of Family Guy.
Did he partner with anyone when producing for Family Guy?
Did Dan Povenmire partner with anyone when producing for Family Guy?
Povenmire later became a director on Family Guy, starting with the season two episode, "Road to Rhode Island". Creator Seth MacFarlane granted Povenmire substantial creative freedom. Povenmire recalled that MacFarlane would tell him "We've got two minutes to fill. Give me some visual gags. Do whatever you want. I trust you." Povenmire praised MacFarlane's management style for letting him "have [...] fun."  Povenmire brought realism and material from his own experiences to the visual direction of Family Guy. For "One if By Clam, Two if By Sea" (August 1, 2001), several characters demonstrate Fosse-like moves in prison. To correctly depict the moves, Povenmire asked color artist Cynthia MacIntosh, who had been a professional dancer, to strike poses so he could properly illustrate the sequence. In the episode "To Love and Die in Dixie" (November 15, 2001), Povenmire drew on his childhood in the Deep South to create and sequence a background scene in which the redneck character nonchalantly kicks a corpse into the nearby river.  "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" (January 17, 2002), a Family Guy episode which Povenmire directed, won the Emmy Award for Best Song. Creator MacFarlane, the recipient of the award, noted that Povenmire deserved to have received the award for the contribution the visuals made to the episode's win. Povenmire jokingly responded "That's a nice sentiment and all, but did he offer to give me his? No! And it's not like he doesn't already have two of his own just sitting in his house!" Povenmire was nominated for an Annie Award for Directing in an Animated Television Production for the episode "PTV" (November 6, 2005) but lost out to a fellow Family Guy director Peter Shin, who had directed the episode "North by North Quahog". Povenmire and several others were also nominated for their work on "PTV" in the Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) category at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Povenmire also received the same nomination for "Road to Rhode Island."  During Family Guy's brief cancellation, Povenmire was offered a job as storyboard director of the series SpongeBob SquarePants. He wrote various musical numbers for the series, including "The Campfire Song Song" in "The Camping Episode" (April 3, 2004). CANNOTANSWER
Creator MacFarlane,
Daniel Kingsley Povenmire (; born September 18, 1963) is an American animator, writer, director, producer, and voice actor. Povenmire is the co-creator of the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, in which he also voiced the character Heinz Doofenshmirtz in both series. In October 2020, Povenmire announced a new series for Disney Channel titled Hamster & Gretel.

Povenmire grew up in Mobile, Alabama, where he was an art student, and where he spent summers outdoors and making movies. Povenmire attended the University of South Alabama before deciding to pursue a film career and transferring to the University of Southern California.

Povenmire has been a long-time contributor to the animation business, working on several different animated television series such as Hey Arnold!, The Simpsons, Rocko's Modern Life, and SpongeBob SquarePants. He was a longtime director on the prime time series Family Guy, where he was nominated for an Annie Award in 2005. He left the series to create Phineas and Ferb with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. Povenmire has been nominated for several awards for his work on the show, including a BAFTA, an Annie, two Emmy Awards. Following the success of Phineas and Ferb, he and Marsh created and produced a second show for Disney titled Milo Murphy's Law, which premiered in 2016. In 2020, the duo made a second Phineas and Ferb film, Candace Against the Universe.

Early life

Povenmire was born in San Diego, California on September 18, 1963 to Dianne (née Lee, born 1930) and Sanford Earl Povenmire (1921–1965), and grew up in the city of Mobile, Alabama. A child prodigy, he began drawing at age two; by the time he was ten, his work was displayed in local art shows. His first efforts in animation included a series of flip books that he produced in his school text books. As a child, Povenmire considered animator Chuck Jones his hero; in a 2009 interview, he stated that "every drawing he [Jones] did was beautiful to look at and had so much energy in it". Hayao Miyazaki was also an early influence.

Education

Povenmire received his secondary education at Shaw High School in Mobile. Initially, he attended the University of South Alabama, where he created his first popular comic strip, Life is a Fish, devoted to the life of Herman the goldfish and the college students he lives with. Povenmire also supported himself as a waiter and performer at a dinner theater. In 1985, he transferred to the University of Southern California (USC), planning to pursue a career in film.

Soon after arriving at USC, he pitched Life is a Fish to Mark Ordesky, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Trojan, the university newspaper. Ordesky first "basically brushed [him] off", but, after viewing Povenmire's portfolio, accepted the strip. Fish ran daily in the paper. Though the rapid pace left Povenmire afraid he was "running out of ideas", he never missed a deadline and made $14,000 a year through Fish merchandise, which included T-shirts, books, and calendars sold at the campus craft fair. The discipline of regular production also helped teach Povenmire to "represent something in the least amount of lines".

Career

Early works

Povenmire left USC without finishing the degree requirements, and used the money from Fish merchandise to fund a short-lived career as a street artist. His first professional animation commission came on the Tommy Chong project Far Out Man, for which Povenmire produced two minutes of animation. By age 24, Povenmire was freelancing on several animated television series, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In 1989, he appeared in a small role as a band member in Adam Sandler's first film, Going Overboard.

The Simpsons
In the 1990s, Povenmire secured a job  as a character layout animator on the hit animated series The Simpsons. His desk placed him opposite Jeffrey Marsh, another up-and-coming animator. They shared similar tastes in humor and music, and later became colleagues on other projects.

Povenmire's experience, from both previous industry work and from his own projects, earned him respect at The Simpsons. He worked on layout animation and collaborated on storyboard production for the series, recalling later that staff were handed pages of production notes and instructed to "Do the [creative consultant] Brad Bird notes and any others that make sense." He maintained a side interest in film, writing scripts and the screenplay for a low-budget horror movie, Psycho Cop 2. The movie's producers offered Povenmire the opportunity to direct the film, but its terms required that he quit The Simpsons.  Povenmire chose to stay with The Simpsons, which he enjoyed and considered a better fit with his future ambitions. Rif Coogan ended up directing the picture instead.

Rocko's Modern Life

Work on The Simpsons involved an irregular schedule. The producers laid off the animation staff for two-to-three-month periods, and rehired the staff later in the production cycle. During one of these layoffs, Povenmire found a temporary job on the series Rocko's Modern Life, Nickelodeon's first in-house cartoon production. The show's creator, television newcomer Joe Murray, hired Povenmire solely on the strength of his Life is a Fish comic strips, which proved he could both write and draw.

Though Povenmire started on Rocko simply to occupy his downtime from The Simpsons, he found the greater creative freedom he enjoyed on his temporary job compelling, and quit The Simpsons to work on Rocko full-time. There, he reunited with Jeff Marsh, this time as a writing partner; Marsh claimed the crew hoped Povenmire's neatness would offset his own sloppy storyboarding. The pair developed a distinctive style characterized by characteristic musical numbers and chase scenes. Povenmire and Marsh won an Environmental Achievement Award for a 1996 Rocko episode they had written.

Family Guy
Povenmire later became a director on Family Guy, starting with the season two episode "Road to Rhode Island". Creator Seth MacFarlane granted Povenmire substantial creative freedom. Povenmire recalled that MacFarlane would tell him "We've got two minutes to fill. Give me some visual gags. Do whatever you want. I trust you." Povenmire praised MacFarlane's management style for letting him "have [...] fun."

Povenmire brought realism and material from his own experiences to the visual direction of Family Guy. For "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea" (August 1, 2001), several characters demonstrate Fosse-like moves in prison. To correctly depict the moves, Povenmire asked color artist Cynthia MacIntosh, who had been a professional dancer, to strike poses so he could properly illustrate the sequence. In the episode "To Love and Die in Dixie" (November 15, 2001), Povenmire drew on his childhood in the Deep South to create and sequence a background scene in which the redneck character nonchalantly kicks a corpse into the nearby river.

"Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" (January 17, 2002), a Family Guy episode which Povenmire directed, won the Emmy Award for Best Song. Creator MacFarlane, the recipient of the award, noted that Povenmire deserved to have received the award for the contribution the visuals made to the episode's win. Povenmire jokingly responded "That's a nice sentiment and all, but did he offer to give me his? No! And it's not like he doesn't already have two of his own just sitting in his house!" Povenmire was nominated for an Annie Award for Directing in an Animated Television Production for the episode "PTV" (November 6, 2005) but lost out to a fellow Family Guy director, Peter Shin, who had directed the episode "North by North Quahog". Povenmire and several others were also nominated for their work on "PTV" in the Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) category at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Povenmire also received the same nomination for "Road to Rhode Island."

During Family Guys brief cancellation, Povenmire was offered a job as storyboard director of the series SpongeBob SquarePants. He also became a writer for the show, writing the season 2 episodes "Graveyard Shift", "The Fry Cook Games" and "Sandy, SpongeBob and the Worm", all of which premiered on Nickelodeon between 2001–2002. He also wrote "The Campfire Song Song" for the Season 3 episode "The Camping Episode", for which he was also a storyboard director on alongside Jay Lender (April 3, 2004).

Phineas and Ferb

In 1993, Povenmire and Marsh conceived the series Phineas and Ferb, based on their similar experiences of childhood summers spent outdoors.  Povenmire spent 14–16 years pitching Phineas and Ferb to several networks. Most rejected it as unfeasible for the complexity of its plots, but Povenmire persevered, later observing "It was really the show we wanted to see: if this was on the air, I'd watch it, and I don't always feel that about every show I work on." Even the Walt Disney Company initially rejected Povenmire's pitch, but asked to keep the proposal packet: "Usually that means they throw it in the trash later," Povenmire recalled.  Eventually Disney called Povenmire back with an acceptance, on the condition that he would produce an 11-minute pilot. He called Marsh, who was living in England, to ask him if he would like to work on the pilot; Marsh accepted immediately and moved back to the United States.

Instead of a conventional script, the pair pitched the pilot by recording reels of its storyboard, which Povenmire then mixed and dubbed to produce action and vocals. The network approved the show for a 26-episode season. As a result, Povenmire left Family Guy to create the series.

Povenmire and Marsh wanted to incorporate into Phineas and Ferb the kind of humor they had developed in their work on Rocko's Modern Life. They included action sequences and, with Disney's encouragement, featured musical numbers in every episode subsequent to "Flop Starz". Povenmire described the songs as his and Marsh's "jab at immortality", but the pair have earned two Emmy nominations for Phineas and Ferb songs to-date. A third Emmy nomination, for the episode "The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein" (2008), pitted the show against SpongeBob SquarePants, although neither nominee received the award due to a technicality. In 2010, Povenmire was nominated amongst several other Phineas and Ferb crew members for the Daytime Emmy Award for both "Outstanding Writing in Animation" and "Outstanding Original Song – Children’s and Animation" for their work on the show, winning for "Outstanding Writing in Animation". In 2021, Povenmire, among other writers, won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Writing Team for a Daytime Animated Program" for their film Candace Against the Universe.

The distinctive style of the animation legend Tex Avery influenced the show's artistic look. Like Avery, Povenmire employed geometric shapes to build both the characters and the background. The style developed almost accidentally, with Povenmire's first sketch of title character, Phineas Flynn, which he produced while eating dinner with his family in a restaurant in South Pasadena, California. He doodled a triangle-shaped child on the butcher paper covering the table. He was so taken with the sketch he tore it out, kept it, and used it as the prototype for Phineas and as the stylistic blueprint for the entire show.

Musical endeavors
During his college years, Povenmire had performed with a band that played at clubs and bars across Los Angeles, California. His current band, Keep Left, releases albums through Arizona University Recordings. Their second CD, Letters from Fielding, became available for download on aurec.com during 2004. They have an official website maintained and updated by artist Larry Stone. A 2004 email exchange about the website between Stone and Povenmire resulted in a "clever and twisted" series of comic strips drawn by the two, eventually moved to the website Badmouth.

TikTok 
Povenmire joined TikTok on November 26, 2019. Since then, he has amassed more than 5 million followers and 140 million likes. Povenmire often reacts to and interacts with young artists and creators, giving them advice and encouragement, while also providing behind-the-scenes information and debunking fan theories about his various projects, including Phineas and Ferb, Milo Murphy's Law and more.

Filmography

Films

Animation

Web series

Notes

References

External links

 
 
 
 

1963 births
Living people
Writers from San Diego
American television directors
American television writers
American male television writers
Television producers from California
Showrunners
American storyboard artists
American male voice actors
Male actors from San Diego
Writers from Mobile, Alabama
University of Southern California alumni
University of South Alabama alumni
Walt Disney Animation Studios people
American animated film directors
Screenwriters from Alabama
Screenwriters from California
Animators from Alabama
Nickelodeon people
Television producers from Alabama
Henry Wellesley Wild (born April 27, 1972) is an American screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He is best known for writing and producing several episodes of the animated series Family Guy. He was a former executive producer and an occasional voice actor for the show.

Wild attended Westminster School, a Founders League prep school located in Simsbury, Connecticut. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane also attended another Founders League school, the Kent School in Kent, Connecticut. Wild also wrote for The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn during the show's first year.

Career
Wild joined Family Guy in 2005, and has since written and produced multiple episodes, including:
"Petarded"
"PTV"
"Petergeist"
"Untitled Griffin Family History"
"Stu and Stewie's Excellent Adventure"
"Chick Cancer"
"Barely Legal"
"Road to Rupert"
"Airport '07"
"McStroke"
"Long John Peter"
"Tales of a Third Grade Nothing"
"Family Gay"
"Peter's Progress"
"Road to the Multiverse"
"Welcome Back, Carter"
"Seahorse Seashell Party"
"Internal Affairs"
"Call Girl"
"Boopa-dee Bappa-dee"
"Trans-Fat"

In August 2010 Wild and his writing partner Alec Sulkin signed a three-year pact with 20th Century Fox TV.  The two will continue working on Family Guy and will develop their own television series. Discussing whether the new series would be a live action or an animation, Wild said, "We've been throwing around both ideas." Their joint production, Dads premiered on September 17, 2013.

He co-wrote the 2012 film Ted with Sulkin and MacFarlane, and also wrote the 2014 film A Million Ways to Die in the West and Ted 2 (2015). He served as co-executive producer along with MacFarlane for MacFarlane's show, The Orville. Wild is also the showrunner for the revival of Animaniacs, which premiered on Hulu in 2020.

Through his English paternal grandfather Wellesley is a descendant of both Edward I (Longshanks) King of England (1272-1307) and Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess, brother of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington.

Wild is also related to former CIA Director Porter Goss.

References

External links
 

Television producers from New York City
American television writers
American male television writers
Living people
Westminster School (Connecticut) alumni
Writers from New York City
1972 births
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Screenwriters from Connecticut
Connecticut College alumni Jules Fisher (born November 12, 1937) is an American lighting designer and producer. He is credited with lighting designs for more than 300 productions over the course of his 50-year career in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well extensive work in film, ballet, opera, television, and rock and roll concert tours.  He has been nominated 20 times for Tony Awards (as a lighting designer) and won nine Tony awards for Lighting Design, more than any other lighting designer.

Biography 
Fisher was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the son of Anne (Davidson) and Abraham Fisher, a retailer. He is a graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology. He is married to choreographer-director Graciela Daniele. He has been in a professional partnership with lighting designer Peggy Eisenhauer since 1985, and they formed Third Eye Ltd, a firm specializing in entertainment and theatre lighting. He is also a principal in the theatre consulting firm Fisher Dachs Associates, architectural lighting firm Fisher Marantz Stone, and teaches at The New School.  Fisher was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University in May 2013.

Stage work (selected)
 Anyone Can Whistle (1964)
 High Spirits (1964)
 The Subject Was Roses (1964)
 Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965)
 You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running (1967)
 The Man in the Glass Booth (1968)
 The Only Game in Town (1968)
 Hair (1968, revival 1977)
 Jesus Christ Superstar (1971)
 Soon (1971)
 Pippin (1972)
 The Iceman Cometh (1973)
 Liza (Special) (1974)
 Chicago (1975)
 Beatlemania (1977)
 La Cage aux Folles (1983)

with Peggy Eisenhauer
 Song and Dance (1985)
 Rags (1986)
 Legs Diamond (1988)
 Ragtime (1998)
 Gypsy (2003)
 School of Rock (2003)
 Assassins (2004)
 The Ritz (2007)
 9 to 5 (2008)
 Lucky Guy (2013)
 Once on this Island (2017)
 Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (2019)

Concert work
Fisher has worked with many popular musicians on their concerts and tours including:
 The Rolling Stones
 KISS
 David Bowie
 Parliament-Funkadelic
 The Who's Tommy
 Crosby, Stills and Nash
 Whitney Houston
 Simon & Garfunkel
 Barbra Streisand

Film lighting
Fisher has designed theatrical lighting for many film features. Designs include:
 A Star is Born (1976)
 The Rose (1979)
 Can't Stop the Music (1980)
 Chicago (2002)
 The Producers (2005)
 Dreamgirls (2006)
 Enchanted (2007)
 Burlesque (2010)

Fisher can be seen as himself lighting a show in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979).

Tony Award wins 
for Best Lighting Design:
1973 Pippin
1974 Ulysses in Nighttown
1978 Dancin'
1990 Grand Hotel
1991 The Will Rogers Follies
1992 Jelly's Last Jam
1996 Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk (shared with partner Peggy Eisenhauer)
2004 Assassins (shared with partner Peggy Eisenhauer)
2013 Lucky Guy (shared with partner Peggy Eisenhauer)

Tony Award nominations 
for Best Lighting Design:
1972 Jesus Christ Superstar
1976 Chicago
1978 Beatlemania
1978 Dancin' (Best Musical, as producer)
1984 La Cage aux Folles
1986 Song & Dance
1993 Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
1994 Angels in America: Perestroika
1998 Ragtime (shared with partner Peggy Eisenhauer)
2000 Marie Christine and The Wild Party (shared with partner Peggy Eisenhauer)
2018 Once on this Island (shared with partner Peggy Eisenhauer)
2019 Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (shared with partner Peggy Eisenhauer)

References

External links
 
 
 Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer papers and designs, 1960-2007, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
 Hair Original Broadway production complete lighting paperwork, light plot, hookup, shop order, focus charts, magic sheets and production notes at the New York Public Library Theatrical Lighting Database

1937 births
Living people
People from Norristown, Pennsylvania
American lighting designers
Tony Award winners
Drama Desk Award winners
Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni