MacFarlane initially conceived "Family Guy" in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During college, he created his thesis film entitled "The Life of Larry", which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane was hired by the company. In 1996 MacFarlane created a sequel to "The Life of Larry" entitled "Larry and Steve", which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's "World Premiere Toons".