More than 156 Victorians have brought Seth MacFarlane's obscene yet loveable bear, Ted, to life for a television series announced today by NBCUniversal.
Melbourne's award winning VFX studio, Framestore originally created the iconic digital character for the first and second Ted films and will soon see their latest work on the new event series, a prequel, hit screens around the world.
Ted is the largest package of VFX work ever attracted to Victoria, cementing the state's position as a global home for high-end VFX. The production injected up to $22 million into the Victorian economy, creating 156 local jobs at Framestore, where the team worked on the series for over a year.
Today's announcement follows a record year for the visual effects, animation and post-production activity backed by VicScreen, with last financial year generating over $92 million in Victorian direct economic expenditure and over 550 full-time equivalent jobs.
In this comedic prequel event series to the Ted films, it's 1993, and Ted the bear's (Seth MacFarlane) moment of fame has passed. He's now living back home in Framingham, Massachusetts with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett (Max Burkholder), along with John's parents, Matty and Susan (Scott Grimes and Alanna Ubach) and cousin Blaire (Giorgia Whigham). Ted may be a lousy influence on John, but at the end of the day, he's a loyal pal who's always willing to go out on a limb for friendship.
Get ready for stitch inducing laughter – with Seth MacFarlane returning as the voice of Ted, in addition to having directed, written, co-showrun, and executive produced the series with co-showrunners, writers, and fellow executive producers Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh.
Seth MacFarlane raved about Framestore's work on his social media, "Framestore's studio in Melbourne has surpassed themselves with their exquisite VFX work on Ted for Peacock. Much gratitude to our Aussie friends."
An image from @Framestore Melbourne, who have surpassed themselves with their exquisite VFX work on "Ted" for @peacock. Much gratitude to our Aussie friends! pic.twitter.com/npvuECDTmc
— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) November 12, 2023
Caroline Pitcher, VicScreen CEO said, "Victoria is renowned for creating visual effects for some of the world's biggest blockbusters including Emmy Award winning Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, Feng Shen and Lyle Lyle Crocodile. The continued attraction of some of world's biggest projects highlights the world-class VFX talent we have on offer."
Lara Hopkins Framestore Head of Studio said, "Seth has been an incredible creative partner for Framestore's Melbourne team to work closely with, it's been one of the most rewarding and fun projects we have worked on. We are very proud of the work which will no doubt shine a light on our fantastic talent in Melbourne and bring even more global projects for our incredible team."
Framestore VFX Supervisor, Glenn Melenhorst said, "Bringing Ted to life for the first two films was a career highlight I didn't think I could top - until this new show came along. Working with Seth and Blair has been a masterclass in acting for comedy and an experience I will treasure. It's been a genuine pleasure to get the old team back together."
Framestore Executive VFX Producer, Ineke Majoor said, "I started discussions with Fuzzy Door's executive Jason Clark back in 2021 around the feasibility of bringing our beloved Ted character to a streaming series for Peacock Entertainment. It was a daunting prospect to say the least producing over 2400 Ted shots within a year. By far the biggest project that Framestore's Melbourne team has ever undertaken and the results are nothing short of astonishing. Seth McFarlane clearly agrees."
Ted is produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, Fuzzy Door and MRC Television for Peacock, with Victorian VFX work facilitated by Matchbox Pictures, and is set to premiere on 11 January in the United States and on BINGE in Australia.
The project was attracted to Victoria by VicScreen's Victorian Screen Incentive, which brings some of the world's most electrifying screen projects to life.
