When 11-year-old Lachlan Macfarlane first picked up his dad’s camera and tried to recreate the visual effects he loved in Star Wars, Back to the Future and Doctor Who, his younger brother soon found himself being drafted into the production.
“I just needed Austin as an actor,” Lachlan remembers.
“As a movable prop,” Austin corrects him.
Soon, Austin was doing more than standing where he was told. He started editing, the brothers started making videos together, and a filmmaking partnership was born.
Today, a typical Macfarlane Brothers video packs comedy, action and ambitious visual effects into just a few seconds. Using tools like After Effects and Unreal Engine, they turn everyday locations and scenarios into miniature movies, sci-fi scenes and visual gags made for the feed.
It’s a formula that’s taken the Brisbane brothers around the world, earned them hundreds of millions of views and led to work with Google, Warner Bros, Sony Pictures and Amazon Prime.
But the format that changed everything for them came relatively late. After years of making YouTube sketches and short films, the brothers started experimenting with vertical video in 2022.
“The very first one got a thousand views, and at the time we were freaking out,” Austin says. “A few weeks in, we got 20,000 views on a video, and we were in the comments saying, ‘Oh my gosh, thank you so much guys. This is huge.’ Then the next week we got our first million views.
“That was pretty validating. It gave us a reason to just keep going.”
While they’ve become hugely successful content creators, they still see themselves as filmmakers first.
“Social media was really an avenue for us to achieve a career in filmmaking,” Lachlan says.
The traditional filmmaking path often means starting as a runner, production assistant or junior in post-production, then gradually working towards directing. The brothers saw another way in.
“I felt like I had more to offer by taking the social media route and creating my own work,” Lachlan says. “You get the experience of creating something every week, putting it out and having it be an original thing, rather than being a small part of someone else’s project.”
That constant output became its own kind of film school.
“A lot of the videos that we make are pretty short, but when you’re making them weekly, it’s a good opportunity to flex that creative muscle,” Austin adds. “I’d say I’m a much better filmmaker now than I was four years ago.”
Making their own work helped the brothers develop a recognisable style. Working with brands means protecting it.
“Our approach whenever we work with a client is to make it feel like a Macfarlane Brothers video first and foremost,” Austin says.
That balance between creator voice and client needs is one of the topics they’ll explore at Content Summit 2027. They’ll also tackle something marketers have spent plenty of time trying to crack: the algorithm.
“There’s this mystique surrounding social media platforms about the algorithm and upload times and scheduling and all this kind of thing,” Austin says. “Truthfully, we don’t really think about the algorithm that much.”
Instead, the brothers follow a piece of advice they heard years ago. Replace the word “algorithm” with “audience”.
“Social media algorithms change all the time,” Lachlan says. “But viewing habits don’t change nearly as much. What people respond to is pretty consistent.”
That audience-first philosophy will also shape how they judge the 2027 Content Summit Awards.
“I love watching stuff,” Austin says, “so I’m just keen to see what people make.”
“I love ranking things,” Lachlan adds.
For Austin, originality is the quickest way to stand out.
“I’ve got a whole folder of videos where I’m like, ‘I’ve literally never seen any sort of creative approach like this before,’” he says. “So I think what I’m looking for is originality and creativity.”
Lachlan will be watching for work that understands both its platform and its audience.
“There’s a very thin line,” he says. “It has to feel professional enough for the brand, but still a little bit homemade. When something hits that balance perfectly, you recognise it as truly great.”
Ultimately, they’re looking for work that people might actually want to watch.
“There are a lot of bad ads out there,” Lachlan says. “Advertising is something that people usually dislike.
“I think it’s the responsibility of people in this industry to make something genuinely interesting, something that makes someone’s day or adds a little value to their life.”
Hear more from the Macfarlane Brothers at Content Summit Australia, 9-10 March 2027 at Brisbane Powerhouse. Early bird pricing is available until 31 December 2026, unless tickets sell out earlier. Book your tickets now.
Got work you want to put in front of the Macfarlane Brothers and the rest of our judging panel? Enter the 2027 Content Summit Awards.
Featuring two packed days at the Brisbane Powerhouse, you’ll hear from the people and brands doing content best, through inspiring keynotes, real-talk panels and deep thinky sessions across three dedicated content tracks.
