Josh Selig

Joshua Selig (born May 12, 1964) is an American television producer and director. He won ten Daytime Emmy Awards for his work as a writer on Sesame Street. After leaving Sesame Street, Selig partnered with Lori Shaer to create a studio called Little Airplane Productions. Through Little Airplane, Selig produced Oobi for Noggin, Wonder Pets! for Nickelodeon, and 3rd & Bird for the BBC.

Early life Josh Selig was born on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He began his career as a child actor on Sesame Street during its first two seasons. As a young adult, Selig attended Sarah Lawrence College, where he studied theater and poetry. He returned to Sesame Street in 1988 as a writer. He also worked on the Israeli-Palestinian and Polish adaptations of the show during the 1990s.

Career In 1998, he conceived the idea for Little Airplane Productions. The company was initially a joint effort between Selig and Lori Shaer (née Sherman). Until 2005, the studio's works were solely live-action. Oobi was the first original series produced by the company; it began as a series of interstitials in 2000 and later ran for two seasons of half-hour episodes. The series was heavily inspired by Selig's time as a Sesame Street writer; he based its puppet characters on a training method used by Muppet performers learning to lip-sync, in which they use their bare hands and a pair of ping pong balls instead of a puppet. and was later acquired by the Museum of Modern Art. Profits from Oobi allowed Selig to create an animation division at Little Airplane, leading it to shift to an animation-based studio.

Selig, formerly a member of the Writers Guild of America, East, left and maintained financial core status.

Selig created Go, Baby! in 2004 as a series for Playhouse Disney. In 2003, he directed two pilots for the Wonder Pets! series along with Jennifer Oxley. The show premiered in the United States on March 3, 2006 on Nickelodeon and Noggin. Selig opened two new branches of Little Airplane in London and Abu Dhabi in 2007. Josh Selig's first international co-production, 3rd & Bird, debuted on CBeebies in June 2008. He continued to produce short-form series throughout the 2010s. Small Potatoes, commissioned by Disney Junior, spawned a television movie that Selig directed in 2013. In the same year, he pitched a pilot titled The Jo B. & G. Raff Show! to Amazon Studios, which was not picked up. He is currently the creator and executive producer of Disney's P. King Duckling and of the South Korean series Super Wings.

Filmography + Year Title Credit(s) Ref. 1969–19711988–2002 Sesame Street 1999–2000 Little Bill Head writer 2000–2005 Oobi 2003 The Time-Out Chair 2003 Fisher-Price Baby Development videos 2004 Go, Baby! Creator 2006 Tarzan: The Musical Animation director 2006–2016 Wonder Pets! 2010 Tobi! Creator The Olive Branch 2011 Small Potatoes 2013 Meet the Small Potatoes 2014 Domo Rock! The Jo B. & G. Raff Show! 2015 Super Wings Executive producer 2016–2017 P. King Duckling

Awards and nominations Year Presenter Category/Award Work Status Ref. 1990 17th Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Children's Series (shared with other writers) Sesame Street 1991 18th Daytime Emmy Awards 1992 19th Daytime Emmy Awards 1993 20th Daytime Emmy Awards 1994 21st Daytime Emmy Awards 1995 22nd Daytime Emmy Awards 1996 23rd Daytime Emmy Awards 1997 24th Daytime Emmy Awards 1998 25th Daytime Emmy Awards 1999 26th Daytime Emmy Awards 2000 27th Daytime Emmy Awards 2001 Parents' Choice Foundation Television Gold Award Oobi Coalition for Quality Children's Media Kids First Endorsement Award Best Children's Film or Video 28th Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Children's Series (shared with other writers) Sesame Street 2002 29th Daytime Emmy Awards 2003 30th Daytime Emmy Awards 2004 Humanitas Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation Little Bill Parents' Choice Foundation Television Silver Honor Oobi 2008 Crain Communications Crain's Small Business Award N/A 2009 NHK Japan Prize Best TV Series Wonder Pets! Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Innovation Award Oobi 2010 2010 Gracie Awards Outstanding Children/Adolescent Animated Program Wonder Pets! BAMkids Film Festival Best Short Film for Ages 2–5 Small Potatoes 2012 39th Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition Wonder Pets! 2014 41st Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Pre-School Children's Animated Program Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition 2015 3rd Canadian Screen Awards Best Pre-School Program or Series The Adventures of Napkin Man