Josh Selig
{{Short description|American screenwriter (born 1964)}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Josh Selig
|image =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|5|12}}
|birth_place = Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, U.S.
|education = Sarah Lawrence College{{cite news |title=Interview with Josh Selig |url=http://m.nymetroparents.com/article/-with-JOSH-SELIG |work=NYMetroParents.com |publisher=Metro New York |date=September 21, 2004 |access-date=April 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508200139/http://m.nymetroparents.com/article/-with-JOSH-SELIG |archive-date=May 8, 2016 |url-status=dead }}
|occupation = Television director, producer, writer
|website = {{url|https://www.littleairplane.com/}}}}
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.{{cite news |title=The Hit BBC Show 3rd & Bird Launches on Disney Junior |url=http://www.bbcwpressroom.com/sales-and-co-productions/press/the-hit-bbc-show-3rd-bird-launches-on-disney-junior-monday-september-26/ |work=BBCWPressroom.com |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=August 15, 2011}} 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.{{cite news |title=The Hit BBC Show 3rd & Bird Launches on Disney Junior |url=http://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/little-airplane-launches-littlest-lamb/?doing_wp_cron=1459626823.1294848918914794921875 |work=AnimationMagazine.net |publisher=Animation Magazine |last=Zahed |first=Ramin |date=October 1, 2012}}
Josh Selig left Little Airplane in 2020.{{cite web | url=https://www.awn.com/news/josh-selig-and-sharon-gomes-exit-studio-100s-little-airplane-productions | title=Josh Selig and Sharon Gomes Exit Studio 100's Little Airplane Productions }}
Early life
Josh Selig was born on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.{{cite web |title=Josh Selig, Little Airplane Productions |url=http://gothamist.com/2006/01/24/josh_selig_litt.php |work=Gothamist.com |publisher=Gothamist |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412144200/http://gothamist.com/2006/01/24/josh_selig_litt.php |archivedate=2016-04-12 }} He began his career as a child actor on Sesame Street during its first two seasons.{{cite news |last=Halperin |first=Rory |title=Behind the Scenes with the Creator of Oobi |url=http://littleairplane.com/press/child/index.html |work=Child.com |date=August 1, 2004}}{{cite web |title=Josh Selig - Wonder Pets! - Nick Animation Studio |url=https://nickanimationstudio.com/josh-selig-wonder-pets |publisher=Viacom International, Inc.}} As a young adult, Selig attended Sarah Lawrence College, where he studied theater and poetry.{{cite web |title=Dream Jobs in the Real World |url=https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/news-events/archived/2009-2010/dream-jobs-in-the-real-world.html |publisher=Sarah Lawrence College |access-date=2016-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508205801/https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/news-events/archived/2009-2010/dream-jobs-in-the-real-world.html |archive-date=2016-05-08 |url-status=dead }} He returned to Sesame Street in 1988 as a writer.{{cite news |last=Brennan |first=Patricia |title=20 Years Later, It's Still an Experiment |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1988/11/13/20-years-later-its-still-an-experiment/9c8073a3-1237-4ac7-a339-4f7915f8d514/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=November 13, 1988}} He also worked on the Israeli-Palestinian{{cite news |last=Selig |first=Josh |title=Muppets Succeed Where Politicians Haven't |url=http://www.littleairplane.com/press/nytimes_032998/nytimes_030298.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 29, 1998}} and Polish{{cite news |title=Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk |url=http://culture.pl/en/artist/malgorzata-sikorska-miszczuk |work=Culture.pl |publisher=Adam Mickiewicz Institute |date=March 6, 2016}} adaptations of the show during the 1990s.{{cite news |title=Oobi Does It - Newsweek |url=http://www.littleairplane.com/press/newsweek/index.html |work=Newsweek.com |last=Gostin |first=Nicki |date=1 October 2004 |accessdate=13 March 2016 |archive-date=5 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105043619/http://www.littleairplane.com/press/newsweek/index.html |url-status=dead }}
Career
In 1998, he conceived the idea for Little Airplane Productions.{{cite news |title=Little Airplane Productions - Greenburger Associates |url=http://greenburger.com/client/little-airplane-productions/ |work=Greenburger.com |publisher=Sanford J. Greenburger Associates |accessdate=19 April 2016}} The company was initially a joint effort between Selig and Lori Shaer (née Sherman).{{cite web |title=Animation Solo to Studio |url=http://www.awn.com/animationworld/animation-solo-studio |work=Animation World Network |date=23 February 2007}} 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.{{cite news|title=Oobi Does It: The creator of a popular children's show discusses his low-tech success|url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6153394/site/newsweek|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041027075904/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6153394/site/newsweek|archivedate=October 27, 2004|last=Gostin|first=Nicki|date=October 1, 2004|accessdate=March 13, 2016|work=Newsweek|publisher=IBT Media|via=MSNBC News|url-status=dead}} 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. In 2003, Selig wrote and directed a short film titled The Time-Out Chair. Written and directed by Selig, the film premiered at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival{{cite magazine |title=Talking Shop with Josh Selig |url=http://www.littleairplane.com/press/BigAppleParent/index.html |publisher=Big Apple Parent |date=1 September 2004 |access-date=20 April 2016 |archive-date=5 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305011009/http://www.littleairplane.com/press/BigAppleParent/index.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |title=Josh Selig, Little Airplane Productions |url=http://gothamist.com/2006/01/24/josh_selig_litt.php |work=Gothamist.com |publisher=Gothamist LLC |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412144200/http://gothamist.com/2006/01/24/josh_selig_litt.php |archivedate=2016-04-12 }} and was later acquired by the Museum of Modern Art.{{cite web |title=Wonder Pets Creator Has Time Out with Live-Action Short |url=http://www.awn.com/news/wonder-pets-creator-has-time-out-live-action-short |work=Animation World Network |date=13 January 2011}}{{cite web |title=See 'The Time-Out Chair' at MoMA's Family Films Series on Saturday, January 15 |url=https://www.timeout.com/new-york-kids/tony-kids-blog/see-the-time-out-chair-at-momas-family-films-series-on-saturday-january-15 |work=Time Out New York |date=14 January 2011}}{{cite book |author=Máire Messenger Davies |title=Children, Media and Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8QtFBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 |date=1 April 2010 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education |isbn=978-0-335-24006-7 |pages=164–}} Profits from Oobi allowed Selig to create an animation division at Little Airplane, leading it to shift to an animation-based studio.{{Cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/2007/04/22/kids-corner-qa-wonder-petss-josh-selig/|title = Kids' Corner Q&A: The Wonder Pets's Josh Selig| magazine=Entertainment Weekly }}
Selig, formerly a member of the Writers Guild of America, East, left and maintained financial core status.{{cite web | url=https://www.wgaeast.org/enforcement/wgae-financial-core-list/ | title=WGAE Financial Core List }}
Selig created Go, Baby! in 2004 as a series for Playhouse Disney.{{cite news |title=Little Airplane Productions and HIT Entertainment Join Forces in Partnership to Develop New Preschool Series |url=http://www.hitentertainment.com/corporate/PRPDFs/HITEntertainmentandLittleAirplane.pdf |publisher=HIT Entertainment |date=1 October 2009}} In 2003, he directed two pilots for the Wonder Pets! series along with Jennifer Oxley.{{cite news |title=Linny the Guinea Pig in Space - Tribeca Film |url=https://tribecafilm.com/filmguide/archive/512cdc9e1c7d76e0460002df-linny-the-guinea-pig-spac |publisher=Tribeca Film Festival |accessdate=19 April 2016 |archive-date=13 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513043206/https://tribecafilm.com/filmguide/archive/512cdc9e1c7d76e0460002df-linny-the-guinea-pig-spac |url-status=dead }} The show premiered in the United States on March 3, 2006 on Nickelodeon and Noggin.{{cite news |title='Wonder Pets!' to the rescue |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-03-et-wonder3-story.html |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |date=3 March 2006 |last=Lloyd |first=Robert}}{{cite magazine |title=A review of Nick Jr.'s smart new show |url=https://www.ew.com/article/2006/03/08/review-nick-jrs-smart-new-show-and-more |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=8 March 2006}} Selig opened two new branches of Little Airplane in London and Abu Dhabi in 2007.{{cite news |title=What's New at Little Airplane Productions |url=http://www.littleairplane.com/whats-new/default.aspx |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080806125336/http://www.littleairplane.com/whats-new/default.aspx |archivedate=6 August 2008 |publisher=Little Airplane Productions}} Josh Selig's first international co-production, 3rd & Bird, debuted on CBeebies in June 2008.{{cite news |title=CBeebies to show 3rd & Bird |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/05_may/08/bird.shtml |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=5 May 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.{{cite web |title=Meet the Small Potatoes |url=http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/meet-the-small-potatoes-0 |publisher=American Cinematheque |date=26 April 2013}} In the same year, he pitched a pilot titled The Jo B. & G. Raff Show! to Amazon Studios, which was not picked up.{{cite news |title=Amazon Studios Announces Four Animated Kids' Pilots |url=http://www.cartoonbrew.com/internet-television/amazon-studios-announces-four-animated-kids-pilots-86889.html |publisher=Cartoon Brew |date=6 August 2013 |last=Edwards |first=C.}}{{cite web |title=The Jo B. & G. Raff Show! - Amazon Studios |url=https://www.amazon.com/The-Jo-B-G-Raff-Show/dp/B00I3MNXC4 |publisher=Amazon Inc. |date=6 February 2014}} He is currently the creator and executive producer of Disney's P. King Duckling and of the South Korean series Super Wings.{{cite magazine |title='Super Wings!' Ready for Take Off for Cannes |url=http://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/super-wings-ready-take-cannes/ |magazine=Animation Magazine |date=2 September 2013 |last=Zahed |first=Ramin}}{{cite news |title=Disney Picks Up 'P. King Duckling' |url=http://www.licensemag.com/license-global/mip-disney-picks-p-king-duckling |publisher=License Global Magazine |date=5 October 2015}}
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Little Airplane Productions}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selig, Josh}}
Category:Television producers from New York City
Category:American television directors
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni
Category:People from the Upper West Side
Category:Writers from Manhattan