Josh Selig

We’ve seen Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and now WordGirl, but never before have we seen a duckling, a guinea pig and a turtle out to save the world. But those are precisely the stars of The Wonder Pets!, created by Josh Selig, who not only writes and produces preschool shows, he has lived in one—Selig was one of the preschoolers in the cast of Sesame Street during its first two seasons. Today he heads up Little Airplane Productions, a company he established in 1999 that specializes in preschool programming. Selig says he grew up believing that furry monsters, alphabets and Hooper’s Store were real, so what else could he do but make shows for 2- to 5-year-olds—no one else would take him!

Selig has built a successful business catering to the entertainment needs of preschoolers, and particularly four-year-olds. “At four years old, kids are really focused on what I consider to be the right things—friends, family, play, generosity, they are very kind and patient with each other,” he explains. “Something happens with humans as we get a little older. We get a little more focused on ‘myself’ and hording things. And for some reason right around age four seems to be this perfect [time] where kids are very creative. When music is turned on they dance. When you give them paints, they paint. They have a lot of unselfconsciousness that adults simply don’t have. And it really leads to an imaginative, open creative and beautiful time of life.”

After college, Selig returned to Sesame Street as a writer. He later directed short films and worked on the Israeli-Palestinian co-production of the show. Along the way he won ten Emmys, but he has always remembered what head writer Norman Stiles told him. “He used to remind me, ‘Josh, these characters have souls,’ and that changed my whole perspective on how I would write,” explains Selig. “Often when it comes to writing children’s material, writers do it in a very two-dimentional way. We don’t here. We take our scripts very seriously. We’ve been known to easily go through ten drafts of a script until we get it right. And to me it’s all about that texture. It’s what’s really the underlying meaning of the script. And if there isn’t some real weight to it or importance, then chances are we’ll move on and find other subjects to write about.”

The first show Little Airplane sold was Oobi, featuring bare-hand puppets adorned with eyes, hair, clothing and minimal props. The series now airs on NOGGIN. Selig and his team are currently working on two shows. The Wonder Pets! is about three classroom pets who sing opera and travel the world to save animals in distress and airs on Nick Jr., and 3rd & Bird is a commission for CBeebies about living in a community and is full of singing, whistling and dancing.

Selig not only has a different approach to writing children’s material, he has organized the workspace at Little Airplane in a completely different layout from traditional production companies. Everyone involved in a show—writers, designers, animators, producers and editors—all work in the same space. This setup facilitates communication and the sharing of ideas.

Both The Wonder Pets! and 3rd & Bird are produced in a unique way that combines the rich colors of real photographs with the flexibility of animation. This “photo-puppetry” animation, created by Jennifer Oxley, the creative director at Little Airplane, allows animators to manipulate photos of real animals in a process they call “cutification.” The animators take an image of a character and the backgrounds and make them sweeter by pushing back the harsher textures and bringing out the softer ones.

Selig says he gets his inspiration from all different places. “On The Wonder Pets! I was really interested in the idea of creating superheroes [whose] only superpower is the ability to use teamwork, which is something every preschooler has. It was a very empowering idea for a show—if you work with your friends and family, you can accomplish amazing things. It’s a show without villains, which is also unusual when it comes to superhero shows. So there are these very familiar characters—pets, which most children have—who can really do these exceptional things.”

3rd & Bird was triggered by some images Selig had seen of interesting handmade birdhouses. “It struck me as a great idea for the setting of a show—a very beautiful birdhouse in a tree,” he explains. “I was also interested in the idea of a community and what is possible when a community looks inward to solve problems. The Wonder Pets! is show where the pets leave their classroom to help others in outside places. 3rd & Bird is a show where the problems are solved locally.”

All of Selig’s shows make use of music. “Music is a strong pull for any young child,” he says. “We believe that music is one of the key elements in the success of any show. It helps tell a story. It adds an emotional depth to any plot. It helps the children feel what’s going on. I can’t even remember a time when we pitched a show where the music wasn’t central to the plot.”

Introducing young children to many musical styles is only one way that Selig sets his company apart from the rest. “We really came into this business to make content as an end; it wasn’t to make money, it was to make content,” he explains. “We are more than happy to do just a couple of series and do them really well and be really happy with each and every image, and each and every episode. We would rather love everything we do and not do so much of it, than to do lots and lots of series and feel that they were mediocre or they weren’t our best possible work. We’re really much more about making great work than we are about pursuing a business plan or hitting a new target. Of course, we want to survive and we are happy to prosper, but we are really focused on making great shows, first and foremost.”