Little Airplane Productions

**Little Airplane Productions** is an American television production company co-founded by Josh Selig and Lori Shaer (née Sherman)[1] in 1999. The company produced *Oobi* for Noggin, *Wonder Pets!* for Nickelodeon, and *3rd & Bird* for the BBC. It has also released independent short films. Since 2017, the company has been owned by Studio 100, which entered a co-production agreement to create the comedy series *Doctor Space* with Little Airplane.[2][3]

The company's main studio is located in New York City's South Street Seaport.[4] Filming, animation, design, and storyboarding work are completed in a 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) building. The studio also has a recording facility for voice-over and music. In mid-2007, the company opened new studios in London and Abu Dhabi, following the announcement of *3rd & Bird*.

Lori Shaer left Little Airplane in 2002, but she continued to be given a "special thanks" credit on the second and third seasons of *Oobi*. Josh Selig left the company in 2020.[5]

## History

The studio's first logo used a scene from the short film "I'm a Little Airplane."
Second logo, used until 2021

Both Josh Selig and Lori Shaer (named Lori Sherman until her marriage) worked for Sesame Workshop in the mid-1990s.[6] After being laid off, Selig partnered with Shaer to open a studio in New York City. For the first year, they both worked out of a "one-room office in Tribeca" and did not make much money.

Selig explained that they called their payment formula "a third, a third and a third, meaning every time we finished a small production job, we would split whatever profit was left in the budget three ways. Lori got a third. I got a third. And Little Airplane got a third. That first year we both earned less than the guy washing our windows."[7]

The name "Little Airplane" was derived from a 1994 short film that Selig had produced for *Sesame Street* called "I'm a Little Airplane."[8] At first, Little Airplane only produced similar live-action content, including *Oobi* and a film called *The Time-Out Chair*. The studio did not create its own animation until creative director Jennifer Oxley joined the staff. She developed a style of animation called "photo-puppetry" that was used in many of the studio's later works, including *Wonder Pets!* and *3rd & Bird*.[9]

## Productions

### Television

* *Oobi* was the studio's first show. It starred a cast of bare-hand puppets, led by a boy named Oobi. It premiered on Noggin in 2000.[10] The first season was made up of two-minute shorts, while the second and third seasons were made up of longer episodes spanning 10-13 minutes each.[11]
* *Wonder Pets!* was the studio's second series,[12] focusing on the adventures of three classroom pets.[13] It ran for three seasons. It was originally shown on Nickelodeon, with premieres moved to the separate Nick Jr. Channel during the third season.
* *3rd & Bird* is an animated series co-produced by Little Airplane Productions and CBeebies. The series premiered on CBeebies in July 2008 and aired in 18 territories abroad.
* *Tobi!* is a series of four-minute visual poems that aired on Treehouse TV in Canada. It was distributed by the Paris-based company AWOL Animation.[14]
* *Small Potatoes* debuted at the 12th annual BAMKids International Film Festival. It is currently airing on CBeebies.
* *The Adventures of Napkin Man!* is a series that combines live action and animation. It was created by Selig and Tone Thyne, and it premiered in 2013.
* Little Airplane provided English voices and scripts for the first three seasons of *Super Wings*, an animated series about airplanes co-produced with FunnyFlux Entertainment in South Korea and Alpha Group in China.
* *The Olive Branch* is a series of one-minute stories about two characters who achieve conflict resolution, told without words.[15]
* *P. King Duckling* is a co-production with Uyoung Animation, a Chinese company. The series premiered on Disney Junior on November 7, 2016.[16]
* The Dog & Pony Show is an animated series created by Josh Selig and co-produced with RedKnot (a joint venture between Nelvana and Discovery).[17]
* *Doctor Space* is an upcoming animated comedy series, created and written by Selig and Billy Lopez. It is being co-developed by Little Airplane, Studio 100, and Fantawild.[3] *Doctor Space* is currently in the development process along with other projects like *Fun Town Wheels*, *Build it Dinos*, *Mike's Amazing Movers*, *Butterfly Fairy Friends*, and *Orion's Belt*.

### Other

* *The Time-Out Chair* is a short film produced by the studio in 2002. The short was filmed in East Village, Manhattan and shown at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival.[18]
* *Linny the Guinea Pig* is a collection of two short films about a guinea pig who embarks on adventures. The shorts, which inspired the *Wonder Pets!* show, were aired on Nickelodeon in 2003.[19]
* Little Airplane produced the animation for a segment called "Son of Man" for the 2006 Broadway production of *Tarzan*.[10]
* Little Airplane produced a series of PSA commercials for the YMCA of Greater New York in 2010.[20]
* *A Laurie Berkner Christmas*, an album by Laurie Berkner, was recorded and mixed by Little Airplane Productions in 2012.[21]
* *The Jo B. & G. Raff Show!* was a television pilot for Amazon Studios that Little Airplane produced in 2014.[22][23]