[6] After his academic studies, he went to work for Walt Disney Studios as an "in-betweener" and animator trainee on such films as Pete's Dragon and The Small One.

During his time at Disney, he met and worked around the likes of Rick Heinrichs, Jorgen Klubien, Brad Bird, John Musker, Dan Haskett, Sue and Bill Kroyer, Ed Gombert, Andy Gaskill, and Tim Burton.

Years later, Selick claimed he learned a lot to improve his drawing, animation, and storytelling skills from Disney legend Eric Larson.

Selick's third feature was Monkeybone, a live-action/stop-motion adaptation of an underground comic, Dark Town by Kaja Blackley, produced by 20th Century Fox.

[9] Selick, who kept in contact with Anderson, said the director would act out scenes in Fantastic Mr. Fox while in Paris and send them to the animators via iPhone.

His new studio, called Cinderbiter Productions, was self-described as "a new stop motion company whose mandate is to make great, scary films for young 'uns with a small, tight-knit crew who watch each other's backs.

[16][18] Selick revealed in 2022 that the film suffered from interference from then-CCO of Pixar John Lasseter, who he claimed came in and constantly changed elements of the script and production that ended up ballooning the budget.

[22] In February 2013, it was reported in a press release by Selick that K5 International would be handling sales for The Shadow King at the European Film Market.

[28] In June 2017, Selick was reported to direct the pilot and subsequent episodes of a Little Nightmares TV adaptation produced by the Russo brothers.

[29] In June 2024, it was announced that Selick was developing a stop-motion film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2013 novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane, as well as reviving The Shadow King as a graphic novel.

[30] In August 2024, Selick implied The Ocean at the End of the Lane was back in limbo, saying in an interview while promoting the theatrical re-release of Coraline, "I would hope that it might still come together, but I have no predictions.