Selick left Disney and Burbank for northern California where he founded his own production company, Selick Projects. He became known for producing dense, jam-packed promos for MTV including a Clio award-winning spot called "Haircut M" in which a fanciful insect carves the station logo into a red big hairdo. Working for the San Francisco-based Colossal Pictures, Selick also revitalized the then 28-year-old Pillsbury Doughboy campaign. He also helmed the award-winning Ritz Bits ad in which hundreds of crackers ski down peanut butter slopes and fly to the moon in search of cheese.
MTV sponsored Selick's most ambitious project up to that time--"Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions" (1990), a surreal six-minute short combining stop-motion and live action. He was subsequently recruited by fellow Disney alumnus Tim Burton to helm his "Nightmare", the first full-length stop-motion animated feature produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Selick Projects transformed into Skellington Productions in 1991 for this massive project. A critical and commercial hit, "Nightmare" led to another stop-motion feature for Disney, "James and the Giant Peach" (1996). Even more complex than its predecessor, the film combined stop-motion animation with elements of computer-generated imagery and live-action. Selick also directed the film's extensive live-action prologue. The film opened to critical and commercial acclaim.