EXCLUSIVE: AI Studio Staircase Studios AI and Made by Us Studios are teaming on a joint venture to develop and produce Ollie the Octopus, an animated children’s series centered on social-emotional learning for kids ages 4–8.
Based on an original idea by Made by US Co-CEO Tanya Cohen, with story and characters by Chela Reyna and Dr. Simonne Cohen, the series is set in the vibrant underwater world of Octlantis and follows Ollie — a young octopus with a special gift: when he becomes emotionally triggered, each of his eight arms lights up with colors to represent a different feeling — anger, jealousy, sadness, fear, happiness, and more.
Together with his family and friends, Ollie learns to overcome challenges and understand how his feelings shape his experience of the world. Each episode introduces clinically-grounded emotional regulation tools — including Bubble Breaths, a Calm Cave, and a Reset Button — designed not only to entertain but to give young viewers real skills they can carry into daily life.
The series curriculum has been developed in consultation with child psychologist Dr. Simonne Cohen, and is designed to meet the gold standard in safe, evidence-based digital development for young audiences.
Ollie the Octopus launches with one of the largest creator-led distribution footprints in children’s animation. Forbes and Rolling Stone Top Creator Adam Waheed aka Adam W (68.5M followers), award-winning comedy creator Hannah Stocking (74.8M followers), and top creator Anwar Jibawi (83M) are amongst the talent attached as featured voices and will anchor the promotional campaign across their platforms.
Made By Us will announce additional voice talent cast for the series from their client roster, which includes some of today’s most influential, award-winning creators. The full lineup represents a combined reach of 629.6 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
“We’re dedicated to building meaningful projects that meet audiences where they are,” said Leanne Perice and Tanya Cohen, Co-CEOs of Made By Us Studios. “Ollie the Octopus reflects where content is headed: built with creators and designed for how audiences engage with entertainment today. We believe today’s most impactful stories are shaped in collaboration with creators and the communities they influence.”
The series is being produced as a joint venture between Staircase Studios AI and Made by Us Studios using Staircase’s Studio Omni production platform. Studio Omni,publicly launched this month, is Staircase’s all-in-one ‘Hollywood studio in a box’ combining advanced AI toolkits with direct access to working Hollywood talent. Every production is union-compliant, with human writers, directors, actors, artists, and musicians at the center of the creative process.
“Ollie is precisely the type of home run project we have been building towards over the past 18 months,” said Pouya Shahbazian, founder and CEO of Staircase Studios AI. “With our speed, efficiency, and quality, we can hit the standards of Hollywood series while bypassing the legacy bottlenecks that traditionally stall high-quality animation. For us, Ollie and Studio Omni are the perfect pairing of a franchise and a franchise-generating machine.”
The studios have pledged a donation that a percantage of royalties of all toys and merchandise sold will go back to oceanic conservations efforts.