On Thursday, January 19th, New York Film Academy Los Angeles students teamed up with The Young Storytellers and a local elementary school. The Young Storytellers is an organization that helps students of all ages create, revise, edit, and showcase a screenplay.
For the past ten weeks, mentors for the New York Film Academy have met with ten future storytellers. The children, between the ages of eight and ten, wrote stories inspired by their best friends, little brothers, favorite films, and conquering their fears. Each story ends with a lesson they think other kids need to learn.
In the morning the kids were introduced to a dozen NYFA actors. The actors auditioned by showing off their accents, animal impersonations, and acrobatic skills. The children handed out their scripts to their selections and gave detailed descriptions of how they originally envisioned characters.
Students entered the auditorium on a paparazzi (made up of their mentors) lined red carpet and thunderous applause from their classmates. One by one the students presented their work to the entire student body. Before the show began each mentor explained their mentees’ journey and spoke highly of the accomplishments achieved.
Lead mentor Menno said of the experience, “We really want to make the kids feel special. We don’t do this program to get students into the Golden Globes one day. We’re here to help them become more confident and better public speakers.”
The New York Film Academy would like to thank The Young Storytellers for partnering with us to complete this project. To learn more about Young Storytellers, click here.