Young Storytellers
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1997
- HeadquartersLos Angeles, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
Young Storytellers firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Young Storytellers
- Legal name
- Young Storytellers
- Website
- https://www.youngstorytellers.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1997
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Young Storytellers industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Youth Arts Education Services
- NAICS
- Fine Arts Schools (61161), Educational Services (61)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Playwriting & Scriptwriting Workshops (Stage) (EDAMAMAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Children’s & YA Writing Workshops (EDAMAMAF)
Keywords
Where Young Storytellers is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Los Angeles
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Young Storytellers business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Individual Donations: One-time and monthly donations from individual supporters. Monthly donors receive student stories through Story Club. Donations fund program operations at schools.
- Corporate Partnerships: Financial gifts and in-kind support from corporations. Includes employee volunteer programs (e.g., Sony employees mentoring), sponsorship of events, and content partnerships.
- Event Fundraising: Annual Biggest Show fundraiser raising approximately $160,000. Comedy show fundraiser After Dark. Day of Giving campaigns targeting specific fundraising goals with matching donors.
- Foundation Grants: Grants from foundations supporting arts education and youth programs. Community Gifts program also reflects commitment to BIPOC-led organizations.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Monthly | Free Programs for Students and Schools |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
Young Storytellers product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Young Storytellers delivers in-school and after-school storytelling and scriptwriting programs for K-12 youth, primarily through volunteer mentors guiding students to write original screenplays that are then performed live by professional actors. The organization complements in-person delivery with a 12-video digital curriculum (Story Time), a Warner Bros. Discovery/DC-powered storytelling lab (WBD Story Lab), and a nationwide digital program (DC Superpowered Storytellers) distributed through Discovery Education.
Product overview
Young Storytellers is an arts nonprofit offering a portfolio of youth storytelling programs. The core offering is Script to Stage (and its Collaborative variant), an in-school program where volunteer mentors guide students through writing original scripts performed live by professional actors at a 'Big Show.' This is complemented by Middle School Stories and High School Stories for older students. Story Time is a free 12-video digital series (partnered with AT&T) for grades 3-5 aligned with Common Core and SEL standards. WBD Story Lab is a Warner Bros. Discovery/LAUSD partnership curriculum for 6th-grade ELA teachers, while DC Superpowered Storytellers is its nationwide expansion through Discovery Education reaching ~200,000 students. A new After School Program Pilot launched Fall 2025. Content is also distributed via The Achievery (AT&T platform). The organization raises funds through annual events (The Biggest Show, After Dark) and a monthly donor program (Story Club).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Story Time: A free 12-video digital educational web series that guides students through the process of writing a 5-page story from start to finish, produced in partnership with AT&T. Aligned with Common Core and CASEL's SEL Framework.
- WBD Story Lab
- DC Superpowered Storytellers
Products and services
- Story Time Free digital 12-video web series that guides students in grades 3-5 through writing a 5-page story from start to finish, aligned with Common Core and CASEL SEL Framework standards, available in English and Spanish, produced with AT&T.
- Script to Stage Flagship in-school program where volunteer mentors guide students through writing original scripts, which are then performed live on stage by professional actors at a 'Big Show' event. Delivered in LAUSD public schools.
- Collaborative Script to Stage Variation of Script to Stage adapted for community organization settings, allowing partners to bring the storytelling curriculum to their own communities with Young Storytellers support.
- Middle School Stories Storytelling program for middle school students that guides students through developing and writing their own stories, part of the in-school programs portfolio across Los Angeles.
- High School Stories Storytelling program for high school students within the Young Storytellers portfolio, providing mentorship and scriptwriting guidance for older students.
- WBD Story Lab In-school storytelling curriculum for 6th-grade ELA teachers developed with Warner Bros. Discovery, DC Comics, and LAUSD Division of Instruction; students create biographical superhero stories and comic book covers, with teacher professional development.
- DC Superpowered Storytellers Nationwide expansion of Story Lab through Discovery Education's free platform, including comic-book inspired Story Lab Activities and Virtual Field Trip 'The Superpower of Story,' reaching approximately 200,000 students annually.
- After School Program Pilot New after-school storytelling program pilot launched Fall 2025 in partnership with various providers to expand reach into communities lacking arts programming, with actor stipend opportunities for Big Shows.
- Story Club Monthly donor program where supporters contribute $5-$100 per month and receive a student-written story from a Script to Stage, Collaborative, Middle School Stories, or High School Stories program delivered to their inbox.
- The Biggest Show Annual celebration of student creativity and largest fundraiser, featuring professional actors and artists bringing student stories to life on stage with both in-person and livestream components.
- After Dark Annual comedy show fundraiser featuring a lineup of comedians, with proceeds supporting Young Storytellers programming to empower young people to tell their stories.
Quantifiable outcome
- 30,000+ students served annually in Los Angeles
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Young Storytellers
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Young Storytellers technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Young Storytellers partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.
- National Research GroupcorePartnership to research how childhood has evolved over 25 years using Young Storytellers' archive of student stories. Unveiled Growing Pains report at Spotify Studios on World Storytelling Day 2025.
- SpotifyminorHosted the unveiling of Growing Pains research report at Spotify Studios for World Storytelling Day 2025 event.
- Warner Bros. DiscoverycoreDeveloped WBD Story Lab curriculum for LAUSD 6th grade ELA teachers in partnership with DC and LAUSD Division of Instruction. Also created DC Superpowered Storytellers content for Discovery Education.
- Freedom VersescoreStrategic planning consultants who helped create Young Storytellers' 2022-2025 Strategic Plan through an equitable process involving staff, board, and community feedback.
- AT&TcoreAT&T partnership produced the Story Time video series and hosts Young Storytellers content on The Achievery digital learning platform. AT&T provides funding and technology platform access to enable free educational content distribution.
- Discovery EducationcoreHosts DC Superpowered Storytellers content on Discovery Education platform, providing nationwide access to K-12 educators and reaching approximately 200,000 students.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los AngelesflagshipLaunch partner for Script to Stage toolkit, enabling Big Brothers Big Sisters to independently deliver storytelling programs in their communities outside school walls.
- Towne Street TheatreminorBlack female-led theater company partnership for hybrid five-week Intro to Playwriting course for Young Storytellers alumni. Dara Frazier, an award-winning author and Off Broadway dramatist, served as instructor.
- Sony Pictures EntertainmentflagshipCorporate volunteer program where Sony employees serve as mentors at schools, with Sony's CSR team supporting event logistics, volunteer recruitment, and funding. Board member AJ Nseir coordinates corporate involvement.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves10 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Young Storytellers competitors and assessment
Company assessmentRegional players
- Geffen Playhouse: Geffen Playhouse is a Los Angeles-based professional theater with substantial in-school and community arts education programming for LAUSD students, overlapping YS's LA region, partnership-based delivery, and use of professional actors in student-facing performances. Both operate in LA's arts-and-education ecosystem with overlapping corporate and foundation donors.
Broad incumbents
- National Writing Project: The National Writing Project is a nationwide nonprofit network that trains K-16 educators in the teaching of writing and develops Common Core-aligned writing curricula, sharing YS's curriculum-aligned approach to writing education though it operates one level up (teacher PD instead of direct student delivery).
- The Moth: The Moth is a well-known nonprofit storytelling organization that runs storytelling workshops and education programs alongside its flagship Mainstage events, sharing YS's storytelling-as-empowerment mission though with a much broader, adult-focused portfolio. Both are donor-supported nonprofits where live storytelling performance is the core modality.
- Steppenwolf Theatre: Steppenwolf is a major regional theater whose education department delivers in-school and after-school theater-arts programming to Chicago-area students, sharing YS's theater-meets-education model and reliance on professional actors as mentors though at significantly larger organizational scale.
Direct peers
- WriteGirl: WriteGirl is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that pairs teenage girls with adult women writer mentors through workshops and one-on-one mentoring, sharing YS's mission of using writing and mentorship to amplify marginalized youth voices in LA. Both operate in the LA region, focus on K-12 creative writing, and rely on entertainment-industry-adjacent volunteers.
- Urban Word NYC: Urban Word NYC is a youth development nonprofit that uses spoken word, poetry, and creative writing to amplify young voices in underserved NYC communities, sharing YS's mentorship-driven creative-writing model and focus on SEL outcomes. Both organizations serve K-12 students, emphasize authentic voice, and operate in partnership with public schools.
- Story Pirates: Story Pirates is the closest analog to Young Storytellers: it collects original stories written by kids and turns them into professional sketch-comedy productions performed by adult actors, mirroring the Script to Stage / Big Show model almost exactly. Both are arts nonprofits serving K-12 students in Los Angeles and New York and using entertainment-industry talent to perform student work.
- 826 National: 826 National is a network of youth writing and tutoring centers that pairs adult mentors with students to help them write and publish original work, functionally the same K-12 creative-writing-with-mentors model that Young Storytellers delivers through Script to Stage. Both serve historically under-resourced schools and operate as donor-funded 501c3 nonprofits.
- Imagination Stage: Imagination Stage is a DC-area professional theater whose entire mission centers on producing and creating theatrical works for young audiences alongside robust education and mentorship programs, overlapping YS's blend of theater performance and youth arts education. Both rely on partnerships with entertainment studios (DC/Warner) for content development and reach.
- Inner-City Arts: Inner-City Arts is a Los Angeles-based arts education nonprofit that provides in-school and after-school arts programming to LAUSD students, directly overlapping with YS's LAUSD school delivery model and youth-arts nonprofit identity. Both are free programs serving historically marginalized LAUSD communities and depend on corporate entertainment partnerships.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Young Storytellers social profiles
Digital presenceYoung Storytellers financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Young Storytellers leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Young Storytellers funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Young Storytellers M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Young Storytellers
What does Young Storytellers do?
Young Storytellers delivers in-school and after-school storytelling and scriptwriting programs for K-12 youth, primarily through volunteer mentors guiding students to write original screenplays that are then performed live by professional actors. The organization complements in-person delivery with a 12-video digital curriculum (Story Time), a Warner Bros. Discovery/DC-powered storytelling lab (WBD Story Lab), and a nationwide digital program (DC Superpowered Storytellers) distributed through Discovery Education.
Is Young Storytellers a public or private company?
Young Storytellers is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Young Storytellers founded?
Young Storytellers was founded in 1997. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Young Storytellers based?
Young Storytellers is headquartered in Los Angeles, United States, in the North America region.
How does Young Storytellers make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Individual Donations are the primary driver. The others are corporate Partnerships, event Fundraising and foundation Grants.
Who are Young Storytellers's main competitors?
Geffen Playhouse is listed as a regional player. Broad incumbents are National Writing Project, The Moth and Steppenwolf Theatre. Direct peers are WriteGirl, Urban Word NYC, Story Pirates, 826 National, Imagination Stage and Inner-City Arts.
Does Young Storytellers have an API?
No public API is recorded for Young Storytellers.
What industry is Young Storytellers in?
Young Storytellers's product category is Youth Arts Education Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAMAMAD, Playwriting & Scriptwriting Workshops (Stage), with a secondary code of EDAMAMAF, Children’s & YA Writing Workshops. Its NAICS code is 61161 and its SIC code is 8200.