Youth Media Representation (YMR) Program

Applications for our YMR programs are currently closed.

For more information contact rebecca@scholarsandstorytellers.com

Reach out to our Youth Engagement Manager, Rebecca Benoit, at rebecca@scholarsandstorytellers.com.

Join our Youth Engagement Network to stay updated with opportunities: scholarsandstorytellers.com/youth-engagement-network

Yes, all teens admitted into the YMR program receive a stipend for their work with us over the course of the year-long initiative.

No, the program is primarily virtual. We accept teens across the country, and are committed to empowering young people that reflect the diversity of our country.

Our current cohort contains approximately 70% young people of color, who identify as lower or middle class, have attended public schools, and live everywhere from Florida to Baltimore, Washington State to New York City, and beyond.

Young people who participate in the program have the opportunity to be mentored by and learn from renowned researchers and reputable names in the entertainment industry, as well as to make connections with peers who are also passionate about psychology and media. Through participation in the program, they have the opportunity to learn about different paths towards careers in entertainment, advocacy, and research, while developing hands-on experience in these fields.

When you involve young people in the process, you create content that is more authentic and realistic and, ultimately, better for your bottom line.

The YMR program is an initiative led by the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA through the following team:

Rebecca Benoit

Rebecca manages the Youth Media Representation Program at CSS. She is a consultant and reader for IP to film/TV adaptation, and has worked as an executive assistant for both scripted and unscripted film/TV production. For her master's thesis in Visual and Media Anthropology, she made a documentary researching American teenagers' relationship to current media, investigating what authenticity means to today's youth, and why efforts at representation often feel unsatisfying to the targeted audience. 

Nina Linhales Barker

Nina is the CSS Senior Project Director. She earned her BA in media studies and Latin American studies from Hampshire College. She graduated with an MA in media studies from the University of Texas at Austin’s Radio-Television-Film Department in May of 2022. Her master’s thesis focused on how ethnicity and nationality impact how Latinx viewers watch Latinx representation in English-language television.

Kelly Goode

Kelly Goode is a seasoned entertainment executive with extensive experience in broadcast, cable, and streaming. Most recently, Goode was Senior Vice President & Team Leader, Current Programming at Warner Bros. Television. Prior to that, she served in senior programming roles at ABC Family (now Freeform), Lifetime Entertainment, and CBS. Goode received her A.B. from Harvard College.

Jill Sanford

Jill Sanford is a producer in the kids, family and YA space, developing and producing series and movies for Netflix, Disney and Sony, most recently the Top Ten Netflix movie Girl Haunts Boy. Previously she worked as a development and current series executive at Netflix, Nickelodeon, and Disney Channel overseeing such Emmy-winning hit shows as Phineas and Ferb, Mickey Mouse, The Loud House, Carmen Sandiego and Last Kids on Earth.

Stuart Friedel

Stuart Friedel is a writer/producer who specializes in proactive programming for young audiences (Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show; Alice's Wonderland Bakery) . He holds a BA in Media Studies from Pomona College, an MFA from USC’s Peter Stark Program, and an MA from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, where he conducts ongoing research on fostering healthy developmental trajectories for young actors in Hollywood. He was also the first producer of the Scriptnotes podcast with John August & Craig Mazin. Read more (or less) at stustustu.com.