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Young Storytellers creates Jamie Tarses Fund for Los Angeles school writing programs

Young Storytellers, a Los Angeles nonprofit, has created the Jamie Tarses Fund in memory of the late TV executive and founding board member. The fund was to be celebrated at its annual Biggest Show on October 29.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Deadline
Image: Variety

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The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Young Storytellers, a Los Angeles nonprofit that brings mentorship and storytelling programs to public school students, has created the Jamie Tarses Fund. Mixed · 2The fund is named for the television executive and producer, who died in 2021 and was a founding member of the organization's board; Variety says she died at 56. Mixed · 2It will support the group's programs in Los Angeles public schools, where volunteer mentors work with students to write original stories or scripts that actors then perform on stage.

Mixed · 2The fund was to be celebrated or unveiled on October 29 at The Biggest Show, the group's annual event at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. Mixed · 2Tarses began as a talent executive at Saturday Night Live, joined NBC in 1987 where she helped develop Friends, Mad About You, Frasier and NewsRadio, and in 1996 became president of ABC Entertainment, the first woman to lead a network entertainment division, according to Deadline. Mixed · 2She became involved with Young Storytellers in the 1990s and joined its founding board in 2003, serving seven years and recruiting writers' rooms from her comedies as mentors, Deadline reports; Variety says she joined the board in 2003.

Mixed · 2Her brother, writer-producer Matt Tarses, said she 'was never happier than when she was helping writers tell their stories' and that Young Storytellers was 'the obvious choice' for honoring her memory. Mixed · 2Managing director Jaylene Benggon Chung said Tarses 'understood that the most powerful thing you can tell a young person is that their ideas deserve to be taken seriously.' Mixed · 2Young Storytellers began in 1997 at Playa del Rey Elementary School; in 2025, 786 volunteers mentored more than 440 students weekly at 39 public schools and after-school sites. Donations can be made on its website.

Left · 1Variety adds that the group earlier this week named Kevin Bolling as its new executive director.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
Variety presents the fund as a tribute to an influential executive, with industry context and organisational news.
Emphasis
Tarses's influence and the group's recent leadership change.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not list her producing credits or say she served seven years on the board.
Charged language
“influential creative executive”
For example
“was an influential creative executive who rose through the ranks at NBC” — Variety

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Deadline reports the announcement in a press-release style, with a detailed career rundown.
Emphasis
Tarses's shows and credits and her role in recruiting mentors.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not mention the new executive director.
For example
“Her ABC tenure produced The Practice, Spin City, Sports Night and Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place.” — Deadline

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

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