Reel Works, a nonprofit organization founded in 2001 by Stephanie Walter and John Williams, offers free filmmaking programs to underserved youth in New York City. The organization's mission is to mentor, inspire, and empower young people through documentary production and storytelling.

Reel Works has grown from serving 50 students annually to reaching 1,500 young people across New York City.

“Two New York television producers found joy in mentoring underserved young filmmakers, making cinema a little more diverse along the way.”

On May 24, 2023, the 2023 Reel Works ChangeMakers Gala celebrated emerging filmmakers and honored Actress Nia Long and NBCUniversal's Val Boreland as ChangeMakers in the industry. The Gala occurred at New York City’s historic Ziegfeld Theatre and was hosted by actress and comedian Ego Nwodim.

“GMA” has a huge surprise for deserving teacher Charles Reynoso, the director of education at Reel Works, which is a program that inspires young people to share their stories through filmmaking.

NBCU will grant $119,000 to the Alliance, a nonprofit focused on cultural impact in media arts, to train NBCU volunteers on how to mentor the Lab apprentices effectively and to share best practices with the apprentices’ nonprofit creative agencies on how to create powerful and impactful spots. These agencies include Reel Works, RE:IMAGINE, PhillyCAM, Spy Hop and Youth FX. The Alliance’s grant will also be used to support its own Arts2Work workforce development program and its Accelerator Fund to help women, young adults and veterans as well as low-income, BIPOC and disabled creatives in the field.

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the New York State Office of Strategic Workforce Development has awarded more than $6 million in grants to eight projects across the state through the first round of the Capital and Pay for Performance Grant Programs. These grants will support the training of nearly 3,000 workers through collaboration between training providers and more than 100 employer partners in fields like advanced manufacturing, information technology, and film and television. The Office, which operates under Empire State Development, is charged with supporting workforce development programs and practices to ensure New Yorkers are prepared to meet the needs and priorities of today's employers.

On October 17, Mayor Adams hosted the first-ever NYC Film and Television Production Industry Council Meeting at City Hall, where he and members of his administration, including Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo, and MOME Deputy Commissioner for the Film Office Kwame Amoaku, met with top industry representatives to discuss opportunities and challenges facing the industry and its post-pandemic recovery in NYC.

Script's editor Sadie Dean visits the Reel Works headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, and witnesses firsthand how the dedicated team has created a safe and nurturing space for young creative minds to explore and contribute their art to their community.

As part of this effort, NBCUniversal has forged partnerships with numerous creative non-profit organizations across the U.S, which operate as agencies and are comprised of student apprentices from under-resourced communities, many of whom aspire to be filmmakers, producers, directors, editors, or writers. These include: Spy Hop, Youth Design Center, re:imagine/ATL, PhillyCAM, Reel Works, Youth FX, Wide Angle Youth Media, and Free Sprit Media.

My name is Keisha Katz and I'm the Director of Workforce and External Partnerships at Reel Works. In my role, at Reel Works I lead their citywide workforce program, MediaMKRS, which aims to bring together industry leaders, educators, and local government to train and credential rising talent. Prior to coming to Reel Works, I worked in unscripted television for companies like NBCU, Radical Media and ABC. I'm a wife and a mother of a fun-loving toddler.

On May 25, 2022, the 2022 Reel Works ChangeMakers Gala was a night to celebrate future filmmakers and to honor Film Producer, Charles D. King and Actress, Regina Hall as changemakers in the industry this past Wednesday. The Gala took place at New York City’s Tribeca 360°and was hosted by Actor, Bryan Terrell Clark.

Reel Works, a non-profit organization founded in 2001, was created to provide opportunities to youth who are passionate about media. The organization offers mentorship annually from middle school to high school. Through this program, teens are paired 1:1 with professional filmmaker mentors.

May 25 marked the 2022 Reel Works ChangeMaker(s) Gala. The event honored producer and MACRO founder and CEO, Charles D. King, who received the organization’s Reel Works ChangeMaker award; and The Best Man and Little actor, Regina Hall, who received Variety’s Voice of Inspiration Award.

Hollywood actress Regina Hall was honored this month with the second annual Voice of Inspiration Award from Variety.

The ceremony took place on May 25 at the annual Reel Works ChangeMakers Gala.

Regina Hall receives the second annual Variety Voice of Inspiration Award at the 2022 Reel Works ChangeMakers Gala at Tribeca 360 in N.Y.C. on May 25.