Working with Philip LaZebnik, who coordinated our project at the workshop, was a dream come true. Philip is a renowned filmmaker and, as it turns out, a great mentor. From the very first meeting, he took care of us, generously shared his experience, and guided us through one of the most difficult stages of transforming our story. As a beginner scriptwriter at that time, I learned a lot from him. I can wholeheartedly recommended Philip as a tutor.

To work with Philip LaZebnik is an invaluable source of support, knowledge, and inspiration. Thanks to his charisma and experience, he follows the highest standards of communication between a creator and a tutor. He empowers the scriptwriter in the course of the creative process, suggesting solutions rather than imposing ideas. What’s more, Philip is helpful when it comes to finding your way in the jungle of plot-related question marks. He does all of that with impressive elegance and expertise. His comments are absolutely free of nitpicking. Philip focuses on the strengths of the project and its authors. As a result, he creates a perfect co-creative environment for scriptwriters at each stage of film development.

The meeting with Philip at the workshop was a formative experience which shaped my future years as a creative producer. By analysing films together and working on our group projects, I learned a solid lesson in the rules of genre cinema.

Films addressed to children are characterised by a solid focus on those rules and on the young audience rather than on the filmmaker’s individual vision. This is a great area for learning how to handle the classical scriptwriting solutions. Today, I am able to successfully translate this experience into my work on other projects. Besides, Philip is a great mentor who taught me that working on a script is not about struggling with inspiration: it’s a problem-solving process which can be controlled.

Philip gave me a lot of kind comments as well as constructive criticism. Both helped me learn how to make better films.

I actually envy the future participants of the workshop – the possibility of meeting and working with Philip is not to be missed!

Philip’s workshop is a wonderful lesson in the craft of scriptwriting. His professional and attentive insight into storytelling makes it possible to find the essence of a given story and bring out its best qualities. By asking specific and fundamental questions, he serves as a guide to the protagonists and makes their journey more emotional and engaging. His commitment to the story is simply priceless!