Our tutor
In 2023, Kids Kino Lab participants will be guided by Philip LaZebnik. In previous years we had a pleasure to work also with Kirsten Bonnén Rask, Armin Prediger, and Ronald Kruschak.
MEET OUR TUTOR

Philip LaZebnik
Feature Films Script Tutor
Philip is a screenwriter, playwright and a screenwriting consultant. Originally associated with Disney Studios and Dream Works. His screenwriting credits include “Mulan” and “Pocahontas” for Disney, and “The Prince of Egypt” and “The Road to El Dorado” for DreamWorks, among many others.
He has written the book for the theatrical musical “The Prince of Egypt” with songs by Stephen Schwartz, which opened at the Dominion Theatre in London’s West End in February, 2020.
Philip has considerable experience in film teaching: Polish Film School (Lodz, Poland), Bridging the Dragon (Mentor, China), North by Northwest (Tutor, Bornholm), Animationhus (Workshop, Viborg) and worked as a Film/Story Consultant for: “Antz” and “Shrek” (Story consultant, DreamWorks Feature Animation and PDI), “Lion King 1 ½” and “Mulan II” (Disney Television Animation), and numerous other films.
Philip’s goal is to foster a positive, supportive environment in the room, where we can discuss the screenwriting tools which are useful not only for developing the project in the workshop but also future scripts. These tools include analyzing story structure, understanding character motivations, and knowing what questions to ask when writing a script.
IN PREVIOUS YEARS WE ALSO WORKED WITH TUTORS:

Kirsten Bonnén Rask
Feature Films Script Tutor
Kirsten Bonnén Rask has 40+ years of experience as a script consultant, in parallel to being a decision maker, teacher and project developer. Her services span all production types and formats, with multiple best script/film awards. Kirsten has also worked with Lars von Trier, Lone Scherfig and Bille August just to mention some. During the 40+ years she has read and advised on many hundred stories – shorts, series, features, documentaries.
She works with a focus on characters and that not all stories need to have the same structure. Asking about motives in the characters, about what´s important for the writer to tell, looking at the structures in the universe is important for developing the story and landing it structure wise.

Armin Prediger
Script Series Tutor
Armin is a screenwriter, story editor, creative coach, mentor and consultant working in the entertainment industry for 31 years, 24 of those as a writer, head writer and script editor in live action and animation. Aside from mentoring and supporting the development of upcoming series (including mentoring at the German Academy for Children’s Media for seven years and teaching at the Huston School of Film & Digital Media in Galway, Ireland, and the La Poudriére animation school in Valence, France), he is in demand as a script doctor, consultant and developer of ideas and adaptations in film and television.
Building on an original concept that respects the passion of the creator as well as the requirements of the marketplace, Armin uses a variety of creative techniques in a modular approach to help the writer/producer team to generate a framework for an ongoing supply of original storylines and then mentors the creation of the bible, sample scripts and a final pitch.

Ronald Kruschak
Producers' Tutor
Germany-based producer, writer and tutor/lecturer with a track record of over twenty years of filmmaking focusing on Family Entertainment.
Within this genre, Ronald has produced Germany’s most successful TV series “Die Pfefferkörner” as well as small national and big budget international movies, such as “The Three Investigators” (Disney, over a million tickets sold) or “Die Rote Zora”.
His movies have won over a dozen international awards. Ronald has also produced adult drama, documentaries and docudrama. As a teacher, he has been active internationally for over 12 and often worked for the formerly known MEDIA plus workshops: The International Producers workshop and the MEGA audio-visual management workshop as well as North by Northwest and East of Eden.
With his recently established company “playwrite”, he is currently developing an animation series and an animated feature film.
Going through all phases and challenges of producing family entertainment, Ronald acts like a partner In each participant’s project. He fills your experience’s gaps, gets you in touch with the people and companies you need and helps you prepare and polish your package. He will also be available to you after the workshop to guide you through production.
AND WITH SCRIPT ASSISTANTS (edition 2022)

Monika Dembińska
Kirsten Bonnén Rask's assistant
A graduate of screenwriting at Łódź Film School, currently a PhD candidate there, Monika has developed a series of classes for screenwriting students. She is a co-writer of a feature New World (Akson Studio), a short doc Miss Holocaust (Furia Film, premiered at Berlinale 2017), and a number of shorts. She is currently developing her feature debut Blood Mother (Lava Films), supported by the Polish Film Institute. A member of the Polish Screenwriters’ Guild, Monika is also a script translator, working with several major Polish production companies.

Kendra Valentine
Philip LaZebnik's assistant
Kendra Valentine is a Story Strategist that helps both creative and business projects through a method called Strategic Story Design. Her work focuses on identifying the “red thread” in a story and innovating authentic ways to share it. Her clients have included Nickelodeon, Electrolux, government institutions, and many start-ups. Her goal is to build a story studio that consults on client projects as well as produces original content for a global ‘age-agnostic’ audience

Martyna Kopeć
Armin Prediger's assistant
Martyna graduated from StoryLab.pro in 2019 and became a certificated script consultant. Having developed a few projects, she is gradually finding the right direction in her profession. In 2021, she made her first steps in writing professional opinions about scripts. In the same year, she was an expert in Audioteka’s and StoryLab.pro’s “Wezwanie #Family” project, where she wrote feedback about audio series concepts. She is an aspiring screenwriter, currently completing her first short movie script.

Natalia Łodygowska
Ronald Kruschak's assistant
Producer of kids’ films and owner of Mizar Films production company. Head of KIPA KIDS. Holder of a scholarship from the Polish Minister of Culture for writing a script for kids. Graduate of Film School in Katowice (Film and TV Production Organisation). Alumni of Creative Development at Wajda School, Accelerator KIPA 2017. Participant in FILMS FOR KIDS.PRO and KIDSKINO.LAB workshops. Currently developing original project for young audience at the Script Atelier workshops.