Philip LaZebnik

Philip LaZebnik (né 1953) is an American screenwriter, television writer, playwright and producer. He attended Harvard University, where he studied Ancient Greek language and classics. While in Cambridge, he was briefly a professional violinist, playing with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, the Boston Pops and the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra. Following that, he and his brother and another friend co-founded and operated the Chicago Premiere Society, a highly successful shoe box store front theater. During the nine-year run of the theater and while holding down a full-time day job as the world's fastest “word processor”, LaZebnik wrote books, music and lyrics for more than twenty musicals and plays, mostly in collaboration with Kingsley Day,. Their productions included "Summer Stock Murder," "Byrne, Baby, Byrne" and "Tour de Farce." As a screenwriter LaZebnik has written screenplays for films such as “Pocahontas, “Mulan, The Prince of Egypt”, “The Road to El Dorado”, “The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar”, “Asterix and the Vikings”, “The Three Investigators and the Secret of Skeleton Island”, “The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar II”, “The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar III: The Mystery of the Snake Crown”, “The Three Investigators and the Secret of Terror Castle”, “Noah's Ark and The Wild Bunch”. He has also written episodes for “Wings”, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, “The Torkelsons” and “Almost Home”. LaZebnik has served on the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America, West (2001–02) and the Writers Branch Executive Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (2001–03). The screenplay for “Mulan” won the 1998 Annie Award for best animation screenplay.