The 11th Young Horizons Lab has come to an end & 10th anniversary celebrations

On 17 October 2025, we wrapped up the 11th edition of the Young Horizons Lab script development workshops. After the pitching session and the certificate ceremony, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the script development programme organised by the New Horizons Association. We wish to thank everyone who joined us that day to applaud the project and its outcomes: our focus on cinema for children and teenagers has increased the number of films and series produced for young audiences, as well as the box office results. We are happy to be part of this change.

5 film projects are going out into the world

This year, Maria Dutkiewicz was the script consultant and assistant to Philip LaZebnik, the main tutor. Zofia Horszczaruk, Head of Industry Projects at Young Horizons, was responsible for preparing the participants for their final pitching as well as for creative exercises and character building practice.

For 6 months, the creators of 5 projects worked hard on film treatments and script drafts of live-action and animated productions for kids and teens.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for all 5 projects!

The creators of projects developed at the workshops this year

• Martyna Wojcieszek, Dana Pohl, Krzysztof Komander, “The Bead”, MTL Maxfilm
• Paulina Korzeniewska, Małgorzata Jurczak, Magdalena Koszalińska, Karolina Porcari, “Compass of the Heart”, Constantin Entertainment Polska
• Marcin Osiadacz, Katarzyna Warzecha, Karolina Przeklasa, “Pola and the Christmas Catastrophe”, Watchout Studio
• Mateusz Białas, Barbara Palka, “Lone Rider”
• Maciej Dobosiewicz, Marek Lachowicz, “Toru Superfox. Superhero”, Animoon

Special guests

The three on-site sessions featured group work and individual work with the tutor as well as lectures and classes with special guests. To address the participants’ needs to the fullest, we consulted the subjects with the project creators prior to the workshops.

In collaboration with Creative Europe Desk Poland, we opened the workshops with a masterclass by Tim Biedert: “Kids, Teens, Young Adults – How to Wow Your Audience with Content”. As has now become tradition, everyone was welcome to attend the opening lecture. The experts who were invited as speakers in the three sessions included: Aleksandra Aleksander (“Contracts and collaboration with agents”); Marcin Siemiątkowski (a scriptwriting case study for “Lampo. The Travelling Dog”); Kaja Łuczyńska (“Film education and the role of educators in the promotion of films for young viewers”); Masza Grabowska (synopsis writing workshop); Nóra Lakos (case study for “I Accidentally Wrote a Book”); Rob Hudnut (masterclass on IPs, franchises, and merchandising on the example of “Barbie” films); and Karolina Giedrys-Majkut (meeting with a psychologist: “What you should have in mind when writing for kids”).

11th Young Horizons Lab – photo gallery

10 years with the Young Horizons Lab

The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the first Young Horizons Lab workshop (originally, the programme’s name was Films for Kids.Pro, and then it was renamed to KIDS Film.Pro and Kids Kino.Lab). In these past 10 years, we have organised 11 editions of the workshops (Polish and Norwegian as well as multinational, in cooperation with Polish and foreign partners), attended by 150 scriptwriters, producers, and directors. The scripts have been created under the supervision of our tutors: Philip LaZebnik, Kirsten Bonnén Rask, Armin Prediger, and Ronald Kruschak. We have worked with 20 script consultants assisting the tutors.

Within this decade, 83 projects from 10 countries have been developed at the Young Horizons Lab. Some of these are now complete and have already had their theatrical release or traditional and streaming television distribution, for instance: “Double Trouble” and “Triple Trouble” (developed at the workshop by Marta Karwowska and Agnieszka Dziedzic); “Detective Bruno” (Marcin Ciastoń, Ewa Rozenbajgier, Joanna Szymańska) and “Oskar, Patsy, and Baltic Gold” (Ewa Rozenbajgier, Joanna Szymańska, and Kaja Jałocha); “Fantastique” (Mirna Everhard, Marjolijn Prins); “Sex O’Clock” (Matěj Randár, Karolína Zalabáková); and “Grandpa, Let’s Go!” (Emil Płoszajski, Karolina Galuba, Małgorzata Małysa).

Other titles, such as “Pucio” (Martyna Wojcieszek, Rafał Skarżycki), “Basia and a Doggy Summer” (Szymon Jachimek, Robert Jaszczurowski), “Summer in the Gardens” (Maciej Prykowski, Maria Pułaska-Białkowska), and “The Boy Who Hunted the Fear” (Konrad K. Mrozik, Zofia Jaroszuk), are in-development projects. We hope to watch them at cinemas and at home very soon.

The Lab’s partners and friends include: Polish Film Institute, Creative Europe MEDIA, Creative Europe Desk Poland, JEF Festival, Zlín Film Festival, Athens International Children’s Film Festival, International Young Audience Film Festival Ale Kino!, Østnorsk Filmsenter, Mazovia Warsaw Film Commission, and Mazovia Institute of Culture.

We are grateful to everyone who has supported this programme in any way, including financing, promotion, and subject matter expertise, as well as to all the filmmakers who have put their trust in us and decided to develop their scripts alongside our tutors. You are all part of the Young Horizons Lab script development workshops and have created their history with us for the last 10 years.