Writers Guild Foundation Staff

KIRA VANDENBRANDE
Director of Community Programs

Before joining the Foundation, Kira worked as a Union Organizer with SEIU Local 721. She represented LA County employees and helped launch a campaign to mobilize gig economy workers. Kira graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in International Development Studies, specializing in Urban Planning and Labor Studies. Throughout college, she worked as a photojournalist and studied in Mumbai while documenting stories of LGBTQ+ locals in the sex trade for a grassroots nonprofit. She now uses her organizing experience to support and develop WGF’s community programs. Outside the office, Kira enjoys the local punk scene and spends her weekends exploring offbeat spots around the city.   

LAWRENCE SILVEIRA
Director of Development & Operations

Lawrence comes to the Foundation from development teams at the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association and Alzheimer’s Los Angeles, where he helped manage peer-to-peer campaigns, monthly giving programs, and fundraising events like Walk4ALZ. He graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a B.A. in Fiction Writing and also served as an acquisitions editor for the school’s literary anthology, Hair Trigger 40. When he isn’t trying to find new and exciting ways to ask for donations, Lawrence likes to write novels, hike in Griffith Park, and watch cheesy reality TV shows.

DUSTIN FLEISCHMANN
Director of Events & Communications

Dustin joined the Writers Guild Foundation in 2018 as the Events & Operations Coordinator, eager to contribute to the mission of providing educational programming for aspiring and emerging screenwriters. In 2020, Dustin moved to Netflix to serve as the Writing Outreach & Engagement Coordinator to develop their Animation Writing Program and building a talent pipeline for emerging writers who were hired into writers rooms across various animation projects. He returned to the WGF in 2024 as the Director of Events & Communications to create unique and valuable events for the public. In his spare time, Dustin is teaching himself to play the guitar and piano, writes (albeit slower than a snail’s pace), and enjoys solving the New York Times Crossword with his friends over Discord.

CASEY PARAJON
Digital Content Manager

Casey joined the Foundation in June of 2022, about a year after moving to Los Angeles. She previously worked in digital marketing in Denver, Colorado, and when the pandemic hit, felt inspired to revisit a past love from college: television writing. She graduated from the University of South Carolina (the original USC) with a B.A. in Media Arts. In her free time, she enjoys picnics at the beach, reading many books at once, and bouncing around farmers markets.

TRAVIS DIFFENDERFER
Community Programs Coordinator

Travis joined the foundation at the end of his Coast Guard career, and after participating in the WGF Veterans Writing Project. During his active duty service, he participated in search and rescue operations along the coast of California, then became an electrician’s mate servicing Base Los Angeles/Long Beach.  He earned his MFA in Screenwriting from CSUN and holds a Bachelors in Mass Communication and Media Studies. He’s proud to continue serving the WGF programs that gave him and his fellow veterans a window into the world of screenwriting. He loves writing silly songs, building complicated Lego sets, and being a good pet parent.

Staff photos by Rylan Tuohy

Board of Directors 2024

PRESIDENT DANIEL PETRIE, JR.

VICE-PRESIDENT JOAN HARRISON

SECRETARY/TREASURER ROBERT NELSON JACOBS

NEAL BAER

NAZRIN CHOUDHURY

JALYSA CONWAY

ONITRA JOHNSON

HOWARD LEITER

Y. SHIREEN RAZACK

ERIC ROTH

MIKE ROYCE

TOM SCHULMAN

TYGER WILLIAMS

Advisory Council