Donor Spotlight: Rashad Raisani
Introducing another edition of Donor Spotlight, the blog series where we highlight donors to the Writers Guild Foundation and their reasons for giving. We’re only able to provide our programs and resources for the screenwriting community because of our donors’ generous support. Thank you to our spotlighted donors — and all of our donors — for your generosity!
A photo of Veterans Writing Project donor Rashad Raisani.
The Veterans Writing Project is a cornerstone of the Writers Guild Foundation. The program pairs military veterans with WGA members for one-on-one mentorship and trains vets how to write a screenplay and navigate the entertainment industry. Hundreds of vets have gone through the program since its start in 2010.
One of the program’s biggest supporters is Rashad Raisani, a former Air Force brat with a deep appreciation for vets. In his own words, Rashad shares how growing up on Air Force bases fostered his love for TV, how gratitude motivates his support for the Veterans Writing Project, and why veterans make excellent TV writers.
Tell me a little bit about how you first got involved with the Writers Guild Foundation. Was it through the Veterans Writing Project?
Well, about 15 years ago I was on a show called Burn Notice as a junior writer, and a senior writer named Alfredo Barrios had tickets to one of the Writers Guild Foundation’s poker fundraisers. Poker night was the first time I got into the library. I lost a ton of money, but at the same time, I was really blown away by the people and the library and the Veterans Writing Project.
And, you know, my wife and I have always been incredibly passionate about supporting veterans and first responders, whether it be the Veterans Writing Project or through Tunnel to Towers and stuff like that. I grew up as an Air Force brat, so my whole life, I've had an incredible reverence and gratitude towards veterans. The second I found out that WGF had any association at all with veterans, to me, it was something that I felt I was meant to try and contribute to in some small way. That was a no brainer.
Do you have any standout memories from being involved with the Writers Guild Foundation and the veterans?
I remember going to a few more poker nights after that first one and some of the veterans would come and play. It was really cool to just sit with them and play and talk to them and give them any help we could. I remember reading some scripts from some of the vets and stuff like that. Those are cool memories.
And I’ve spoken on some virtual panels. There was one where there was a breakout session with various veterans and I got to talk to people kind of one-on-one. That was great.
After speaking and meeting with the veterans, why do you think teaching veterans the fundamentals of screenwriting and how to navigate the industry is so important?
Well, I think for me it's two fundamental reasons. One is, like I said, I grew up an Air Force brat and I just have a sense of deep gratitude and reverence for our veterans. So if there's anything I can do to try and give back even the smallest thing to them, then I definitely do it.
And then secondly, you know, I think from just a professional qualification standpoint, TV writing in particular requires a lot of grit. It requires resilience. It requires teamwork. It requires a much lesser degree of courage than our veterans have, but to face the setbacks and to face the empty page and to face the rejection—veterans, I feel like they have a very translatable skill set. They can come in and tap specifically into TV writing because of how similar it is in terms of working as a team. The best writing teams are egoless because there's a lot of really hard work to be done. You know, I've worked with some veterans and they always epitomize that work ethic.
You mentioned working with veterans. Have you worked with any of our Veterans Writing Project alumni professionally, on shows and in the industry?
Oh, you know, there's a veteran, Jalysa Conway. She's now, I think, an executive producer level writer. I didn’t meet her through the program or take her from the program and hire her or anything like that, but I worked with her for a number of years and when I was saying all those things I was picturing her, to be honest.
You mentioned that you’re an Air Force brat. Can you talk a little bit more about that personal connection to the military and veterans?
Yeah. I mean, it's funny because on the one hand there is obviously for me the gratitude to these heroes who are so selfless in in their service, but also for me, my story as a writer kind of came out of being an Air Force brat.
We were always moving. Every two years we were moving to a new state or a new country. For the first eleven years of my life, we lived abroad actually. And even though I spent most of my stateside years in the deep South, I have this very flat Burbank accent. I think it's because the only constant on all these different bases when I was growing up was the Armed Forces Network. The TV shows from the 80s that were being piped into all those different bases always gave me this sense of home and belonging and connection. It was by being a displaced Air Force brat that I think I started to connect so much with writing and TV. I think that has also informed why I felt such a connection to the veterans program.
How would you encourage someone to donate to the Veterans Writing Project even if they don't have a personal connection to military or veterans?
I would just encourage them because if you want to find great people who are great listeners and have an incredible work ethic and resilience and guts that you wouldn't believe—these are the kind of people that you want in your corner.
You know, one of the things that's hard when you meet so many people who say, “I want your advice about writing,” is that a lot of people just don't have the wherewithal to go through with all the advice. To follow through, to just do the work, and to get better. In my experience, the veterans will make you feel like it was time well spent. They will do the work, and that's incredibly gratifying. The older you get in the business, the more gratifying it is to see people taking whatever advice you have to offer and then making something productive out of it. Maybe even better than you ever could have! That's a cool thing.
I feel like supporting the veterans is a great way to do that because they will deliver. Because they've had to. They spent their entire previous existence having to deliver.
That can-do attitude from the Veterans Writing Project participants and alumni is incredible. It’s very inspiring.
It's awesome. I love it. They don't whine when you're on a TV series. It's just, you know, it's a grind and there's a lot of whining and we all do it. I'm not saying I don't! But to have people like Jalysa, for example, who’s seen much more scary things than anything that we're looking at on a series—she could chuckle at our TV stuff, you know what I mean?
I think that perspective is so helpful when times are going rough on a series. It’s helpful to remember that some people have real problems. And veterans, I think, can epitomize that. They’re just great reminders of resilience. That's the word I just keep coming back to. Because I think there's a shortage of it in the world.
And, lastly, what script or scripts would you recommend someone read, either next time they visit the WGF Library or elsewhere?
I'll say three of them. Raiders of the Lost Ark for me was a great one and an exciting one and just a beautiful script. You get the magic of the movies on the page. To see that it's already there, that's just awesome.
James Cameron’s Terminator. I haven't read Avatar, or his later work, but those scripts in the 80s and 90s, like True Lies too, he could just move words in such a compelling way. I love James Cameron's writing.
And then the last one I would say is Snakes on a Plane. I say that because that was one of the first ones I read where somebody was able to translate the experience of the movie onto the page—even if you want to say it was, you know, campy or whatever. I remember there was a line in one of the drafts where you were reading the scene and all of a sudden it just said in all capital letters “A FIST” and then underneath it says, “HITS YOU IN THE FUCKING FACE”. I never thought of using words that way, to capture the kinetic energy of image but with words in a similar style. And that definitely was an eye-opening experience for me.