Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
This week on On Story, we’re joined by Justin Simien, the writer-director of the film Dear White People, and the creator of the TV adaptation of the same name, which ran for four seasons on Netflix. The film follows Samantha White, played by Tessa Thompson, a media arts major at a fictional ivy league university who stirs controversy on campus by criticizing her white peers and their racist transgressions on her Dear White People radio show. The TV adaptation expanded in scope to focus on an ensemble of characters at the fictional Winchester University.
Simien began working on the concept for Dear White People in 2006 as a response to his time studying film at a predominantly white institution. In 2012 he created a trailer as proof of concept, which he used as a centerpiece to launch a successful crowdfunding campaign. The film premiered in 2014 to critical and financial success, and the TV adaptation premiered on Netflix three years later. Simien went on to write and direct the horror comedy Bad Hair, and direct the horror comedy Haunted Mansion. Simien is currently executive producing TV projects through his production company Culture Machine.
AFF moderator Casey Baron sat down with Justin Simien for a conversation on Simien’s process of using social media to build an audience for Dear White People, his collaborations with Yvette Lee Bowser and Lena Waithe, and the pressures of social responsibility as a Black artist.
This week on On Story, we’re joined by Justin Simien, the writer-director of the film Dear White People, and the creator of the TV adaptation of the same name, which ran for four seasons on Netflix. The film follows Samantha White, played by Tessa Thompson, a media arts major at a fictional ivy league university who stirs controversy on campus by criticizing her white peers and their racist transgressions on her Dear White People radio show. The TV adaptation expanded in scope to focus on an ensemble of characters at the fictional Winchester University.
Simien began working on the concept for Dear White People in 2006 as a response to his time studying film at a predominantly white institution. In 2012 he created a trailer as proof of concept, which he used as a centerpiece to launch a successful crowdfunding campaign. The film premiered in 2014 to critical and financial success, and the TV adaptation premiered on Netflix three years later. Simien went on to write and direct the horror comedy Bad Hair, and direct the horror comedy Haunted Mansion. Simien is currently executive producing TV projects through his production company Culture Machine.
AFF moderator Casey Baron sat down with Justin Simien for a conversation on Simien’s process of using social media to build an audience for Dear White People, his collaborations with Yvette Lee Bowser and Lena Waithe, and the pressures of social responsibility as a Black artist.
