Dear White People (film)

**Dear White People** was a 2014 independent drama movie directed, written, and co-produced by Justin Simien. It would be adapted by Netflix into a television series of the same name in April 2017.

## Synopsis

Samantha White is a heritage media arts major at the fictional Winchester University, a prestigious and predominantly white school. With her sharp tongued and witty radio show *Dear White People* and her self-published book, *Ebony and Ivy*, Sam causes a stir among the administration and student body alike, criticizing white people and the racist transgressions at Winchester.

When Sam wins the election for head of house of Armstrong/Parker, the all-black house on campus, tensions rise. In winning the election, she defeats her ex-boyfriend Troy Fairbanks, the son of the school's dean. Troy harbors dreams of being a comedic writer rather than a lawyer, but his father prefers that he not give white people a chance to profile him, and will accept nothing less than his best. Coco has an issue with Sam because the reality TV producer she is trying to win over would rather do a show on the witty light-skinned black girl than her. Lionel Higgins, a black gay student, gets a chance at finally finding his place at Winchester by being recruited by the school's most prestigious student paper to write a piece on Sam and the black experience at Winchester. When Kurt, a white student and son of the school's president, and his club come up with a blackface theme for their annual party in response to Sam's outspoken show, black students appear at the party, and a confrontation ensues, leading to a brawl.

## Plot

### Prologue

Students and faculty at Winchester University watch, as various news sources report on an incident on campus, in which a dormitory held an black-themed party that ended in disorderly chaos.

### House Elections

On stage, Troy gives a speech on his platform to be reelected as Head of House. As he left the stage, he interacted with Sam, in which he questioned her nomination and winning the election. Standing before the audience, Sam, gradually breaking her nervousness, proclaimed how Armstrong-Parker was undergoing changes that would affect the residents and makes mention of a petition to halt the randomization policy.

### Show & Tell

In her media arts class, Sam presents her silent movie project to the class, much to her discomfort. Afterwards, Professor Bodkin asks students on comments on Sam's project, to which prompts Gabe to critique it as "dubious."

### Change of Plans

Troy breaks from Sofia; asked about his shower breaks, he confessed that he tends to smoke weed and scribbled jokes into a notepad. Traveling back to his dorm room, he encounters new roommate Lionel Higgins, who attempted to introduce himself.

### Recalls & Restrictions

As Dean Fairbanks and Martin conversed over the house election results, his son Troy enters his office and is informed that the voting had been hacked.

Samantha White was brought into President Fletcher's office, informed that she would be penalized for the house election hack; she had also been stripped from accessing her show *Dear White People*, her power as Head of House Armstrong-Parker, and that he had planned to punish her for any further protests on campus.

### Epilogue

West spoke to Dean Fairbanks and President Fletcher, criticizing them on the blackface party on campus and how it was handled. Apologizing for his comments, he continued in saying that he could see something profitable from this situation, seeking to document those events. Though Fairbanks attempted to reject the offer to capitalize on the racial tensions on campus, Fletcher raised his hand and requested to know how profitable Winchester could be.

## Cast & Crew

*For the full list of characters in the movie, see here.*
*For the complete list of credits for the movie, see here.*

* Tessa Thompson as Samantha White
* Tyler James Williams as Lionel Higgins
* Kyle Gallner as Kurt Fletcher
* Teyonah Parris as Collandrea "Coco" Conners
* Brandon P. Bell as Troy Fairbanks
* Malcolm Barrett as Helmut West
* Dennis Haysbert as the Dean
* Brittany Curran as Sofia Fletcher
* Marque Richardson as Reggie
* Peter Syvertsen as President Fletcher
* Justin Dobies as Gabe
* Brandon Alter as George
* Keith Myers as Black Mitch
* Naomi Ko as Sungmi
* Kate Gaulke as Annie
* Brian Curtis James as Martin
* Ashley Blaine Featherson as Curls
* Jemar Michael as Smoothe
* Courtney Sauls as Wild
* Nia Jervier as Coco's Friend
* **Directors**
	+ Justin Simien
* **Producers**
	+ Stephanie Allain
	+ Effie Brown
	+ Ann Le
	+ Julia Lebedev
	+ Angel Lopez
	+ Justin Simien
	+ Lena Waithe
* **Writers**
	+ Justin Simien

## Development

Simien spent five years writing the script beginning in 2007. The next year, he made a trailer to promote and gain attention and funds for his project, which went viral. He also launched a campaign at Indiegogo to raise $25,000 but he got an overwhelming response and managed to raise $40,000 instead.

The project won Indiewire's Project of the Year title and Simien was later invited to 2013 Tribeca Film Festival to participate in Filmmaker/Industry meetings hosted by the festival. Talking about Tribeca Film Festival, Simien said that "we had a lot of meetings with a lot of studios. We had a lot of conversations with studios and distributors and basically, we decided that the best offer on the table was from an independent financier, Julie Lebedev of Code Red Films. To make it independently, that was really the dream -- because then we could make the movie we wanted to make."

## Filming

Principal photography took place in late September 2013 in Minnesota, including at the University of Minnesota and other locations in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and in Los Angeles, including the UCLA campus. The filming was completed in 19 days. Simien shot the film with Red Epic digital camera and said that "I would love to shoot on film. I don't believe it's completely dead, but this format made a lot of sense for our production."

## Media

### Videos

Dear White People Official Trailer (HD) In Theaters Oct. 17Dear White People Teaser HD In Theaters Oct. 17Dear White People Red Band Trailer Oct 17
### Soundtrack

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 'Dear White People;' From Indiewire Project of the Year to Sundance Film Festival | IndieWire
2. ↑ Dear White People | Indiegogo
3. ↑ Watching "Dear White People" With a Bunch of White People at Sundance | Complex
4. ↑ 'Dear White People' Writer-Director Justin Simien Calls For More Diversity In Storytelling At Spirit Awards | HuffPost
5. ↑ Film Festival Fetes Jonah Hill, 'Saving Mr. Banks' Director
* Dear White People (film) on IMDb
* Dear White People (film) on Spotify
* Dear White People (film) on Tumblr
* Dear White People (film) on Wikipedia
* Dear White People (film) on YouTube