I really do believe if I had written that movie five years ago, maybe A24 would have released it on a couple screens. I don’t think it would have been looked at as a movie that’s bankable. Initially, we thought small: we were going to finance it independently and then sell it for a lot of money. It’s very black. It’s risky.

But I think studios were excited by that. They were excited by Melina, they were excited by Daniel Kaluuya being in it. But we’re definitely not out there to make a nice black movie for white people. This is a strong, relentless movie made by black people for black people, and if white people enjoy it, that’s fine. The rebels are in positions of power, and the studio heads know that this is what people want. It feels like part righteousness, part revenue.

It reminds me of what you did to get “Dear White People” produced: The director, Justin Simien, shot a concept trailer for the film that led to an eye-popping amount of donations on Indiegogo. It was a way of saying, “There’s no movie out there like this, but the numbers prove that people want a movie like this.”

True, and that took an eternity. I’m not trying to gas Jordan Peele up more than he needs to be gassed, but “Get Out” changed things. It just did! It changed the business. And “Black Panther” changed things, but in a different way, because that movie was almost set up for success through Marvel. “Get Out” was a surprise, a shock to the system. And the industry couldn’t ignore the numbers for that.

I think black people in this industry are making art that is so specific and unique and good that the studio heads have no choice but to throw money at us. They’re saying, “How can we support you and stand next to you?” The tricky part is that they want to be allies and they want to be inclusive, but they also want to make money.