Lena Waithe has spoke out about Indie films, saying that she wants black movie stars to fund them. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Waithe said, “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.” She went on to say, “And don’t get me started on black financiers! How many of those do we have? I’m not [going to name] names because I know better, but there are some very big black movie stars out there, and they could pay for two or three or even five small independent movies to get made by black directors and black writers.” Waithe then decided to name drop, mentioning that 12 Years A Slave and Moonlight were both financed by Brad Pitt's production company. She continued, “Wasn’t Denzel [Washington]. Wasn’t WillSmith...You won’t catch me making $20 million a movie and not paying for at least four or five independent movies a year. I really do feel like there’s a way for us to change the movie business from the inside out, but we’re all in our own silos doing our own thing.”