In this episode we preview what to expect for White Meat and White Meat: Appetizer in the coming year. Our hopes. Our dreams. And how you can stay up to date.

Listen to “The White Meat Podcast” on Spreaker.

Here’s the transcript:

David Dylan Thomas: Hey everybody. Welcome to the White Meat Podcast. I’m your host, David Dylan Thomas. I’m the writer/director of a movie called White Meat. That is my dog, Star, who is just barking up a storm who’s, I think she knows I’m podcasting. She literally hasn’t barked this much all day, but we’re gonna keep going.

So anyway, the movie is about what happens when a bunch of enslaved people who are buried beneath Washington Square Park in Philly, which is true, there are hundreds of them buried there, come back as zombies, but only eat white people.

So as you may know, if you’re a frequent listener, we finished in 2025 a movie called White Meat Appetizer, short film that’s kind of a proof of concept for the feature. And it was an amazing year. ’cause we started out the year with nothing. We didn’t even have our funding. And then in February we did a Kickstarter and it just launched from there. End of the year, we already had a few screenings under our belt and had applied to dozens of film festivals.

So I wanted to take an opportunity for our first podcast of the year to just talk about what 2026 looks like from our perspective and what we, our hopes and dreams are. So festival wise, like I said, we’ve applied to a bunch of festivals. There’s a handful more that we wanna apply to whose deadlines weren’t in the last year, so we’re really excited about those.

We will, of course, keep you updated as to which ones we get into. So that’s going on and that’s sort of in the bucket of things we can’t control, right? So there is the bucket though, of things we can control, which is screenings, private screenings, sneak previews that we are going to do.

So we have one online coming up for our Kickstarter backers. If you’re a backer, you know, if you know, you know, I hope to see you at that one. We have one at Strangeloves in Philadelphia coming up on February 5th. As soon as we have a link to RSVP for that, we’ll be sending it out through our newsletter, which reminds me, sign up for our newsletter to get all the new gossip.  You can sign up at whitemeatmovie.com. But that’s the best way to stay in touch and stay on top of these things. But yeah, so we’ve got that coming up and we’re just scheduling a whole bunch of different events. We were gonna try to have one a month like maybe one online and one in person a month.

And so far we’ve, you know, started forming enough partnerships to make that happen. One of the amazing things that happened last year was I discovered this community of Black filmmakers, mostly Black women filmmakers actually making horror shorts and genre film in Philly and, and all sorts of other genre as well but horror in particular.

And so we’ve grown this community. We got invited by one of them, Wi-Moto, to screen at a sort of brief festival of four short films last year. We’re gonna hopefully do more of that kind of thing in the coming year.

The other thing we’re gonna kind of build events around is this history of Black horror lecture that I gave last year that went really well. So now we’re trying to set it up at different universities and libraries and we’re gonna see how all that goes. Again, we will keep you posted mostly through the newsletter and social media. Oh, our Instagram is just whitemeatmovie. So that’s another good way to, to keep up to date.

But yeah, so that’s kind of the other arm of what we’re working on and our focus this year is really gonna be on just getting the short out there and kind of celebrating this thing we’re proud of and getting as many people to watch it as possible. There’s a balance between like how widely we make it available, you know, online and such, and, and versus like how exclusive, you know, rights we get to like different film festivals, right?

So film festivals like it if your movie isn’t widely available already ’cause of course they kind of wanna have a little bit of exclusivity. So we’re trying to, you know, do that balancing act. So we’re not quite releasing it totally wide yet. But that might happen this year if not next year. At some point it’ll be just sort of like, hey, go to YouTube, or hey, go to Vimeo. It’s just there for you.

So again, that’s, that’s, that’s coming up. But, but yeah, our, our goal for the year, as far as that goes is to really just get as many people excited about it, seeing it, spreading it, and, and I, the idea is that hopefully that will build an audience that we can kind of. I was about to say sell to advertisers, but no, that’s not actually what we’re gonna do.

To sort of make it appetizing. See what I did there? To potential investors to sort of say, hey, not only is this a good idea, ’cause frankly we’re not gonna really want to talk to investors who’re only in it for the money. We’ve kind of talked about this before with our, manifesto. It’s sort of like, look, if you’re not down with the cause, like just investing in this ’cause you think it’s gonna make you a lot of money, is just a crap investment, like any movie.

Just, let’s be honest, like any movie is really not a great investment. It’s just like statistically a horrible, horrible business. I don’t know why I keep repeating that when I’m asking people for money, but I think the reason is because I want them to invest because they want this movie to exist and I think like first and foremost, if you don’t like the idea, if you don’t actually want White Meat to exist, then why are you investing? Like, I’m not interested in, in having that kind of relationship with you, but if you do want it to exist, but you’re afraid you’re the only one, I think that’s where it’s like saying hey, we’ve got all these million people have watched it or whatever.

Like some kind of big number to sort of say, no, it’s, you’re not the only one. This does have an audience. That I think is part of what, like what the kind of measurable goals I guess of this year might be, is like, have that have this many people we can point to who have seen it and say they want the the feature to exist, right?

So there’s that, and then there’s the potential accolades that come from that out of our control bucket of what festivals do we get into, do we get any awards at those festivals? So there’s that as well. So basically make it easier to say yes.

So I think like our ideal investor, supporter, whatever you wanna call ’em, is someone who like, no matter what, thinks it’s a good idea and would love for the film to exist. And then if they need a little more convincing that like it’s, it’s going to actually have an impact we can say, hey, look at all the people who loved the short and also just as a, you know, proof of concept that hey me and my team actually know how to make good comedy, good horror. Like we, we know how to do this. And what you see here is a sample of what we’re capable of, you know, with this much money. You know, and this is what we can make with, with, with 10 times as much. No, a hundred times as much. I don’t know the movie and the short in the end was somewhere around a hundred thousand.

We’re gonna be asking for like 10 million. So yeah, I’m more zeros is, is really what I’m saying here. Anyway, so that, but that I’d say is like, like a successful 2026. And this is really the other piece I wanna talk about. A successful 2026 to me looks like we come out of 2026 you know, with more and better relationships than we walked into it with.

So we know more people who love the film, you know, and the fan community and the horror fan community. We know more people in the film community and the creative community, and we’ve, we’re, we’re, and, and, and we know more people who are filmmakers, right? So we just have all this, this rich network of relationships that all even without the context of White Meat are just great relationships to have. You know what I mean? We’re all a good hang, but also are gonna make it easier to make the movie. ’cause at the end of the day, what gets movies made as much as anything else is relationships. Like money, of course, but honestly the money generally comes from relationships.

Like you’re not going to trust someone with $10 million unless you know them or feel like you know them. Like I, I feel like, and, and the people you need to end up meeting, right. That, that usually happens through relationships. It’s like it’s all who you know. Right. So, I don’t know. I think that that’s part of the manifesto.

Like our number one goal here is the relationships that we build. So that’s congruent with that. But at the end of the day, like, I think even if you think about it from a mercenary perspective, I don’t think we’re going to get that money unless we have a lot of great relationships beforehand. And I kind of don’t want the money unless we have great, you know what I mean?

Like, it’s almost, I, I, I’d feel better about it if that’s how it happened anyway, but yeah. So, so that all kind of is what we’re looking at. That’s why I’m saying like a, a successful 2026 is we have all these great relationships that we didn’t have before, and the ones we do have are just that much better at the end of the year.

The icing would be things like, oh, we got into all these festivals and people loved it, and we got all these awards and we’ve got like a million hits on whatever platform we like released on all this evidence basically, that people want White Meat to exist.

So that would be another great, and then like the cherry on top, of course would be, oh yeah, here’s a check for $10 million from Jordan Peele, and we’re great friends now, and he trusts me with $10 million. Like, that’s like, you know, sure, why not? I’m not gonna say no to that, but but that’s kind of like the, the, again, the out of my control bucket versus in my control.

So yeah, I, I’m optimistic about the year from that perspective. The world at large, I’m sitting here talking to you while we just invaded a sovereign country. So I’m not gonna speak to that, but but the, I will, I will speak to this a little bit though. Like, like I think we talked about before, how we took the credits of the film. If you watch the short, if and when you get to see the short, you’ll see that in the credits we mentioned the enslaved people that George Washington owned and which presidents owned people. Right. Part of that is the fact that Black history is under threat right now, and especially in the bicentennial, not bicentennial, the quadra, it’s there, there’s a word for it. But we’re 250 now, right? You’d think we’d have like learned some stuff by then, but whatever. So 250 years old, so the, the history is going to be a tug of war this year, right. Between the real history and the, the kind of like, I don’t even wanna say patriotic history ’cause I think it’s patriotic to acknowledge your, your flaws and, and the, and the harm that a country has caused. But the, what people deem as patriotic, what people appear to them as unquestioning, right?

My country, right or wrong, kind of history versus what really happened and who we really are and, and, and the complexities of that. So I want my film, the showings of my film to be in league with that. So I think we’re definitely gonna be trying to hook up with people like the African American History Museum here in Philly, different tour guides and groups here in Philly, who I know are up for the battle.

And then trying to preserve some of the history that might get taken away from places like Independence Mall or the President’s House where those names of those enslaved people that Washington George Washington owned are carved. For now. Right. ‘Cause as you may or may not know, the Parks Department has been charged with dewoking, right, as much of all of that as possible.

So that’s, I think that’s another battle we’re gonna be fighting in 2026, is how much can our film help serve to preserve Black history and just American history. How much can we be a part of that story and, and, and fight for right in that way. Because we cannot, unfortunately keep the president from kidnapping world leaders from other places.

Yeah, that happened. Anyway I digress Anyway what was I saying? So yeah, so that’s what 2026 looks like. So I think it’s gonna be a big year. Think’s gonna be a great year. I’m really excited about, I’m excited that we have something to show now. I think this is really what it boils down to. I’m excited we have something to talk about now, not just in the abstract of the year.

If 2024, if 20 20 25 was the year of making this thing we’re proud of and 2024 is basically the year of talking about this thing we wanted to make, right? And so now we’re at this point it’s like, okay, now we’ve hit that third stage where we actually have something to show you and you can react to it and we can talk about it.

And then again, the response so far has been fantastic. People really enjoy, I love being in the audience and just hearing like the laugh lines and like all the things, and even the jokes that I like that people don’t react to, but I’m still proud of. You know what I mean? Like all of that. All of that. We get to enjoy that part of it now.

And you know. And talking about it, which I think by now you’ve figured out I love to talk. So the Q and A’s, like all of that, I’m so looking forward to. So I hope you get to join us. Like I said, sign up for the newsletter to find out all the different in, in-person and online screenings that are gonna be taking place and lectures that are gonna be taking place throughout the year.

And I hope you’ll join us on this journey. And I wish you all a safe and as happy as possible and active, get your activism on resistance full. Resistance. Re re like, yeah. Be resistant and successful, however you define that. 2026. And for the White Meat Podcast, I’m your host, David Dylan Thomas, and we will see you next time.