Feedback from Rochée Jeffrey and Ben Smith
SWITCH written and directed by Jonterri Gadson (comedy pilot)
A half-hour, dark comedy about a wealthy Black woman who fulfills her revenge fantasies by using a mysterious switch in her house to control her ignorant neighbor’s luck.
Featuring Toccarra Cash, LaNisa Frederick, Jonathan Grey, Kimberly Hollkamp-Dinon, Janson Lalich, Amy Scribner, Tamika Simpkins, Tyee Tilghman, and Jamila Webb
Jonterri Gadson is a former creative writing professor who chose TV over tenure. She is currently a writer on Viacom’s EVERYBODY STILL HATES CHRIS and before that was a writer on Netflix’s THE UPSHAWS. She has been a staff writer on HBO’S A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW, NBC’s MAKING IT with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, THE KELLY CLARKSON SHOW and Adult Swim’s half-hour comedy BIRDGIRL. Additionally, she was a Comedy Consulting Producer on 12 DATES OF CHRISTMAS (Max) writing comedic host copy for Natasha Rothwell and a writer for NBC’s ULTIMATE SLIP ‘N SLIDE, writing comedic host copy for Bobby Moynihan and Ron Funches. She won Kevin Hart’s LOL Film Fellowship for a short she wrote and directed which premiered at the American Black Film Festival.
Rochée Jeffrey is a graduate of Howard University and a writer/director who hails from Jamaica and lives in Los Angeles. As a television writer, her credits include Golden Globe-nominated comedy series SMILF (Showtime), Woke (Hulu), Bigger (BET+), and co-executive producer of grown-ish (freeform). As a Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, she wrote the award-winning and Oscar-qualifying short film Suitable, which was a finalist in the American Black Film Festival HBO Competition and premiered on HBO in February 2019. Rochée also wrote and directed Mr. Talented, a short film which screened at the Austin Film Festival and competed for the HBO Award at the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival. She recently directed an independent television pilot starring David Arquette. In 2018, she was selected for the Viacom Emerging Directors Program.
Her feature directorial debut Not Your Average Queen was selected for the 2021 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab and the 2021 WIF/Sundance Financing Intensive. The film is executive produced by legendary feminist author and icon Roxane Gay, Killer Films, and Valerie Steinberg. She has an adult animated series executive produced by Lizzo set up at Tomorrow Studios. She’s also the creator/executive producer of a half-hour series for Netflix executive produced by Megan Thee Stallion, Jay-Z, and Imagine. She also co-created, co-wrote, and directed an upcoming narrative podcast series for Audible that is produced by Broadway Video and stars Sam Richardson, Method Man, Rachel Dratch, Tichina Arnold, and Richard Kind. Rochée is a graduate of the 2022 WGA Showrunner Training Program. She’s represented by APA and Tantrum Management.
Ben Smith grew up in a small Massachusetts town, where he lived with his parents, his sister, his grandfather, and their barn-full of farm animals. Evenings were spent watching Boston sports, not scripted television. Hollywood wasn’t on anyone’s mind. He wanted to be a professional basketball player or a Supreme Court Justice. Maybe it’s not so surprising he ended up a writer — he clearly had quite the imagination. Since moving to LA, Ben has written for a handful of shows, most recently Hulu’s “Only Murders In The Building,” where he serves as a Co-Executive Producer.
