Coupledom Comedy: ‘The Black Watch’ Talks Black Love, Body-Swapping & Rom-Coms With ‘Switches’ Director Brandon Broussard
- ‘Switches’ blends Black Mirror, Crazy, Stupid, Love, and Freaky Friday to tell a personal story about Black love and marriage.
- The film’s stars, Sinqua Walls and Chanté Adams, had natural chemistry that brought the characters to life.
- Director Brandon Broussard hopes ‘Switches’ can become a classic like ‘Love Jones’ and ‘Coming to America’ in the Black romantic comedy canon.
What happens when the spark starts to sputter and a couple is willing to do anyyyyyything to get it back? That’s what BOSSIP and Cassius are exploring in the latest episode of The Black Watch.
Today, the brands released a new installment of their editorial-led series examining notable films and television projects through thoughtful discussion and cultural commentary.
The latest episode brings together BOSSIP Managing Editor Dani Canada, iONE Digital Director of Content for the Men’s Division Alvin Blanco and comedian Tiffany Burke to unpack Switches, an award-winning short about Black love, marital growing pains and one particularly unconventional attempt to reconnect.
The trio is joined by Switches’ writer-director Brandon Broussard for the conversation about not only his film but other Black romantic comedies and the classics we can’t stop watching.
According to Broussard, Switches is a mix of romance, relationship drama and sci-fi-inflected comedy.
“I would describe it as like Black Mirror and, I’d say, Crazy, Stupid, Love or Sex and the City having a baby,” Broussard said, adding that there’s “a little bit of Freaky Friday thrown in there as well.”
Starring Sinqua Walls and Chanté Adams, the short centers on a married couple teetering on the brink of divorce who still remember what made them fall for each other. When presented with an unusual opportunity to regain that missing spark, they decide their relationship is worth the risk.
Beneath the body-swapping business and comedic chaos is something much more personal for Broussard.
“It’s about Black love,” he said, noting that the story was inspired by his parents, who were together for 44 years, as well as his own marriage.
He recalled the blissful beginning of his relationship with his wife, when even discovering her dirty socks beside the bed made him happy simply because she was there. These days however, dirty laundry isn’t all its cracked up oto be for the filmmaker.
That progression from butterflies to everyday business helped shape Switches and its portrait of two people wondering whether they can get back on traack.
“If there’s something that could possibly give that back to us, like, we’re willing to try that for love,” Broussard said.
He also spoke on the short film’s stars Sinqua Walls and Chanté Adams.
Walls had been connected to Switches since Broussard was developing the script and ultimately suggested Adams as his onscreen partner, and Broussard said their chemistry was apparent from the first table read.
“They came in with it,” he said, praising Adams as a performer who can genuinely listen and respond in the moment rather than simply waiting to deliver her next line.
“I don’t need you to go for the joke,” Broussard recalled telling his stars. “I need you to be him, and I need you to be her, and the jokes will land.”
To help them get there, the actors studied each other’s physical mannerisms to embody each other which produced one of Broussard’s favorite moments.
According to the director, Chanté Adams’ awkward attempt at walking in heels after the body switch happened in one take.
“I was literally sitting in video Village and like the take you see is the first take, and I was dying. Like, I literally had to put my hand over my mouth to not ruin the take.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Broussard reflected on his Howard University days, and discussed moving to Los Angeles where he worked as a production assistant on the sitcom Eve, later working his way up to writers’ assistant before becoming a television writer himself. That path eventually took him to Atlanta, where he wrote for Tyler Perry, before opportunities in feature films followed.
Broussard said he has since sold 14 features and had four produced, with credits including The Perfect Match, #RealityHigh and Praise This.
The Black Watch also discussed fellow romantic comedies that have already cemented themselves in the culture.
Love Jones, Love & Basketball and Brown Sugar all made the cut, although Dani and Tiffany reconsidered whether Love & Basketball qualifies as a romance or a “psychological thriller” given Quincy and Monica’s tumultuous trip to happily ever after.
“It’s actually a horror film,” said Dani.
Broussard, meanwhile, named Love Jones and Coming to America noting that Prince Akeem quite literally comes to America looking for a wife.
More importantly, both films represent the kind of cultural staying power Broussard hopes watchers of Switches will resonate with.
“That’s a high bar to try to reach,” he said. “But my goal is to try to make a classic that people remember the same way that they remember those films.”
Watch the latest episode of The Black Watch below!
