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    Filmmaker Spotlight

    Dallas filmmaker Rachel Shepherd knows the best things in life are messy

    Jessica Tomberlin
    May 16, 2014 | 1:19 pm

    For Dallas filmmaker Rachel Shepherd, storytelling has always been a part of her life. A voracious reader from a young age, she devoured the unpublished manuscripts of romance novels written by her mother.

    “She had this colorful way of describing things, and her stories always read so poetically,” says Shepherd, who recently celebrated the world premiere of latest feature film, About Mom and Dad, at the 2014 Dallas International Film Festival.

    Shepherd’s relationship with her mother — as well as her father — continues to influence her work today. This is especially evident in About Mom and Dad, a story borne from Shepherd’s own experience of coping with planning her wedding around the same time that her parents’ marriage was unraveling due to infidelity. Eventually her parents reunited, strengthening their relationship as well as Shepherd’s own understanding of love and marriage.

    “Nothing that’s worth anything comes easy,” says Shepherd of her latest feature film, About Mom and Dad.

    “I wanted to show that in a marriage not everyone is a hero or a villain, not everyone who makes mistakes necessarily does it to harm the other person,” she says. “A love story can be about the people and not the incident. The best things in life are messy. Nothing that’s worth anything comes easy.”

    Although writing is her first love — something she’s been actively doing since the third grade — Shepherd developed the courage she needed to pursue her dream of becoming a filmmaker as a student in the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, during a directing class. She had always wanted to direct, but it terrified her.

    “Being in that class and seeing what makes a really great actor, I knew I wanted to direct an actor to do those things,” she says. “The greatest fun in life is living your fear, so I have a great time directing because it terrifies me.”

    In 2007, Shepherd had completed her studies at NYU and was working in television in New York when her husband, a medical student, was accepted into a residency program in Texas, where they both grew up. They moved back home, and Shepherd enrolled in the master’s program for filmmakers at the University of Texas at Arlington.

    Despite later dropping out of the program to make her first feature film, Traveling, Shepherd made lasting connections during her time at UTA, including cinematographer Bret Curry, who worked on both of her feature films. Shepherd also counts Dallas actor and producer Farah White among her core group of collaborators.

    “As a director, it is your job to bring everyone together and create the look and feel, and it’s your words and it’s your vision, but you have to understand that it’s a machine,” she says. “You’re the key that turns the machine, but every other person is equally important.”

    ​“The greatest fun in life is living your fear, so I have a great time directing because it terrifies me,” Shepherd says.

    Shepherd learned that lesson the hard way, when she tried to do everything herself on Traveling. “With About Mom and Dad, I learned how to let go,” she says. “I turned a lot of things over to my producers.”

    The decision to premiere the film at the 2014 Dallas International Film Festival came more out of Shepherd’s love for the Dallas film community than her desire to promote the film it on the festival circuit. She premiered Traveling at the festival in 2011, so it has become almost like a tradition for her.

    “If the Dallas International Film Festival will have me, I will premiere every one of my movies there,” she says Shepherd. “They were the first festival to support me, and they continue to support and exhibit work that comes from the vibrant, deep community of filmmakers here in Dallas.”

    Although you may not have a chance to see About Mom and Dad on the big screen again anytime soon, Shepherd and her crew are currently pitching it to cable stations in hopes of releasing the film on television and later rolling it out to other video-on-demand outlets.

    “Our goal for the movie has always been television,” she says. “I don’t really see it as a film made for theatrical release. Some of my favorite movies are Hollywood movies, so I’m a huge fan of that system; it’s just not where my work will ever be.

    “But that’s the great thing about being a filmmaker: There are all these different voices, and when we sing together, it’s this crazy discord of unharmonious sound. But if we each get a voice out there, it makes a beautiful symphony, and I’m just so proud to be a part of it.”

    Farah White and Brent Anderson on the set of About Mom and Dad.

      
    Photo courtesy of Rachel Shepherd
    Farah White and Brent Anderson on the set of About Mom and Dad.
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    Hot Hot Headlines

    Dallas has boomed in last decade in the 5 top stories this week

    Teresa Gubbins
    Apr 19, 2025 | 5:10 pm
    Fate, Dallas suburb
    fatetx.gov/
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    Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top Dallas news of the week, beginning with news that's no secret: DFW's population is growing. That includes the city of Celina, getting its first Walmart Supercenter. Nine Dallas-area universities made a notable list, and the city's only underground subway station is getting a re-do. Get the details on our five most popular Dallas stories below, and then check out this guide for some weekend fun.

    1. 11 Dallas suburbs soar as fastest-growing U.S. cities in last decade. It's no secret that Dallas-Fort Worth's population is growing faster than most other metros in the U.S., but now several surprising Dallas neighbors have been named among the top 10 fastest-growing suburb nationwide over the last decade.

    2. Booming Celina hits the big time with its first Walmart Supercenter. The city of Celina is getting its first mega Walmart: It will be a Walmart Supercenter located at the northwest corner of Preston Road (Highway 289) and the West Outer Loop.

    3. 9 Dallas-area universities make U.S. News' 2025 list of top grad schools. Nine prestigious Dallas-Fort Worth universities have climbed through the ranks in U.S. News & World Report’s recently released report of the best graduate schools nationwide for 2025.

    4. Upscale Dallas taqueria Velvet Taco to open first McKinney location. Dallas taco chain Velvet Taco, which specializes in globally inspired tacos, opened its first location in McKinney at 8565 W. University Dr. #150, on Monday, April 14.

    5. DART to replace escalators at their only underground Dallas station. Over the next three years, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is going to replace and refurbish six escalators and two elevators at the Cityplace/Uptown Station.

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