Meet the Movie: “The Beautiful Struggle” Is A Journey of Love, Laughter, and Connection in Dallas

Filmmaker Rock White’s newest work, “The Beautiful Struggle” is a love letter to cinema, beloved historically-Black Dallas landmarks, and hopeless romantics who believe in second (and third) chances. At its core, the film is a richly woven tapestry of finding love and light in the most unlikely moments and people in our lives. The romantic comedy is lauded in anticipation of its debut, receiving the award for “Best Movie” from San Antonio Black International Festival in 2024. Lead actors Terrence “T.C.” Carson, Quin Walters and Marcus M. Maudlin deliver a gripping performance, reminding audiences that there is indeed an art to finding love. 

Meet the Movie

Alongside the film itself, its community outreach and Q&A session “Meet the Movie” is an interactive event meant to reconnect the old and new film lovers alike with the magic of cinema. “Meet the Movie” will begin after an exclusive screening of “The Beautiful Struggle” on May 17. 

Co-producer and marketing strategist Joseph Shelby designed MTM as a “safe place” for all audiences to fellowship over art. The event will feature a live Q&A with the cast, producers, and director. Following the discussion is a networking mixer, an opportunity Shelby says entrepreneurs and local creatives won’t want to miss. 

Going Beyond the Screen

Going to the movies isn’t just about appreciating an on-screen story for two hours, Shelby says. It’s a spiritual renewal, a chance to be with friends, share experiences and craft lasting relations with others. 

White and Shelby’s nonprofit, “Reel Shot” is all about supporting aspiring filmmakers. Through the program, young storytellers have opportunities to work alongside industry professionals, allowing them to build confidence in their work. 

Back to the Movies

Dallas Weekly had the privilege to sit down with White and Shelby to discuss the upcoming premiere of “The Beautiful Struggle.” Here’s what they had to say about the film and the “Meet the Movie” event. 

Dallas Weekly: Thank you both for joining us today. First of all, I love the concept of Meet the Movie and going back to the theater as a ritual. As a kid, I grew up going to the movies all the time. After COVID, society lost that, and it left a cultural void of community. With the “Meet the Movie” event following your premiere, you’re trying to bring this community back. Could you elaborate on what it means for you specifically to have an event like this? 

Rock White: I’m much like you, like you just said, I grew up going to the movies. It was always a thing. And you mentioned COVID, and one of the things about COVID is that there was probably a two to maybe three year gap of a generation that didn’t, and literally, couldn’t go to the movies. They [the movies] weren’t there, they weren’t available. Also, it was a break [for going to the movies]. It’s like we’ve had to fill that time somewhere else, with streaming or social media.  

Coming to the movies hasn’t truly bounced back like yet. And it’s not about just seeing the film. There’s a communal experience that goes along with watching films. That’s one of the things that I hold a high value for. Because there’ve been movies that I’ve seen, and they were okay movies, but I really enjoyed my time with this group of people that I don’t know. It’s because we are taking time to share this experience together. 

That’s what I push for with “Meet the movie.” Part of it [Meet the Movie], is that it’s not just watching a movie. It’s trying to add value to that time. So whenever we come out to see the movie, we’re adding other things that are geared towards helping you connect or reconnect with the community and people that are around that share the same interests. The other special part of the event is that you get an opportunity to connect with the movie in a way that traditionally isn’t available, where you get to watch the movie with the people in the movie.

So ultimately, this is really a driver for the community, more than just a movie. 

Personifying Dallas

DW: I want to talk now about “The Beautiful Struggle.” In this movie, Dallas is not just a setting, it’s more of a living, breathing entity. What was your thought process going through, showcasing cultural landmarks here in South Dallas?

RW: When people think of Dallas, they think of an elevated perception of corporate America. It feels like we don’t focus enough on the art and the talent that goes on here. It’s a “business city.”

[Dallas has] so many things to do and places to go, and we wanted to bring a little attention to that. Because we can’t showcase the entire city, we chose to bring up areas that really should be staples of the community, like the African American History Museum.

We give a great shout out to TBAAL. So it’s really calling attention to all the other creatives and the artists that are here. We had a good connection with Marshall Byrd [at the African American History Museum] whenever we were creating [the film] and even got some really great insight for some of the dialog that happened in that scene. It’s all about being able to use Dallas as a backdrop, not just as a corporate city with business, but more of a living character. 

A Seat At the Filmmaker’s Table

DW: Continuing on the note of Blackness: Rock, you’ve talked about wanting allies to support Black films. As a filmmaker, what does allyship look like in the independent film space? How do we cultivate this? How do we check on this? What does that look like?

RW: I think the same way that we are allies, to our counterparts, is that we go for story. We’re not necessarily just this associate. We’re not disassociating ourselves with their story because we have different cultural differences. It’s because we want people to come in not only to experience our stories, but also experience coming to watch our stories with us. 

If you’ve been to the theater, a primarily black audience is a little different than a primarily white audience, right? And I say that in a joke a little bit, but at the same time, it is an experience. And if you haven’t ever had it before, I think there’s a value to coming out to support that, as well as understanding that by coming to see our stories, I feel like it closes the gap in what you may perceive to be our differences. 

We love, we lose, we win. The way that we tell our story may be different, but that’s the art and the creativity in it. Not necessarily because we’re in two totally different worlds– we just might be in different areas of the same city.

DW: I’m glad you mentioned storytelling. Storytelling can be a mirror, it can be a reflection of life. It can also be a map. And in “The Beautiful Struggle,” you’ve got humor, romance, culture– how does the storytelling of this film take the audience to a deeper meaning or an overarching message?

RW: You know, when we tee it off, we like to start where a lot of us are. I think a lot of people will be able to understand our protagonist in this. It’s about understanding that life is happening all the time, and we may not know this. We’re somewhat oblivious to our shortcomings in other areas of our life. 

As things begin to unfold and we try to do other things when we’re not really tied or grounded, it’s hard to get anything to go our way. Everything kind of feels like it’s loose. As we’re going through the story, we realize that as [Kelsey] changes as a character and becomes more involved and more grounded in his own life, things begin to work out. His allies begin to show up for him. He has “the breaks.”

“The breaks” seem to go his way to the end, where he’s become a more full whole person, that he has become a better friend, a better partner, a better business partner, and even better to himself. That’s the journey we want to take the audience on. 

Lessons in Learning to Lead

DW: Now I want to talk about you specifically as a filmmaker and a team builder and leader in this process. What lessons have you both learned personally in this entire process, whether it’s leadership, collaboration, vision, etc.? 

RW: I think the lesson piece comes in personalities, right? It takes a lot of people to be able to do all things that create a film, but then also we have to understand that we all operate and move differently.

In regard to being a creator and leader: A piece of it is that you have to lead with intention. And there’s also a part where it feels like you have to be considerate of, of the time that you are asking from the people that you’re working with, making sure that you’re not overwhelming your support, overwhelming your allies. It’s just to go into it understanding that, one, you can’t do it by yourself, and then two, for the people that do come in to support and cheer for you and and execute to not take advantage of it, or make it feel like we’re taking advantage of them. 

People want to help. Be considerate, though, because as you do that, you’ll get more and more energy from people when you’re not overloading them. And [having] organization helps by being able to call out roles and responsibilities. That way things don’t get too convoluted, and people kind of know where they’re at in the process. And it’s also easier to build in some measurements to say, “Yes, you’re doing a good job,” or “Yes, we got that done,” and then our celebrations become more clear.

Joseph Shelby: We were good friends first, so that’s always different, but Rock is very good at what he does, and I’ve worked with several people who are in this industry. It was a bit tumultuous, but there was also a good learning aspect of all different types of things. I come from a background of really working with a lot of smaller businesses, and you learn to wear a lot of hats. And that’s one great thing I can say about working with someone like Rock. He allows you to wear a lot of different hats, and, you know, just go at it. 

As far as the movie, I’m really excited to see this because it’s been in the making for a while. I just want to be there and be part of the audience when they see it. So I’m expecting some good things. 

How “Meet the Movie” Was Born

DW: We are excited for the film as well. Like you mentioned, Joseph, your strong suit is working with smaller businesses, and strategizing how to plan these events. What was your blueprint to ensure not only that Meet the Movie is not only successful at the moment, but that we can continue to have more events like this going forward?

JS: Initially, Rock came up with the idea that we should do something besides just premiering the movie. You know, a lot of filmmakers around a lot of people are doing movie premieres, and we wanted something similar, but something different. When we came up with Meet the Movie, we thought it would be a good backdrop to actually meet the people behind it, crew and cast, and ask questions.

A lot of people in the audience are future filmmakers, and they want to know the process, so we want to come up with something like that. My blueprint was my background, because I worked in marketing for over 30 years. I’ve done several different events like this for other companies and also movie premieres in Austin, but this will be the first that I’ve done, really for us. 

The execution of this is really important. And I think we’ve done an excellent job at executing a lot of information with the website, social media and the market materials that we’ve used so far.

DW: Wonderful. I want to give space now to ask: Is there anything that Meet the Movie attendees should know before they go experience this event for themselves?

JS: We’re really hoping the event is really family oriented. We just wanted to be a safe place for people to come out. And I mean, I’m big on movies. It’s more than just watching a movie that we created. It’s more so fellowship that’s pretty that’s a big part of it. Because, you know, when you have the red carpet, it’s not just about, you know, coming dressed [to the] nines or anything. It’s more of seeing people you haven’t seen in a while. 

RW: [Meet the Movie] really is geared more towards people who are looking to try something new and experience film in a different way, and to have a different intimacy with the programming that you’re getting a chance to look at. 

This is about connecting. I hope that local businesses understand that this is a great opportunity to come out and connect with your patrons, to let people know what you are, what you do here, to even feel the vibe of what’s interesting in the world. It feels like we’ve had this bizarro world where we haven’t connected with each other. We haven’t been out to be around and take in the experience of just feeling people’s energy.

It’s tough enough for us to get together in environments where it’s safe, where it’s family-friendly. [This is a space] where we’re able to invite our sister or our best friend, to come out and share an experience, and then be able to talk about it at dinner later on or the next day.

Hitting “Fast Forward” on the Future

DW: And on that note of transcendence, Rock and Joseph, would you consider potentially expanding on events like “Meet the Movie” in the future?

JS: Yeah, we haven’t set this up to be a one time event. Ideally, what we’d like to do is be able to showcase this for Dallas audiences over and over again. Along with that, we’ll be piloting this particular event in cities to be selected, and then we’ll roll it out the same way, just to see if there is an interest. 

RW: In a perfect world, we’re able to begin a pipeline that allows our films, and I say, “our” in a cultural sense, to be absorbed by the audience in a more intimate way. 

All of this is built on the premise of trying to find small filmmakers. It grows from a nonprofit that we’re a part of called Reel Shot. And essentially what it’s geared at is trying to get second career adults and some of the youth involved and exposed to storytelling.

Growing up, I didn’t know anybody that was a part of the film industry. I don’t know if I knew anybody with a camera, but as I began to get more exposed to [filmmaking], my interest grew. I went from a movie lover to a movie maker, and in doing that along the way, what I recognize is that I don’t have a lot of talent. I was exposed to it, though, and so my interest is driving me towards becoming a better storyteller, becoming a better filmmaker, just because I know it’s possible. 

So as we travel [with this program], our hope is that [the attendees are] able to engage with us. If there’s a spark somewhere and someone has a story that they want to get out, then they have a resource in us.

As many say, there’s nothing new under the sun. But there are new perspectives under the sun.  

JS: And our perspective is where the value is. 

Catch “The Beautiful Struggle” at the Angelika Film Center at 3:00 p.m. on May 17. Find tickets and more information here.