The once-ubiquitous social media site Myspace is getting the documentary treatment, with a film currently in the works that chronicles the rise and fall of the house that Tom built. The movie’s a joint project between production companies Gunpowder & Sky and The Documentary Group,
Gunpowder & Sky has produced a number of well-known documentaries, such as 69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez and Everybody’s Everything, about deceased rapper Lil Peep. The Documentary Group’s behind shows like Amend: The Fight for America and The Deep End, a series focusing on spiritual wellness guru Teal Swan.
As for behind-the-camera talent, the film’s being directed by Tommy Avallone, who recently helmed the Barney docuseries I Love You, You Hate Me and The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons from a Mythical Man. The film will feature the social media site’s founders Tom Anderson (yes, that Tom) and Chris DeWolfe, in addition to a spate of celebrities who got their start on the platform.
Myspace was the social media site to beat before it was, well, beat by Facebook. The platform launched in 2003 and set the world on fire, becoming an important music promotional tool long before Bandcamp, Spotify and even YouTube. There was a guy named Tom who everyone was chums with. Folks agonized over which real-life friends to put in their list of top eight digital friends. There were some truly grody wallpaper options for your page, and the idea of an Internet troll wasn’t really a thing yet. It was a simpler time.
Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler said the documentary is a no-brainer for folks of a certain age bracket, noting that his colleagues at the time “were all obsessed with Myspace,” going on to say “without Myspace there’s no TikTok, no Facebook, no YouTube, no Instagram, no social media.”
One must understand that before Facebook, people just expected social media sites to enjoy a few months or even years in the sun before making way for the next big thing. That’s the way it was with Myspace, Friendster, SixDegrees, Classmates and all the rest. Then along came Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, beginning the era of the “too big to fail” social media platform. Recent years have finally shown cracks in the armor of these old-school giants, with and to platforms like TikTok. In other words, massive sea changes of the kind that sank Myspace are no longer unthinkable.
There’s no release date for the Myspace documentary, nor has there been an announcement if it would run in theaters or just on a streaming platform. We’ll have to play the waiting game for a while longer.
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