John Wilson, the creator of HBO’s acclaimed series ‘How To with John Wilson’, has released his first feature film, ‘The History of Concrete’, an hour-and-a-half-long documentary distributed by Magnolia Pictures. Released on September 18, 2026, the film examines the history of concrete while following Wilson’s attempts to sell a documentary with that same title to Hollywood.
The structure makes the production of the film part of its subject. Wilson records Zoom meetings in which he pitches the project to Hollywood executives, while also travelling to concrete conventions in Las Vegas and New Orleans, ancient buildings in Italy, and graves in undisclosed locations.
‘The History of Concrete’ has been described as “a scaling of ambition but not function” and “an hour-and-a-half-long episode of How To”. It carries forward the form Wilson developed for television, in which an apparently ordinary subject opens onto a wider and more personal enquiry. Here, the material history of concrete sits alongside the commercial process that determines whether such an enquiry can reach an audience.
The film has also been described as “a searing critique of the film industry” that “resents the profit imperative”. Its record of pitches gives that critique a practical focus: the documentary studies concrete while showing the negotiations required to finance and distribute a film about it. The result is a self-referential account of filmmaking and artistic compromise, with the making of the work becoming one of its central stories.
Wilson came to wider attention through ‘How To with John Wilson’, which premiered in late 2020 and ran for three seasons before concluding in August 2023. The series followed an anxious New Yorker as he documented fellow New Yorkers and offered everyday advice on mundane subjects. Its third season received a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the series has an 8.7 IMDb rating.
The path to the HBO series began with Wilson’s earlier short films, ‘How to Keep Smoking’ from 2012 and ‘How to Remain Single’ from 2015. Nathan Fielder discovered those films and later served as executive producer of ‘How To with John Wilson’.
Wilson studied film at Binghamton University and established Low Cinema, an independent micro-theater in Queens, New York. His work has been compared with that of Adam Curtis, David Attenborough and the movie essays of middle-period Goddard. Those comparisons point to the unusual mix in his work: observational footage, narration and an interest in how people construct stories around their lives.
After ‘How To with John Wilson’ ended in 2023, Wilson was feeling unmoored and depleted. ‘The History of Concrete’ arrives three years after the series ended, and its subject reflects his stated concern about the documentary field. “People Are Retelling Stories That Have Already Happened,” Wilson said of what he sees as wrong with the documentary space.
Wilson told Vulture that he “takes pride in knowing there's a thing happening that nobody else knows about”. ‘The History of Concrete’ applies that instinct to a familiar material and to the less visible business of persuading others to support a film. It offers a documentary about concrete whose subject expands to include the forces that shape which documentaries are made.
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