To the average person, the name Jon Ronson probably doesn’t ring a bell, but to media and documentary geeks likes myself he’s a fairly well-known and highly respected British journalist and documentary filmmaker. So I have to admit to being kind of surprised when I saw this post on Videogum about Ronson’s latest project — a web documentary on how Rebecca Black’s “Friday” came to be. Ronson actually got Patrice Wilson — the man behind Ark Music Factory, the label responsible for unleashing Black onto the world — to agree to sit down for an interview at his attorney’s office, but only after learning that Ronson would be appearing on Conan O’Brien’s show later that night.
In the interview, Wilson told Ronson that he’s convinced he can create another viral sensation, all but guaranteeing he can produce another video that garners over 200 million views on YouTube. He then said that he actually had an idea about how he’d brand Ronson if the filmmaker was a client of his: Vanilla Ice meets Craig David. Later in the day, he made a song for Ronson about his appearance on Conan. The whole thing is pretty damn interesting, and there’s supposed to be a follow-up coming. So, enjoy!