John Wilson, creator of the cult-acclaimed HBO series How To with John Wilson, has made his debut feature film titled The History of Concrete, a 100-minute documentary examining the mundane urban material that dominates New York City's landscape. The film reflects Wilson's signature style of finding profound meaning in overlooked everyday objects, and demonstrates the influence his previous work has had on the city—notably, his scaffolding episode reportedly influenced the mayor's plan to reduce sidewalk sheds.

Wilson initially struggled to pitch the project, receiving little enthusiasm from producers who questioned the commercial viability of a concrete documentary. Inspired by attempting to repair his Queens apartment's cracked foundation and realising how little people understand the dominant material in their visual environment, Wilson conceived the film as part documentary exploration and part meta-commentary on the difficulty of developing and selling an unconventional creative project. The 100-minute film functions as an extended episode of How To, weaving observations about concrete with reflections on navigating creative projects outside the security of a studio contract.