YouTube Originals has revealed more details about its previously announced Tom Petty documentary. Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers will be released for free on Petty’s YouTube channel on November 11.
The feature-length documentary comes from director Mary Wharton (Elvis Lives!, The Beatles Revolution) and premiered at SXSW 2021, where it won the Audience Award. It also won Best Documentary Film at the Boulder Film Festival.
Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers looks at the rock star’s life and art, particularly the period of 1993 to 1995 in which Petty worked with legendary producer Rick Rubin for the first time. The film includes never-before-seen footage drawn from a recently discovered archive of 16mm film, along with new interviews with album co-producer and Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and more.
The film was produced by Peter Afterman, with executive producers Dan Braun, Mary Wharton and Adria Petty, and presented by Inaudible Films, Warner Music Entertainment (Warner Music Group’s film and TV division) and Warner Records. Susanne Daniels is Global Head of Original Content for YouTube. Alex Piper, YouTube Originals’ head of unscripted, and Nicole Emanuele, YouTube Originals’ development lead, will oversee the project for the platform.
Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers is the latest addition to YouTube Originals’ slate of music-related content including Noted: Alicia Keys The Untold Stories, Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil and Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert, among others.