This filmmaker accidentally turned one of his subjects into a meme. Now he wants to apologize

A Saint John filmmaker unintentionally turned the image of one of his interview subjects into a sometimes funny, sometimes cruel internet meme 20 years ago. 

Now he wants to tell him he's sorry, but he just has to find him first.

It was 2002 when Greg Hemmings set out to make a documentary about a subculture of die-hard music festival-goers who travelled across North America to attend performances by touring jam bands.

Over several months of filming that summer, Hemmings ended up interviewing dozens of people at several concerts across the U.S. and Canada.

He then returned home, where he spent another couple of months editing tape to produce a 52-minute film titled A Heads Tale.

The only problem was Hemmings forgot to get his interview subjects to sign release forms to be in the documentary.

With no contact information for those interviewees, Hemmings turned to the internet, clipping images of each of the subjects and posting them on online jam-band forums, where he enlisted fellow jam-band fanatics to help find them.

"And I named each one of them. So person number one, person number two or three, and believe it or not, I got every single person. I found everybody.

"But number 17, the seventeenth photo I was looking for, because I was so quickly doing this exercise... I exported a not-so-flattering photo of the fellow who I interviewed who was number 17."

The unintentional birth of a meme

That image quickly started making the rounds on online forums, and soon edited versions were being shared, which poked fun at Dan and a subculture of hippies informally called "wooks," said Hemmings, who declined sharing Dan's full name.

And so, Hemmings, by uploading the image of Dan, unintentionally birthed a meme that's become commonly referred to as "Wook 17."

"But they started making these memes that were really mean, to be honest with you. Like really dark and just mean-spirited.

"I'm a very positive person and I really try to do stories that are bringing light to the world and not pain. And I was just heartbroken and sick because, like, I start seeing the thing go viral."

Hemmings was able to get Dan's signature for the release form through some friends who bumped into him at a concert in the months that followed. However, Hemmings never got any contact information for Dan to apologize about the unflattering image of him online.

Hemmings said he interviewed Dan at a concert just outside Albany, N.Y., but doesn't know whether he lives in or near that city.

Compensating Dan for any embarrassment

After putting the search on hold for about 15 years, Hemmings said he was recently inspired to look for Dan again, and possibly use the online notoriety around the meme to compensate him for any embarrassment it brought him.

Hemmings said he has registered Dan's interview clip as a non-fungible token, of NFT, which he likens to a digital "certificate" that can only be held by a single owner.

Then, once Hemmings finds Dan, he said he plans on selling the NFT, and splitting the proceeds with him. He later decided he will give Dan full ownership.

"I want people to see the actual interview that Dan gave me — that it's an intelligent, passionate interview by a very decent human being.

"And I was thinking maybe this would be kind of a nice way of, you know, helping this guy know that people aren't just looking at him to make fun, you know, because that was a... technical error."