- A brief history of React – React is the most popular web framework in use today. It was created by Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Facebook, and open sourced in 2013 at JSConf US. In the issue The State of Frontend 2022, React is noted as having 76% of respondents using and liking React the past year. Stack Overflow Trends also shows React having more questions than other similar frameworks since 2018.
- The idea of making the documentary – The documentary was funded by Honeypot, a developer-focused job platform. The idea was proposed by filmmaker Ida Lærke Bechtle, with the hope of inspiring people and remembering Honeypot when looking for new job opportunities. Ida did research on React, contacted the first React core team members, and interviewed them to create the story.
- Behind the scenes of the making of React.js: the Documentary – Ida traveled to Dublin, London, San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, and NYC to interview React team members, with help from Christopher Chedeau to convince the others. At Meta, they had a “chaperone” but otherwise were not restricted in what they could ask or film.
- Premiere and reception – The documentary premiered in Amsterdam to an audience at the JSWorld conference. Afterward, there were a few more premieres in Berlin, Barcelona, and Vienna. The movie quickly passed 250,000 views on YouTube within its first week of release, with mostly positive feedback. Ida learned that people will watch longer movies on YouTube, as long as the topic is on point and the storytelling is good.
Published February 16, 2023
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