An ex-Birmingham Mail reporter whose drunken video resignation was viewed more than 350,000 times on Youtube and broadcast on television stations around the world is to star in a new documentary based on his life.
After travelling to America to report on the 2008 presidential election Adam Smith boldly resigned in an impromptu drunken interview after Obama’s election night victory.
The ensuing YouTube clip became a cult hit, and inspired his book Obama and Me: The Incredible True Story of a YouTube Sensation, which catalogues his fall from grace and eventual return to journalism.
Now the book has been turned into a film by a production company that took interest in his story. The ensuing 27-minute documentary will be premiered at Birmingham’s Electric Cinema on 6 March. It follows Smith as he tours the Midlands promoting his book, which he published under the pseudonym Steve Zacharanda.
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Smith said the film would catalogue what has been a surreal few years since the Youtube clip was published: “I’ve heard that President Obama heard a segment of the YouTube clip on Washington Radio which is amazing to think of. To be mentioned in the same breath as Obama is one of the highlights of my life.
"I can’t wait to see it, and if I come across as a complete idiot, then well, that might be because I am one in some ways, but then again who isn't?"
Director Lee Kenny said Smith’s story made him a fascinating subject: “When I read his book I was fascinated by the fact that the YouTube clip was just the tip of a huge iceberg that culminated in him losing his job, his girlfriend and selling electricity door-to-door… His dream was to go back to America for the 2012 US election so we followed his progress and all the pitfalls he faced along the way.”
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