In January 2015, Margera announced that he had been working on an autobiographical documentary film which he hoped to premiere in the near future. On April 9, the first trailer for the film, titled I Need Time to Stay Useless, was released to YouTube and other media outlets. The film will deal primarily with Margera's life after the death of his close friend and co-star, Ryan Dunn, who died in a car crash in 2011. According to Margera the film has been three years in the making, and will give viewers a glimpse into his childhood, career and rise to fame, while focusing mainly on his recovery from the death of Dunn. Musician Brent Hinds of the band Mastodon will play Dunn in what has been described as "dramatic fantasy interludes" that ties the film together while also re-enacting what Margera considers his "darkest moments" after Dunn's death.
During a Facebook Q&A on December 7, 2015, Margera stated that the name of the film would change from I Need Time to Stay Useless to Earth Rocker and that it would be released February 2016. In the 2017 season premier of Vice's Epicly Later'd, Margera stated that after working on the film for four years straight, sometimes for weeks at a time, he had reached the point where he had had enough of doing so. Margera stated that he had approximately eleven terabytes worth of video footage and that editing it down into a two-hour film was impossible. When asked if the project was on pause for the moment, he responded that it was.
In 2015, Margera entered rehab again for alcoholism, but left shortly after without finishing the program. Later that year he took part in Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn on VH1 with his mother, after which he remained sober for several months. In an interview with People magazine the following year, Margera opened up about his mental health issues, including anxiety and eating disorders, and revealed how his unhealthy lifestyle had forced him to relearn skating after five years, and also left him overweight. In late 2016, he relocated to Spain with his family to focus on his skating career, but moved back to Pennsylvania in 2017, before his son was born. In a 90-minute interview with YouTube-series The Nine Club recorded and released in November 2017, Margera discussed his health issues and alcoholism, claiming that he had been "mostly sober" since 2015.