The Fyre Films (Netflix & Hulu; 2019) Movie

Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened vs. Fyre Fraud. Take your pick. Netflix one is supposedly better and directed by Chris Smith, of American Movie and the Jim & Andy doc.

 

Fyre Fight: The Inside Story of How We Got Two Warring Fyre Festival Documentaries in the Same Week

This was up on the home page earlier this week. Apparently they both had some less-than-ideal stuff go on in the background. The Netflix one was made in association with the company that was actually a promotor for the festival, so people have alleged it goes too easy on them. The Hulu one’s filmmakers were able to get an exclusive interview with Billy McFarland but only because they paid him an unknown but assumed to be large amount of money, thereby allowing him to profit in some way off of what he did. Kind of lame in both cases.

 

The Netflix doc was made with Fuck jerry, who promoted the event. The Ringer article touches on both aspects
Amateurs, Con Artists, and Vanishing Movie Stars: Inside the World of Chris Smith’s Documentaries
Models, Pigs, and Cheese Sandwiches: Sifting Through the Ashes of the Fyre Docs

 

had no idea who fuck jerry was until I watched insta famous on netflix

 

Who has the better Fyre Festival documentary, Netflix or Hulu?

 

Didn't know they paid McFarland before I watched it, kinda gross. Wondered why he would talk at all, should've guessed lol

 

Honestly I bet the guy would've talked for free if nobody had offered him money. Sounds like the kind of person who would want "his side of the story" out there. Problem was, the Fyre Fraud team had already offered him money so once money was on the table he wasn't going to turn it down. The fact that he immediately failed at trying to pit the two teams against each other in a bidding war was very satisfying to me, though. Although he still made six figures from it so I guess he had the last laugh there.

 

Yeah he seems like he has himself perpetually talked into thinking he's never doing anything wrong

 

like i mentioned in the netflix thread... the hulu version was pretty interesting stuff. But i wish they showed more of what went down during the actual 3 days of the "festival". They showed the initial rush and the mayhem and then a group of people trying to leave. What happened the rest of the time there.... was their legit NO MUSIC AT ALL?.. were their refunds given

Also. I dont think the hulu version did a good job of making anyone feel bad for anyone. Maybe there's no one to feel bad FOR but like if you're going to paint MacFarlane to be this total bad guy, you'd think there would be a victim somewhere. Where in reality the only people who were victims are rich investor people who made a bad gamble.

All in all not a bad docu. Thought some of the imagery they used when people would say something as a metaphor...like "this was like a wack a mole game, you think you fixed the problem but yada yada..." (show video clip of kid playing wack a mole). Made me think of the simpsons episode of behind the music haha

oh! and the hulu version was very clever in letting us know the netflix version was made by "fuck jerry" (aka people who were a part of promoting this thing)... sneaky sneaky hulu

 

I think it's important that people know the association with Fuck Jerry, considering pretty much every piece I've seen so far has made it a point to mention that Fyre doesn't treat them with the level of culpability/knowledge they appear to actually have had. I don't think the Fyre Fraud team were being sneaky in pointing that out. Although, again, like we've been saying, the Fyre Fraud team isn't exactly operating with clean hands here considering they paid McFarland six figures for an interview. I think the AV Club piece I linked above is probably right in saying the two films complement each other and fill in some gaps to make a clearer picture of what actually happened. I'll probably watch both of them for that reason, to be honest.

 

Fyre Fraud was OK, but I really hated all of the stock footage clips.

 

Watched the Hulu doc a few days ago and in the middle of watching the Netflix one right now. They definitely compliment each other well.

There is definitely some overlap, but Hulu focused more on Billy and his history of compulsive lying and scamming while Netflix seemed to approached all of the missteps that happened at each part of the process. Netflix seemed to paint a better picture about how pretty much everyone involved in every single aspect were 100% sure the festival couldn't happen because it was so outrageous but Billy just made them keep going and left them in the dark as much as possible. Hulu just painted him as a scam artist from the start and focused on the shadiness and fraud that was happening.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing of the exact same clip. It was like something out of "Documentary Now."

 

Found the Netflix doc to be way better

 

Yeah just came to say the same. More in depth on the day to day stuff and on who he screwed over, locals and employees. Frankly the candid footage of Billy was better than anything he said himself in the Hulu one.

 

I mean, I know the doc I watched was in part produced by them but is Fuckjerry really THAT at fault? I haven't seen the Hulu one so maybe someone can provide some context, but it seemed like a lack of due diligence in what they were marketing than any sort of malicious misleading of consumers. Deleting the comments is a bad look, but at the same time, they were not the organizers - what could they do really outside of direct them to Fyre contacts? I'm not saying they're blameless and I find the company to be pretty annoying but I feel like I'm missing some details on just how complicit they are and I don't really feel like watching a second documentary about the same thing lol

 

No, no music was played. The first night was the only night of the “festival”. When other planes landed they sent them back to Miami and / or locked them in the airport until more planes could be sent down to the Bahamas (this is shown / mentioned in the Netflix doc).

 

NOTE: i don't ask this or want people to think i'm moving the blame from Billy to the artists, the blame clearly rests with Billy.

how much responsibility should go to the musical acts?

Blink 182 cancelled the day before, even though their agent said that they hadn't paid anything all the way up until this point. like, did they honestly not know until the day before that they weren't going? if they would have cancelled earlier (or other acts) would that have maybe put an end to it before people flew down there? were any of the artists even saying anything about the event on social media?

idk if artists get paid 100% before the event, or 50/50 (and i'm sure it depends on the artist and maybe the event itself) but since Blink wasn't paid anything by the time the NYC financial guy talked to them, how unusual is that? when is the cut off point before they decide not to play the show? is the day before standard procedure? you know fans are flying thousands of miles to this thing and you say you're not going the day before?

if a FRIEND did this to you, you'd be pissed. if you had paid thousands and were flying thousands of miles to see them (and see and do other things) you;d rightfully be livid.

did any musical acts get backlash from this? (for not showing up or backing out sooner, etc.)

 

To be fair if you want to blame anyone for the bands its their booking agents. For acts as big as blink it's more like "hey we got a request to play a festival in the Bahamas for lots of money. You in?" Sure. After that point they probably barely think about it and would assume everything's kosher. Why wouldn't they assume that ya know?

 

Watched the Netflix doc last night and it was very interesting. Hearing how fucked over the people of the Bahamas got really broke my heart. That poor, sweet woman who owned that bar.

It's mind-blowing how much of a moron this guy was and how he managed to get away with this kind of shit for so long. I can't imagine what goes through the head of a guy who starts up ANOTHER scam while still on trial for another.

I will say that I felt a little uncomfortable with how this doc victimized some of the friends and the higher-up employees/partners in this. By continuing to work with him while simultaneously knowing and complaining about how much of a disaster this is, they were complicit in it. I feel like they could have left or exposed Fyre at any time. Thinking mostly about that black-haired guy with the beard who was there the whole time, constantly being interviewed.

 

There does look to be a GoFundMe for that woman if you’d like to contribute. I hope it’s legit and not another person trying to profit off their misfortune.

Click here to support Exuma Point- Fyre Fest Fiasco organized by Maryann Rolle

 

Holy shit the Netflix one is amazing. Makes my skin crawl.

 

Watched netflix version too... fine fine they do compliment each other.

I will say. Where is Ja rule in all this because hes one of those guys that comes out of this looking like a chump. Like the fact all those workers didnt get paid...not a good look

 

Yeah, I just finished the Netflix one and Ja Rule manages to escape the camera/conversation throughout most of the movie (except for the part where he tries to spin fraud into "fake advertising")

I'll probably watch the Hulu one in the next few days.

Definitely feel sorry for the people who spent so much time/effort/labor on this and got screwed. But I'm kinda with Ron Funches as far as the festival goers.