Two years since the disastrous musical festival known as “Fyre Festival” Hulu and Netflix have both produced documentaries. It was well known in early 2018 Hulu was in the works to develop a documentary, shortly after Netflix announced they would also be producing there own. Both streaming service battling for this culture changing event that turned in to the culture changing version of hunger games.
What put Hulu’s version over Netflix? Well, let’s break this down a little bit. Netflix was the first to streaming service to “secure” the event owner Billy McFarland for interviews for the documentary. This came all before the FBI filing charges for fraud landing Billy McFarland in prison for 6 years.
USA Today - In a bonus twist, this week Jerry Media CEO Mick Purzycki and “Fyre” director Chris Smith confirmed to USA TODAY that McFarland was previously set to talk exclusively on their documentary for Netflix. They both cite an agreement that McFarland would not be paid, but “12 percent of the back end would be donated to victims,” says Smith. But McFarland jumped ship to the Hulu documentary for an undisclosed figure, Hulu filmmakers confirm.
Netflix’s deal was reported to that 12% of the back end money would be given to the victims of the Fyre Festiva. In trade, Billy McFarland would be a Netflix exclusive interview.. With the ticket prices ranged from $500 – $1500 for passes and the VIP packages started at $12,000. This was a little bit of light for those who were cheated out of so much money. Hulu countered with a direct payment to Billy McFarland and Netflix lost the interview. Netflix did not completely lose out, they were able to get the right to a Marketing Group called “Fuck Jerry”. This group was essential to the promotion and movement that was Fyre Festival. But more on that later….
In that same report out of USA Today, Hulu was able to pull Bull McFarland over to there streaming service with an undisclosed payment to obtain the exclusive interview right.
Known in the world as a used car salesman Billy McFarland took the money deal. Honestly was anyone surprised by this? Not really. During the Hulu interview, you will find many times as they asked questions he would pause or change the subject. Whether this was clever videography to give suspense or legitimate pausing due to pure embarrassment we will never really know. We would hope that Hulu will release a full and uncut version of the interview to the public but we double it. Do did Hulu ask the tough questions, did they get there money’s worth?
So what did Netflix get int he deals? Well, they got Fuck Jerry, but the Netflix version of the documentary was produced by Elliot Tebele. Who is also the creator of Jerry Media/Fuck Jerry and Fyre Festival’s social media agency. A few hours ago while writing this report Elliot Tebele released information on his twitter about the amounts that were paid and still owed. Donating funds to the “Exuma Point-Fyre Fest Fiasco” GoFundMe - https://www.gofundme.com/exuma-point-fyre-fest-debt
This go fund me was designed by Elvis and Maryann Rolle from the Exuma Point Resort. To help pay all the employees who worked as “Fixers” on the island working 18+ hour days for months to set up the equipment provided by the Billy McFarland.
Both documentaries criticized each other for the involvement of Elliot Tebele or Billy McFarland. From the image, you can see Ja Rule was outraged by this information. Claiming his involvement was purely minimal.
To wrap this up, you have a choice to watch Netflix version or Hulu’s version. For some of you, you can watch both. We like to hear from you, what did you think of the Fyre Fest? Which documentary did you feel was the most in-depth?