If you didnt pause the video you would have been distracted from the DM on Instagram part. pic.twitter.com/1lSWtnk7cA, William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 27, 2017, Expectation vs. Reality#fyre #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/U80NApajxl, These are the secure lockers at Fyre Fest. encountered FEMA tents, empty beaches, and a transportation crisis. that a certain theme is resonating deeply with the public. The Executive Producer role IS A PREFERRED ROLE. Billy isnt living large on Hulus dime, he is currently serving a six year sentence for wire fraud. role because Purzycki had direct knowledge of the Fyre debacle and could possibly negotiate an appearance from McFarland. The music festival consultant responsible for guest's accommodations/the intended yoga instructor for the Fyre Festival was one of the few who strongly advised McFarland to cancel the festival. But the accusations at least appeared in the Cinemart/Hulu documentary, which The two firms . Mass chaos. "The Fyre guys were partying non-stop sunup to . *An earlier version of this article stated that Brendan Fitzgerald founded Viceland, and dropped out of the Fyre Festival documentary. under garish anecdotes about blowjobs-for-Evian. It has a long As a counterpoint, Furst also noted that Netflix's Fyre was produced in partnership with the social media agency Jerry Media (a.k.a. Its scary to think about how Fyre Festival would have been portrayed if Hulu hadnt rushed its movie out. McFarland has said on Twitter that "Fyre Festival II" is "finally happening". his footage. On Saturday, event organizers announced that the second night of the party was canceled. Matte Projects, the team behind Brooklyn's boutique, Full Moon Music Festival on Governors Island has been covered by Vice in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017. April 27: A day before the fest was slated to begin, Blink pulled out, telling fans on Twitter thatthey were concerned festival organizers werent ready to provide the production necessary for their performance. Luckily, the competing Hulu documentary, Fyre Fraud, wasn't afraid to point fingers directly at Jerry Media.An ex-employee, Oren Aks, alleges in the film that Jerry Media was complicit in Billy . problems far earlier than it has claimed, and therefore needs to be held The Russian model, who has shot campaigns for Balmain and Guess, met McFarland after the Fyre Festival debacle, calling it "destiny.". Furthermore, in an After we landed, we drove to the festival site to assess our goods. . Vice flew Swaigen out to New In effect, they imply that the festival gives the average . Location: The Bahamas, and more specifically the island that once belonged to Pablo Escobar himself. It was to organize the most expensive, the most exclusive festival on our planet. contextualizing their stories quite differently. Though it's not mentioned in Fyre Fraud, FYRE was also produced alongside Matte Projects, another company . is partially a cover-up, shot and edited to conceal FuckJerrys mistakes anything shady. At this point, Swaigen was spying with integrity, in his There was not enough space to build all the tents and green rooms they would need. Built responsively, with a third party ticketing integration, the website was built to withstand the millions of hits generated by influencer and media promotion. Hulus Fyre Fraud focused on social media marketing agency FuckJerrywhich Billy McFarland, who served four years in prison after being convicted of wire fraud for his role in securing . ** Vice confirmed the who had initially approached Vice with an idea for a documentary about Fyre Festival it was being put together. Talk about talking #friendshipgoals to a whole new level. ", But of the overwhelmingresponse to the GoFundMe campaign, he said, ""It means everything, it means we get something back from everything we put in. v. Fyre Media Inc., Billy McFarland, Jeffrey Atkins a/k/a Ja Rule, Matte Projects LLC and Does 1 through 100, Superior Court of California, County . Ja Rule and Billy McFarland, during the Fyre Festival commercial shoot. While McFarland went to prison, Ja Rule, 42, has remained in the clear and defended himself on social media after the documentaries went viral. began to fall apart. MATTE Projects, in addition, was the creative agency behind the marketing and advertising of the Festival. Viki Segar summing things up well saying if youre a partner in [Fyre] and you have the information that this is going to be a shit-storm you should tell somebody. One of the festival attendees who was the subject of many tweets was Liao, who admitted to stealing beds and peeing on mattresses on the first night of the festival. Fishy. So by the time We thought we were ready, but then everyone arrived. facts alone are strong evidence that Fyre After he completes his time in jail, he will be serve three years of supervised release. King, 57, is still working as an event producer through his company, Inward Point. and two PR firms that were tasked with handling promotion for the festival, 42West and Matte Projects. He is the head of business development for Pulse Lab and BlockMedx, and is also a film producer in conjunction with Vice Media, according to his Linkedin. social media with Fyres false advertisements. Flying in, the water looked beautiful but I was almost immediately warned not to go near it because of a rampant shark problem. In January of 2018, Swaigen met Within about a week of the failed Fyre Festival, six separate lawsuits have been filed - some of which may be consolidated. Billy broke this contract and accepted [Hulus] money. According to a Netflix spokesman, it was Smith Brett Kincaid - Matte Projects Director. Billy McFarland, and Fyre Media), as well as PR company 42West and marketing agency Matte Projects. Originators offer artists and patrons a space to connect, originate and inspire future talents," suggested Valente. thing about twin films is that, through different treatments, the competing . To say executive producers dont get favorable coverage is a blatant lie. He defrauded investors of $27.4 million by marketing and selling tickets to the festival and other events. Infamous Fyre Festival fraudster Billy McFarland thinks an hour of his valuable time is worth nearly $2,000. He then proceeded to give "background" on why he and his friends did this, claiming the tents were empty anyway. After the Vice office visit, Swaigen FuckJerry has some serious Michael Swaigen was asked to participate in both films. While Fyre Fraud and Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened both provided brief updates on McFarland's current status, not much was revealed about the other parties who agreed to participate in the documentaries and share their stories. "On film, I was laughing when telling the story, but in reality, at Fyre, we were panicked. "We were responsible for their social media designs and helping with marketing, pre-launch," Purzycki, the son of the mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, explained to Town Square Delaware. Skip to Content. Hulu has one-upped Netflix, dropping their own competing documentary about the Fyre Festival just four days before Netflix had announced they would release . from their experience on Fyre, it ", "Netflix's Fyre Festival doc beats out Hulu's version for best documentary Emmy nomination", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fyre_(film)&oldid=1148626761, This page was last edited on 7 April 2023, at 10:06. email to Swaigen, but that eventually all production companies ultimately reporter named Gabrielle Bluestone was heading up the sites reporting on Fyre washing machine through which FuckJerry (and Matte, to some extent) laundered "The Hulu doc," he told the publication, "felt like their take is that influencers and social media is really to blame for the whole thing." The breakout moment from Netflix's documentary? (He also plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud, including one for NYC VIP Access, the bogus ticketing scheme he created while out on bail.) When Fyre Festival was an enviable account, Jerry Media benefited from their partnership. 42West, and advertising company, Matte Projects, for $5 million. To living like movie stars, partying like rock stars and fing like porn stars! the rapper allegedly toasted after the decision was made to plow ahead. Supermodels, celebrities and world class music acts . But nothing had been done. She said no vendors had been secured, no stages rented and no transportation arranged. FuckJerry) and the advertising Matte Projects, two companies . Fyre hired Matte Projects, a production company, to follow them around and gather footage; Netflix's film also utilized material shot by an employee at Jerry Media, the ad agency hired to . With Billy McFarland, Jason Bell, Gabrielle Bluestone, Shiyuan Deng. Fyre: Directed by Chris Smith. York in October of 2017, where he met with Bluestone, Fitzgerald, and the The Netflix documentary, directed by Chris Smith, is produced in part by Jerry Media (AKA FuckJerry) and Matte Projects, two companies behind the supermodel-filled promotion of the actual Fyre . the filmmaker Jenner Furst a photograph of himself with McFarland, and Furst him screwed out of money, he said, and wondering what to do with his footage. Are Fyre Festival organizers in over their heads? Although the Vice logo appears in the movies credits, the company seems to have been supports HTML5 video, Director: Chris Smith All disappointingin the same way: theyrerip-offs that leaveyou feeling like a chump. This unique combination of interests led them to the idea that, through their combined passions, they could create a new type of music festival and experience on a remote island. Thanks for reading and thanks to all the people who spoke with me on and off the record. The convicted con man, who had nothing but time on his hands while spending four years . Everyone likes a good redemption story unless the people seeking redemption are joke thieves. "I am incredibly sorry for my collective actions and will right the wrongs I have delivered to my family, friends, partners, associates and, you, the general public," he said. "You get a couple more followers, people hit you upeveryone comes out of the woodwork," he said on the We're All Psychos podcast. These companies have been used, in effect, as the Heres a timeline of the Fyrefall: 2015: McFarland, 25 the name behind Magnises, a credit card company aimed at millennials that promised cool trips and concert tickets that some members say werent delivered meets Ja Rule, and the unlikely duo bond over their love of flying smallairplanes and hip-hop. award-winning filmmaker Chris Smith. As Fyre Festival melted down, McFarland producer of the documentary; Swaigen speculates that he managed to finagle that If you cant get enough of Fyre: subscribe to Dumpster Fyre Podcast. [9], In reviewing Fyre and Fyre Fraud, a similar documentary that premiered on Hulu, The A.V. known to crop creators watermarks out of their original memes when reposting them, blocking criticis who accuse them of stealing, At Up to $250,000 a Ticket, Island Music Festival Woos Wealthy to Stay Afloat. The Matte Projects director was hired to do all of the advertising and marketing for the festival, which included directing that first (and only) promo shoot, which went viral due toits major star power. According to the Hulu documentary, McFarland is teaching a music entrepreneurship class to his fellow inmates at the Otisville Federal Correctional Facility in New York. Bluestone remains one of the documentarys executive producers, but Purzycki To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a The event organizers assured us that all measures were taken to ensure a safe and successful event but clearly they did not have the capacity to execute an event of this scale, the statement reads. "Fyre Festival levels of hype w/ Fyre Festival levels of execution," someone summed up. To help the real victims: donate to Maryann Rolle (she reached her goal) or Exuma Foundation for the day laborers impacted by Fyre. Vice Media co-produced the Netflix documentary with Matte Projects and Jerry Media (aka fuckjerry) the people who helped cover up Fyres fraud. was a movie there. staffers, including its founder Elliot Tebele, who is now receiving an intense [1], The film was co-produced by Jerry Media, the social media agency responsible for promoting the Fyre Festival and covering up the fraud, and MATTE Projects, the production company that directed the Fyre Festival's promotional shoot. In 2016, when Comedy Central video editor Vic Berger asked James krispyshorts Ohliger, the CEO of Jerry Media to credit him for the video he stole the response he got was Shut up followed by a block. Bottom line: The wave of support convinced them to add more seasoned event experts and try again next year, but this time on a U.S. beach venue. It argues Fyres Chief Marketing Officer worked with a social media marketing company called F*ck Jerry to identify negative comments from the public on social media, including Facebook, and then hide those comments from public view.. After Swaigen returned to "Originators is a new way to put talents in the spotlight and support the creation and promotion of original content. Entertainment Television, LLC A Division of NBCUniversal. It was at this stage that Bluestone contacted him, saying We set up water and waste management, brought an ambulance from New York, and chartered 737 planes to shuttle our guests via 12 flights a day from Miami. Half my friends have sons his age. accountable in Billy McFarlands fraud. March 25 2018. confirmed. He also wrote, "I too was hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lead astray!!!". Fyre Festival recaps are a lot like horror movies. . At the dawn of 2019, our twin film obsession They uploaded an additional $900 and $1,000 to their respective festival wristbands, which were supposed to enable a cashless event. (I guess its an island Defendant Fyre Festival, LLC ("Fyre LLC") was a business entity incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware at all times relevant to this action. Fyre Fraud is currently available to stream on Hulu, while Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happenedis available on Netflix. with [Vice], Swaigen said. An editing decision that Gavin McInnes would be proud of. Culture. . Fyre Festival has become a modern parable for the Instagram generation. Here's a timeline of the Fyre fall: 2015: McFarland, 25 the name behind Magnises, a credit card company aimed at millennials that promised cool trips and concert tickets that some members . An important thing to note: The Netflix doc is co-produced by Jerry Media and Matte Projectsthe same groups behind the original promotional fantasy videos advertising Fyre Fest. Other names that soon joined the listincluded Disclosure, Migos and Lil Yachty, as well as Matoma, Claptone, Tensnake, Daniel Cowel, Lovecraft,Lee Burridgeand other acts for the Pirates Cove EDM stage. In fact, Fyre posits that the blame was solely McFarlands. email to Michael Swaigen sent by Mick Purzycki dated March 25, 2018, he wrote: I have final cut on the film and Fyre Festival, because that's how they named the event, was to take place on weekends: 28-30 April and 5-7 May 2017. a statement saying that all #fyrefestival 5pm flight rescheduled til 9pm then we get this after sitting on the plane for 2 hours lmao we chilling though, A post shared by ? "This is not the way to be known!" [1] Cause No. Watch all you want. The many businesses involved are depending on Fyres ability to deliver. Explaining how Rule and McFarland convinced so many people to buy tickets without an announced lineup, the mag said the pair personally invited 400 influencers in various sectors, whose only job was to post an orange fire-likesquare to Instagram at a certain time on a certain day in December to announce the fest to the public. How did the Fyre Festival go so wrong? Swaigen is also an associate producers were Elliot final cut claim, telling me that Jerry Media did not have final cut. Fortunately, a GoFundMe campaign was able to help Rolle out, raising more than its initial $123,000 goal, with many of the organizations and individuals behind the festival making donations. 10. On Sunday, the convicted swindler announced follow-up plans for the disastrous 2017 music fest, prompting groans across the internet. This is a dramatic change of tone from earlier reporting where Vice called fuckjerry art plagiarists who were known to crop creators watermarks out of their original memes when reposting them. "Fyre doc has flooded my inbox with people looking for (gullible?) the FEMA tents; is, , streaming on Hulu and Netflix, respectively. suggesting that it was just as innocent as the scammed ticket-holders. This film is about Billy McFarland and the failed Fyre Festival of 2017. but Chriss production company is running the team. director We are grateful that Michael took everything into The unattributed statement (approved director Chris Smith) said At no time did [Jerry Media, Matte Projects], or any others we worked with, request favorable coverage in our film, which would be against our ethics., Chris Smith threw shade at Hulu when he said he rejected a deal with Billy McFarland the millennial goon now in jail for fraud charges. (Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski and more celebrities appeared in itwhich they might be regretting now.). since it was produced in part by Jerry Media and Matte Projectstwo of the companies behind the promotion of the actual festival. Frankly, we were standing on an empty gravel pit and no one had any idea how we were going to build a festival village from scratch. With artists reportedly complaining about not getting paid and time ticking, Gordon said some planners on the ground asked if it was perhaps best to just roll everyones ticket over to 2018 and start planning for next year immediately.. All Rights Reserved. While Hulu's seemed to be openly mocking the influencer culture that contributed to the mess happening in the first place, Netflix gave a more behind-the-scenes look into how McFarland was able (and enabled, in some ways) to keep the scheme afloat until it was too late and a cheese sandwich went viral. like Netflix and Vice. Three of six executive producers appeared in the Netflix documentary. (OK, I guess they are pretty bad fraudsters.). Defendant Matte Projects, LLC ("Matte") was a business entity incorporated under the laws of the state of New York at all times relevant to this action. Ad agency Matte Projects raised $5 million from Forest Road Company, an entertainment-focused SPAC. Matte Projects is best-known for high-fashion ads, the Black party, and Netflix's Fyre Festival . in August 2017. Music family as the first headliners for @fyrefestival. The post even included a way for her followers to use a special promo code KJONFYRE, to get on the list for exclusiveafter parties. May 9: The hits just keep on coming, as a suit against Rule andMcFarland is filed in Manhattan by two disgruntled attendees, Sean Daly and Edward Ivey, who claim in their class-action lawsuit that the two engaged in breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation of claims,unjust enrichment and violation of New York state business law. Hulu name-checks the Netflix project at the end of its film, noting that it was produced by Matte Projects and social media agency Jerry . I was excited, at least at first. Furthermore, there The documentary shows a lot of B-roll footage from the days McFarland, Ja Rule, and all the major supermodels spent filming the now infamous promo video for Fyre Festival. will not be approving anything that is not done with integrity., Netflix disputed Purzyckis and ended Their documentary which, based on IMDB ratings, got about six times as many views: (ii) hid disclosure; (iii) had executive producers (EP) complimenting themselves; (iv) brushed over how comments were deleted; (v) didnt interview non-Vice journalists; (vi) missed out on a key interview who foresaw ethical problems; (vii) didnt mention how their EPs are named in at least four lawsuits; (viii) and ultimately let the subjects paint themselves as victims. The great charlatan Billy McFarland ripped off customers who had bought into an The PR and ad agency aredragged into the mess, with attorneys for the couple arguing that the companiesdid not take any steps, let alone reasonable steps, to ensure that their promotional materials and marketing campaigns were accurate and that they did nothing to ensure that what they were marketing, and in turn what people were relying upon in purchasing tickets, was or even could be true., The Reelssaid they signed up after an ad for the event popped up in their Facebook feed, booking a two bed duo with a VIP upgrade for $4,599.84. The suit takes on the PR defendants, saying theyknew or should have known that their advertisements and promotions of Fyre Festival were false and likely to mislead consumers. December 2016: As part of the organizers plan to leverage social influencers to sell tickets, models Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski and a few fabulous friends are flown down to the islands to give feedback for the launch of Fyre, where accordingto an Elle magazine article from the time ticket buyers could look forward to yoga on the beach, water trampolines, seabobbing music, art, food and $1 million of real treasure and jewels hidden around the island., A post shared by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on Dec 11, 2016 at 2:13pm PST, Dec. 12, 2016: The fest posts the now-infamous teaser video promising the best of everything. 2023 Billboard Media, LLC. Jerry media is trying to bounce their bad image and highlighted employee comments saying they were to make Fuckjerry look good. It was directed by Chris Smith, and produced by Danny Gabai and Mick Purzycki and was released on Netflix on January 18, 2019. Margolin was Fyre's chief marketing officer after working with McFarland on his previous venture, Magnises, after he was a member with several complaints. ", Fyre's creative director became Chrissy Teigen's favorite after she live-tweeted the Hulu doc, and he's spent a lot of time on Twitter explaining how to pronounce his name. . Cannes in May 2018, Smith took Fyre to Curiously, given the lack of amenities, VF said Bahamian tourism officials were totally on board at the time. spending time with so many people who had such a negative impact on their lives Netflix's doc introduced viewers to the plight of Rolle, the caterer at the Exuma Point Resort in the Bahamas who lost her entire life savings in order to feed the staff of the festival, and viewers immediately sympathized with her, along with the rest of the locals who were taken advantage of by the Fyre Festival team. Both movies He licensed the failed redemption footage with permission of Billy and received an Associate Producer credit. Netflix released the same filmmaker statement to Entertainment Weekly, Ringer, Insider and Gothamist. "it's very different, but it's similar," Ja Rule admits in a clip from his interview on a show called Drink Champs in the Hulu doc of the comparison of ICONN to Fyre. Still, Ja Rule was the subject of multiple lawsuits because of his ties to Fyre. From Matte Projects/Courtesy of Fyre. The rapper didn't participate in either documentary, but was heavily featured in both as he was Fyre's co-founder, working closely with McFarland. Swaigen was shown around the Vice officesthe They didn't start the Fyreno, they didn't light it, but they didn't try to fight it. He is currently working with Ja Rule on ICONN, but was left responsible for a $250,000 debt owed to American Express thanks to McFarland, he alleged in the Netflix documentary. Aks was brought in as the designer for the social feed, and ended up working across multiple design projects for the festival. payment. In the case of Fyre Festival, a creative agency and production company called Matte was hired to create advertisements to be used on the festival's website and in social media posts, including . is Fyre Fraud versus Fyre, streaming on Hulu and Netflix, respectively. shape your opinions. Billy McFarland (fraudster) William Z. McFarland (born 1991) is an American con artist and convicted felon who co-founded the ill-fated Fyre Festival. If I made any mistakes Im happy to fix them. The product designer for Fyre sounded off on the confusion and chaos happening back in the New York office of the company as the product team was removed from the festival operations, and also provided insight into McFarland's powerful effect on people. Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about. The worker is dark-skinned and in silhouette, he looks towards the camera and dissonant keyboard music plays. Now in its 10th year, Matte Projects is a New York-based creative agency and event production company, responsible for a range of entertainment, Hollywood-centric activations, including a recent Macallan James Bond 60th Anniversary celebrations at the infamous John . McFarland, and their Fyre Media business, PR company 42West and marketing agency Matte Projects are named as defendants. accounts end up pointing the viewer toward the truth. Those MATTE Projects is a branding & design agency in NYC focused on creating impactful cultures through vision & creativity. presided over by the occupant of the White House. The dream The bid seemed to have worked, since general admission tickets reportedly sold out before the lineup was announced. Those sad souls were promiseda week of exclusive, high-end luxury accommodationson the private island of Exuma in the Bahamas from April 28-30 and May 5-7. Both movies up in jail for wire fraud. Still, Jerry Medias story doesnt add up. to save face, Swaigen told me, but that was probably secondary to trying to Ive made several documentaries. , the grift may have seeped into the Netflix said that the movie was directed by Smith, and that the executive . presided over by the occupant of the White House. is trying to rebrand as Jerry Mediaand its complicity in McFarlands doomed We are working right now on getting everyone of the island SAFE that is my immediate concern I will make a statement soon Im heartbroken at this moment my partners and I wanted this to be an amazing event it was NOT A SCAM as everyone is reporting I dont know how everything went so left but Im working to make it right by making sure everyone is refunded I truly apologize as this is NOT MY FAULT but Im taking responsibility Im deeply sorry to everyone who was inconvenienced by this. But Swaigen recalls Working in partnership with Matte, we helped to create the website for Fyre Festival. Earlier this month, he won $100,000 in a basketball shooting contest at the ACE Family Challenge. project and the Vice project, Swaigen said, was that it didnt feel like Since taking on the role of whistleblower, the graphic designer told Page Six that "it took me about a year to come to terms with what happened. $500 here and there.) The campaign described above that they set in motion was, at bottom, a reckless disregard for reality and at worse, a blatant falsity.. never materializedinstead of champagne and concerts and luxury villas, ticket-holders An exclusive behind the scenes look at the infamous unraveling of the Fyre music festival. Kendall better delete this. 22. in that documentary: Hes the guy with the glasses and deadpan expression who Following Fyre Festival, Margolin agreed to pay a $35,000 penalty. We connected with Matte Projects [the production company hired by Fyre]. We come from a preppy background. about insidious digital marketing, corporate irresponsibility, and the misdeeds The disastrous fallout from the canceled Fyre Festival continues, . He called on Michael Swaigen, web browser that It also alleges that they told artists thatthe festival had been canceled well before attendees were informed. involved in Fyre Festival, to find out his angle on the post-Fyre landscape.
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