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Hulu may have dropped their Fyre Festival documentary just days before Netflix’s hit, but Hulu’s Vice President of Originals Craig Erwich insists it “wasn’t meant as a dig.” At the Television Critics Association press tour on Monday, Erwich explained that Hulu had been working on Fyre Fraud for over a year, and when they heard that Netflix would be premiering FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened in mid-January, they “moved very quickly” to release what they thought was “the definite account” of the festival. The Hulu exec went on to say that both films created a massive cultural conversation, and he added that Fyre Fraud has been the top film on the platform since its surprise release on January 14.
Erwich discussed the competing Fyre Festival docs during Hulu’s TCA panel, saying that the surprise drop “wasn’t meant to be a dig to anyone else.” But that being said, Hulu execs were adamant that they wanted viewers to see their film before Netflix’s FYRE, which was co-produced by Jerry Media, the team that marketed Fyre Festival. “We moved very quickly with our finished film to get out ahead of them,” Erwich told reporters. “We felt that given the story, we really wanted to be first and on the record with what we felt was the definitive account.”
According to Erwich, both FYRE and Fyre Fraud contributed to a larger cultural discussion about the failed music festival and disgraced organizer Billy McFarland. That fact is hard to dispute: for weeks, it seemed like everyone was talking about was “Blowjob King” Andy King, sleazy McFarland and his food-filled teeth, and “I too was bamboozled” Ja Rule. Erwich said that this “cultural event” has propelled Fyre Fraud to the top of Hulu’s movie charts four weeks in a row, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.
Fyre Fraud may throw serious shade at Netflix’s FYRE, but Erwich feels differently. “Watching Fyre Festival explode, the memes, the way the internet culture took it and ran with it, that was a joy,” said the Hulu exec.
