Staged/fake? Something not right...

I can understand your concerns. I've also noticed that many of today's documentaries feel very "clean," to use your word, and I think that in some cases with modern docs things ARE staged or at least reenacted.

But I don't think that's the case here.

For one, we know this event happened. As you say, Billy McFarland really is in federal prison right now. That's not a storyline, it's real life. It also makes most of the people involved look bad. McFarland obviously looks bad. Ja Rule looks bad. Ja Rule isn't going to play along for a fake doc that makes him look like a shady criminal and fraudster.

Regarding the interviews, I think you can chalk that up to a good interviewer. A good interviewer can build a rapport and then get very conversational responses out of their interviewees. But this is nothing new. Go watch Errol Morris's doc The Thin Blue Line. That film is over 30 years old and Morris is able to get similar kinds of responses from his subjects.

As for the people traveling on the island, you have to remember that we're talking about thousands of Millennials who are obsessed with their phones and social media. So of course people shot a ton of footage of themselves and the director was able to undoubtedly gather a lot of this up and look for the best clips. Also, many of the people involved were "influencers," who are basically social media professionals. Recording themselves and putting it online is their job.

I think if you keep going through the rest of your criticisms you can find reasonable explanations for everything.

No offense, but your logic is a little strange...

"The fact that the company who marketed the Fyre event are also doing the film 'immortalising' it as some kind of second coming of Woodstock."
A documentary that only exists because of a disaster so enormous that thousands of people got scammed and stranded; its organizers are on the chopping block, and you think this could be a way of "immortalizing" it as some second coming of Woodstock? Just what do you think happened at Woodstock? lol

"What bet by 2022 there will be a second Fyre event done properly and funded/managed properly that will make millions from gullible millennials off the back of this hype."

All the hype? Did we watch the same documentary here? Calling this "hype" is like watching video of Mt St Helens erupting and wondering if the tricky bastard who filmed it was just trying to get people to vacation there.
Like watching "Jaws" and wondering why its glorifying sharks. "They're just trying to make people think that the ocean is perfectly safe, those manipulative bastards! Probably own stock in some surfboard company! All this hype!"

This makes no sense lol I think you're thinking too hard.

This whole event pretty much depended on people's addiction to cell phones and social media...kind of makes sense that there's plenty of footage from it. What with all the cell phones and social media addiction within the crowd...

Dude, you're trapped in the Matrix.

The reason everything looks "fake" is because our entire society is fake.

People are used to constantly filming and acting through their entire lives.

Why were they filming everything?

Because everything is filmed now.

Everyone is famous in their own minds now.

Yes... People do "act" all the time now. Those reaction videos on youtube are a great example, they hardly ever seem genuine.