Billy McFarland is returning to the Bahamas for a treasure hunt called PYRT, reports Deadline. The disgraced Fyre Festival co-founder’s new venture will be captured as part of a documentary film called After the Fyre.
The feature will follow the convicted felon’s latest attempt at entrepreneurship after he was released early from a six-year prison sentence for wire fraud and bank fraud. McFarland has been ordered to pay $26 million in restitution to the investors, vendors, and ticketholders he misled while promoting the 2017 event advertised as a Bahamian getaway that left people stranded in a sparse tent city.
McFarland has been teasing PYRT since joining TikTok under the handle @pyrtbilly in late October. Based on the promotional videos, the treasure hunt starts with tracking down one of 99 bottles with a message inside. “This time, everybody’s invited,” he says in the first clip. Watch the TikToks below.
After the Fyre will be directed by Ample Entertainment co-founders Ari Mark and Phil Lott, who helmed Adam McKay’s three-part HBO series The Invisible Pilot about the bizarre 1970s disappearance of daredevil cropduster pilot Gary Betzner.
Last week, McFarland appeared on Good Morning America for his first televised interview since leaving prison. “I was wrong,” McFarland admitted to Michael Strahan, adding he went down a “terrible path of bad decisions” because of his desperate desire to prove people right.”
McFarland still found investors for PYRT after his past failings with Fyre Festival, a social network called Spling, and a “black card” company Magnises. It turns out he was right with his previous statement that “failure is OK in entrepreneurship.”
@pyrtbilly So TikTok deleted my first post… Let’s try this again
@pyrtbilly ❌ marks the spot 🏴☠️
@pyrtbilly stay tuned for part 2 🏴☠️🛩️🏝️🤿