Since 2020, I’ve wondered how open-ended the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix contract is. I suspect “not very.” I fully admit I don’t know much about entertainment-contract law, but I believe the reports that their Netflix production deal was for a certain length of time, with certain targets needing to be met to assure certain financial incentives. While Harry & Meghan was one of Netflix’s most popular docuseries of all time, the panicked reporting around the Sussexes making some kind of Kardashian-level reality show never panned out. Neither did my idea for Meghan to do a cooking show, nor my idea for a behind-the-scenes look at Archewell’s charity arm. Would it be surprising to learn that H&M’s Netflix contract will be coming to a close this year or next? And would it be surprising to see the British media paint that fact as something negative about Meghan solely?
Netflix is unlikely to renew the Sussexes’ mega-bucks contract — believing “the lemon has been fully squeezed”. Their tell-all six-parter Harry & Meghan was the most-watched subscription TV show of 2022, but there are no plans for a follow-up series.
The reputed £81million Netflix deal, believed to be paid in instalments, was announced in 2020. But bosses are said to now feel Meghan “lives in her own bubble” and does not seem to have “grasped the economic reality”.
A source added: “There is a less friendly attitude from some at the top. The feeling is that the lemon has been fully squeezed. The big bucks Harry and Meghan signed on for do not exist today.”
The Sun on Sunday understands the Sussexes are prepared to see out their contractual obligations with Netflix. Harry will feature in an Invictus Games series, with screening planned later this summer. Meghan is said to be in talks with other firms after Archetypes was pulled “by mutual agreement”.
[From The Sun]
Why is Meghan being accused of bubble-mentality and not Harry? Didn’t they both sign up with Spotify and Netflix? Didn’t Meghan deliver a popular and acclaimed podcast? Didn’t they deliver a huge docu-series for Netflix? Again, I suspect their Netflix deal was for four or five years and they’ll see out the end of their contract, and it’s being spun as “Netflix isn’t happy” when really, it’s just a deal which will end at a certain time (and Netflix probably won’t renew it). Maybe the Sun is wrong and they have something coming up after Heart of Invictus, you never know.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
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