Explaining Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Deal With Netflix and Their Upcoming Ventures
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In September 2020, it was announced that the ex-royals-turned-Hollywood-stars, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, have signed a $100 million deal with the streaming giant, Netflix.
In this ongoing question of “do you want privacy or do you want to be the next big thing in Hollywood,” fans are questioning what exactly is going on with their Netflix deal and how is it going to work. That’s what we’re here to tell you.
I’m going to quickly run through the information that is public from their statements for anyone who doesn’t follow along with them, and then we’re going to get into the tea.
According to the New York Times (NYT), Harry and Meghan founded a production company that hasn’t been named yet and signed a deal with Netflix which will pay them to make documentaries, docu-series, feature films, scripted shows, and children’s programming. As of right now, they’re just producers and serving as behind the scenes people, buuuut Harry and Meghan may appear on-screen during documentary programming.
A representative tells the NYT that Meghan has no plans to return to acting.
“It is unclear how much Harry and Meghan will be paid, given their lack of producing experience. A Netflix spokeswoman declined to comment.” - Brooks Barnes for the NYT.
A quick refresher:
Queen Elizabeth II granted Harry and Meghan’s wishes to depart from the royal family, but on one condition—you can’t use your royal titles, His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness. Since their departure, they also agreed to give up public funding so, it begs the question—how are you clowns financing this extravagant lifestyle of yours?
Photo: Getty Images
Before their departure, they had income from the Duchy of Cornwall which is a hereditary estate owned by Prince Charles and after Princess Diana’s death, Harry inherited millions of dollars from there.
In June 2020, they signed a deal with the Harry Walker Agency where Harry could be bringing in around $1 million per speech that he gives.
This production company will differ and work independently from Archewell (their charity foundation).
Photo: Mirrorpix/MEGA
At the time that all of this was unveiled, it was speculated if they would make a podcast deal with Spotify. They stayed quiet for roughly three months until… it was announced on December 15, 2020, that they will produce and host podcasts for Spotify.
Spotify then signed a multiyear deal with them and their new production company, Archewell Audio.
What’s going on?
By now, we should all know that the “we left for privacy” reason has been a sham and all they did since they left was try to make their mark in Hollywood by any means possible.
My source tells me that, their Netflix deal isn’t exactly paying them all that much. The whole $100 million deal is a budget for them to pitch ideas and for them to produce. If Netflix loves the idea, great! They’ll air it.
If Netflix hates the idea, then they “will tell them to go back to the drawing board and Netflix will take the money out of the 100M to make up for the failure.” Reportedly, they’re getting a small fee (by their standards) just for signing with Netflix.
My source believes that they probably got that deal by association and influence aka Oprah Winfrey.
And remember what we exposed back in July?
Also, not anyone can just grab a Netflix deal.
We all remember that after they left, they thought that Hollywood would be licking the sidewalk for them to join and star in all of these blockbusters, but what happened? No one wanted anything to do with them because connection and influence still runs firmly in Hollywood. And guess what? These 2 aren’t as powerful nor influential as the British Royal Family.
Photo: Getty Images
And what did that Disney CEO say about Meghan? She’s controversial.
Their best bet is to start up as “producers” because they want to produce meaningful content, but we all see it for what it is—them scrambling for income. I mean do you, I ain’t hating. I’m just pointing out the intent!
New York Times
With this Netflix deal, Netflix basically owns them which means that they have the first option to buy and they have the final word on their deal.
“Basically, they’re NOT getting paid 100M. They’re really getting a small fee just to put out content for Netflix. When I said NF will take the money out of the 100M, [that is] if any of their ideas fail. The budget covers basically anything Meg and Harry put out, anything that flops. So it’s like trial and error.” — my source.
Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
When the news of their Netflix deal came out, I saw an article that mentioned that they might do something about Princess Diana. To be honest… what can one do now on Diana that hasn’t already been done? There are a million documentaries made by people that I’m sure have had more producing experience than sweet Harry and Meghan!
So to me, that just seems like a publicity stunt or even something to grab attention towards them because the narrative that they will always stick with is—what they did to my mother, they are trying to do to my wife.
Despite them not getting the huge amount of money that everyone thinks they will be getting from Netflix, it’s a stepping stone for them to make a huge name for themselves in the industry. And by stepping stone, I mean a HUGE leap up the ladder. It’s where they can grow their brand and influence the general public.
“However, since they know absolutely nothing about show business and their PR tactics are all over the place with jumping on different bandwagons when it comes to specific events (BLM, Election, Commonwealth), that’s gonna be tough.” — my source
When it comes to their Spotify deal, it’s about the same thing as the Netflix deal.
Now with all of this being said, do you think that Meghan and Harry will stick behind the “producer” shadow or will they make it onto the big screen? My bet is that Meghan probably can’t stray far from her end goal—becoming a big respected actress—meanwhile, Harry might crash.
Photo: Samir Hussein / WireImage file
Harry is reportedly depressed over being stripped of his military titles and that’s something that was very special to him because he felt a sense of belonging in the midst of all the royal chaos.
From Marie Claire. rieclaire.com/celebrity/a35188289/prince-harry-military-titles-loss/
And of course, there was the suspected divorce brewing behind the scenes. I think that Harry isn’t built for Hollywood and considering he thought there would be a different plan set in motion before they left, this whole producing gig and them getting more Hollywood ventures together, will just put more strain on the marriage.
For more juicy Harry and Meghan posts:
Here are the messages between my source and I:
Hope you enjoyed this post and that we were able to clarify some information for you!
Let me know what you think down below! Comment your questions, thoughts, and predictions. You can comment anonymously so take advantage of that. We will be reading and replying back ;)
Here’s an introductory video we did on Meghan & Harry on our youtube channel: