Hollywood production deals, the lawsuit and the press

As any family would, during their time of confinement in Canada and Los Angeles last year, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly did make home videos and take some pictures. As if by magic, as happened in very few other families during the lockdown, they negotiated a lucrative production contracts with Netflix and Spotify, rumored to be in the order of $ 130 million (in total). All is well and, in fact, well done to the couple. This will help them in their efforts to become financially independent and to support the large number of agents, managers and direct employees of these content-generating production entities, whatever they produce.

We know the generous, supportive and philanthropic tone of what the couple want to produce by and with these entities, but we don’t know the details. As they and Netflix announced the deal last fall, the couple felt moved to announce, too, that they would not be participating in any sort of “reality show” for Netflix. While it is certain that this excruciating possibility that Harry, Meghan and Archie are frolicking in the yard, playroom, kitchen, den, jumping for lunch on Rodeo Drive, etc. would be a real concern for seasoned courtiers close to Charles and the Queen, it is not at all clear what the couple meant in this denial.

In this case it seems much more important what they did not say, namely that they would not participate in a documentary about themselves, if it was done in an acceptable manner, however defined. Hollywood production sequels. It is reminiscent of their back and forth riding on whether or not they participated in the very strange book on their exit from royal life, Find freedom.

As has been consistently and universally pointed out, Archewell’s philanthropic welfare endeavors are unlikely to generate a return on the $ 100 million investment reported by Netflix, so, fine: maybe they’ll let a camera crew follow them and call it a documentary. Whatever they can imagine, this will remain a reality-based non-fiction narrative with some inevitably intimate touches, such as spending time on the couch in the den with Archie watching any approved children’s programming.

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The ball is in the court of Netflix executives, whether this wan product or others like it have enough narrative meat to make money. Ultimately, some of these content decisions will not be controlled by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and some of them will necessarily aim to maximize audiences. Although they have been with family in the United States for nine months now and thought they had gained a significant professional presence in Los Angeles, a lot has happened in America during this time when they only played. little or no role. As likeable as they are, as a couple they don’t have the same range and certainly only a fraction of the power they had in Britain, where they were under kliegs 24/7. To put it bluntly, they are going to have to invent a story other than themselves. And it’s better if it’s a good one.

The second difficulty the couple face has to do with developing Netflix and Spotify content: as they did during their lengthy process and somehow still head first to leave royal life, Harry and Ms Markle seems to have a contradiction, or at least a very confrontational posture towards all media, public, official and social, and that posture seems like an unsightly attitude that works to the disadvantage of the couple, to put it diplomatically. Citing a lot of blatant, often withering, online trolling that, to be fair, follows them, they recently announced again that they would be “pulling back” from social media. Fair enough, but why announce this? Why not do it without comment, would be the question.

More problematic will be the laborious arrival of Meghan Markle’s privacy and copyright infringement lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily mail, the Online Mail, and the Sunday Mail. It now appears that the proceedings will take place in the High Court this year. Ms Markle’s legal team suffered a major setback when they lost some of the charges against Judge David Warby in a table hearing last year.