Meghan and Harry announce huge Netflix news

News.com.au

16 hours ago

Hallmark doesn't sell a 'Congratulations - kinda' card but maybe they should start in case Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Montecito neighbours want to send them something.
On Tuesday, the couple announced they have struck a new, lesser deal with Netflix, which is a far cry from their golden handcuffs, dumptruck-of-cash-kinda arrangement they snagged in 2020.
Back then the value of their Netflix marriage was pegged at a reported USD$100 million ($153 million) but in its place, this time, they have secured what The Hollywood Reporter (THR) has called a 'downgraded' arrangement that will give the company a first-look at the Sussexes' projects.
In further less sunny news, the New York Times broke the news this week of previously unreported 'tensions' between the couple and the billion-dollar company over their tell-all 2022 docu-series Harry & Meghan.
Step back and things are not as they were in 2020. When the duke and duchess announced the news five years ago, the New York Times hailed it as a 'megawatt' deal; now it says that the streamer is 'loosening its ties' with the couple and suggested that they 'may not have met expectations.'
Back then the Sussexes proclaimed that 'Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope'. They were a unit, a twofer, co-producers, co-stars, and an indivisible package.
This time, per THR, the upbeat statement came only from the duchess, with her referring to 'My husband and I' and saying 'We're proud to extend our partnership'.
Looking ahead, while Meghan's TV plate looks laddled-on bulging, Harry's appears to have only far slimmer pickings.
On the upcoming slate for the Sussexes: Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within, a short documentary that both will produce about orphans in Uganda; a second season and a Christmas special of With Love, Meghan; and their adaptation of the book Meet Me At The Lake, which they have been working on for two years now.
There is no director or stars attached (or even quietly mooted) and it has not been revealed if there is even a script.
In all this, what is really in here for Harry? Masaka Kids sounds right up in his wheelhouse but it's a co-pro with Meghan and not feature length. And of Lake, it's hard to see a weepy romance as a natural fit for the two-tours-on-the-Afghanistan-front-line Duke of Sussex.
The day after the Sussexes' new Netflix deal was revealed, the trailer for the second season of WIth Love dropped. Unlike the first season, there is no glimpse of a doting, proud Harry.
(And in all fairness to the Sussexes, the reality is that Netflix has long abandoned those plump $100 million, padded deals of yore and Harry and Meghan now fall into the same basket as the Obamas and their friend Tyler Perry who also have first look deals with the platform.)
Unlike back in 2020, now, the duke and duchess appear to have two-track careers.
While over the last six months, Meghan set out her commercial stall with her As Ever line, putting flower sprinkles on the cultural map and generating more headlines about jam than it has enjoyed since it was invented in 6th century Sasanian Persia, Harry seems professionally adrift.
He increasingly looks like a prince without a portfolio and as far has been announced, has no solo projects to his very grand name.
How different a reality is this to the way the future looked for the Sussexes in 2020. Back then, when the news came they were getting into bed with Netflix, it seemed like a surefire success in the making: They could make some largely inoffensive viewing about elephants or melting glaciers and the entertainment giant could brag about having the world's most famous couple on their books.
The couple's biggest success has been their pound-of-flesh, six-parter Harry & Meghan, which set records and left Buckingham Palace sorts quailing from behind a chintzy sofa.
However this week revealed that Harry & Meghan was not the unabashed win it outwardly appeared, with the New York Times reporting that there had 'been tensions between Netflix and Archewell' around the project.
'The streaming giant found out about the release date of Harry's memoir Spare just a few months before the documentary series about the couple was set to debut,' the Times revealed. 'That upset some Netflix executives because the book covered some of the same ground as the series, undercutting the exclusive nature of the show.'
However since then, independently, while Meghan has found her niche with With Love, Harry's forays (Heart of Invictus and Polo) have proven about as successful as his ability to keep his trousers on in Las Vegas.
Widen the lens further and while the duchess stretches her entrepreneurial legs and hits her stride, having launched herself back onto Instagram (@Meghan has 4.1 million followers), releasing a new podcast (Confessions of a Female Founder) and setting up a ShopMy account to monetise her incredible style, the duke seems to have struggled to find any sort of groove.
He never managed to get a podcast across the line with Spotify during the couple's two and a half year contract; his TV projects have been ratings turkeys; and in March he resigned from his own charity Sentebale along with the co-founder and trustees after a bitter falling out with the chair. Last week the UK's charity commission issued a report that 'criticised all parties to the dispute', including the duke. (The report cleared him of bullying allegations.)
The father-of-two is reportedly 'utterly devastated' over the situation and he is considering setting up a new charity.
He certainly appears to have the time. Outside of his mainstay charity biggie the Invictus Games, the Duke of Sussex now appears to be at sea. With no individual TV projects of his own and having cut ties with Sentebale, where does he go from here?
Meghan's path now seems set - more of With Love and her plinking flowers on plates and trying to teach the world how to use crimping shears and make chutney and more selling out of her As Ever wine and jam.
By contrast, Harry, despite his charm, energy and drive to do good, seems to be stuck in the work wilderness. At least, should his father King Charles ever extend even a spindly sapling of an olive branch, his calendar should be clear that day.This week's announcement has truly set off those in the bitterly opposing Sussex factions. Supporters have been gleefully heralding the news on social media with all the gusto of Vatican bell-ringers catching sight of the second coming; detractors have been doing plenty of unseemly crowing about the reduced nature of it all.