In article dated today, June 24, the Wall Street Journal ponders Harry and Meghan's place in the world:
LOS ANGELES—Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had been out of the U.K. for nearly two years when they began work on a project they believed could transform them from former royals to Hollywood power players.
The subject of endless rumors and gossip, the couple felt qualified to tackle the thorny topic of misinformation. A documentary would cement Harry and Meghan as serious creative types and help shed their reputation as exiles from the House of Windsor trading family dirt for eyeballs.
A team assigned to the job at the pair’s Los Angeles-based production company, Archewell, had questions for “H” and “M,” as the Sussexes are known to their employees. Would the misinformation project be a feature film or a series? Who would host it? Would it be historical or contemporary? Would Harry or Meghan appear in it? Would Meghan discuss her bitter history with British tabloids—and if not, who would want to watch?
The couple had few answers, according to people familiar with the inner-workings of Archewell and Harry and Meghan’s deals with streamers. The misinformation documentary soon met the fate of other Archewell projects, and faded away.
Prince Harry and Meghan’s Hollywood foray is looking like a flop. They arrived in Southern California three years ago with Duke and Duchess titles and plans to capitalize on a cash-rich streaming business desperate for star power to lure subscribers. The big-ticket deals that followed—$100 million at Netflix NFLX 0.36%, more than $20 million at Spotify—have led to more cancellations and rejections than produced shows.
The couple showed they could mine their personal stories. Prince Harry’s memoir “Spare” became a bestseller and the six-part documentary they produced for Netflix about their break with the royal family proved popular. That aside, they have struggled to make content that stretched beyond their own experiences.
The graveyard of video projects they hoped to make includes an animated children’s show called “Pearl” that was canceled by Netflix, as well as at least two TV ideas that the streaming service rejected within the past year, people familiar with Harry and Meghan’s projects said. Netflix is unlikely to renew the couple’s deal, which runs through 2025, the people said.
The Spotify pact produced a podcast, “Archetypes,” about the stereotypes that hold women back. A second season was discussed but eventually nixed. Spotify and the couple recently announced they have agreed to part ways.
People who have worked with the pair say their Sussex-upon-Sunset outpost was undermined by their inexperience as producers and trouble finding material consistent with their brand, as well as problems beyond their control, including a retrenchment in the entertainment and podcasting businesses.
An Archewell spokeswoman said, “New companies often make changes in their start up phase, both with people and strategy, and we are no exception. We’re more equipped, focused and energized than ever before.” She said the company recently hired a new head of scripted content, actress and producer Tracy Ryerson.
A Netflix spokeswoman said the company valued its Archewell partnership, and noted that “Harry & Meghan” was its biggest documentary debut. “We’ll continue to work together on a number of projects,” she said.
When Archewell and Spotify announced their split, the companies said in a joint written statement that they “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.”
When they struck deals with Netflix and Spotify in 2020, streaming services were booming and executives were rushing to secure content and feed consumer demand, at any cost. The Sussexes joined Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai and others who fielded offers in Hollywood with few guidelines on what would come next.
The Covid-19 pandemic bolstered the streaming audience, with subscribers stuck at home, but also interrupted production for projects in their early stages of development, including some of the Sussexes’ work.
Today, streaming boom times have given way to an era of slower growth and unpredictability. Both Netflix and Spotify have cut shows and movies to trim costs. Both have been underwhelmed by the lack of productivity by the Sussexes, people familiar with their perspectives say.
'“Once you’ve launched your bombshell, what’s next?” said Andrew Morton, the longtime chronicler of the royal family.
Archewell employees and associates say the company often lacks direction, and that its founders at times seem surprised by the work required to finish entertainment projects. Most potential initiatives, they said, follow a similar route: Big idea, subpar execution.
In May 2022, the head of communications at Archewell and the head of communications at the couple’s nonprofit foundation stepped down. In the following months, several others followed, including the company’s head of audio and Mandana Dayani, president of the entire operation.
In March, Ben Browning, the film producer hired to oversee Archewell’s content slate on the strength of such credits as the Oscar-winning “Promising Young Woman,” left the company to return to his prior job. Archewell’s head of marketing parted ways with the company, as did its head of scripted content.
Hot start
Harry and Meghan arrived in Hollywood the subject of transcontinental fascination. They were the first senior royals since King Edward VIII to walk away from their official duties. They had famous friends in stars like Serena Williams and Oprah Winfrey, both of whom attended their 2018 nuptials.
After forging the lucrative deal with Netflix, the couple’s relationship with the company was bolstered by a friendship with its co-CEO and their neighbor in Montecito, Calif., Ted Sarandos.
“Harry & Meghan,” the fly-on-the-wall documentary about the couple’s love story, was the first major project produced under the deal. It featured intimate moments between the pair—Harry on the tears of his mother, Princess Diana; Meghan on her miscarriage—and delved into British colonialism as well as the racism the couple experienced.
The documentary opened the Sussexes up to criticism, including the moment when Meghan said she didn’t expect to curtsy before the queen.
Archewell employees felt the future of their Netflix deal hinged on the documentary’s success, and the project created tension inside the company. Harry and Meghan weighed in on edits, though at times were overruled, people involved in the project said.
Following up has proven difficult. Their second Netflix video project, a docuseries called “Live to Lead” about global leaders and activists, failed to reach the streamer’s list of Top 10 shows.
Other proposed projects seemed designed to replicate successful shows already on Netflix, such as a sitcom described as “Emily in Paris,” but about a man, and a family-friendly TV show about gay characters that felt similar to the fan favorite “Heartstopper.” Netflix said no to both, people familiar with the matter said.
After booming during the early part of the pandemic, Netflix’s subscriber growth began to stagnate as streaming competition ramped up and consumers resumed more regular lives. Netflix is still recovering from a sharp drop in its stock in 2022 after it announced its first quarter of subscriber losses in a decade.
The downturn rattled Hollywood, leading to what is now called the “Netflix Correction,” a period in which studios began to prune their catalogs and become choosier about which projects to back. A Hollywood writers’ strike has put more pressure on entertainment companies to justify big payouts, and has closed writing rooms industrywide.
Executives at Netflix have groused about Archewell’s output, according to people familiar with the matter, and feel that the success of the “Harry & Meghan” documentary is all the company has to show for the deal.
Today, one Archewell project is nearing completion at Netflix: a documentary series on the Invictus Games, a tournament Harry founded for wounded veterans after serving two tours with the British Army in Afghanistan.
Harry and Meghan are also developing a TV show for Netflix called “Bad Manners” based on Miss Havisham, a Charles Dickens character from “Great Expectations.” The prequel would recast the lonely spinster as a strong woman living in a patriarchal society, though it is unclear whether the show will get a green light from Netflix.
Archewell associates say Barack and Michelle Obama’s post-White House Hollywood venture, which also included deals at Netflix and Spotify, was the template followed by Harry and Meghan. The two couples worked with the same attorney on the deals.
The Obamas have been more productive. Work by their Higher Ground production company for Netflix has included movies such as “Leave the World Behind,” starring Julia Roberts, and Kevin Hart’s “Fatherhood,” as well as a child-oriented show “Waffles+Mochi” and documentaries including “American Factory.”
New struggles
Meghan’s media productivity has largely been concentrated at Spotify, and the road to getting “Archetypes” on the air was rocky. When the Duchess first began working with the audio service, Archewell didn’t have an employee focused on audio projects, and instead, a public-relations representative initially led Archewell’s work with Spotify, people familiar with the company said.
The audio company’s executives grew frustrated with the amount of time it took Archewell to conceptualize an idea for Meghan’s podcast and assemble a production team.
Ultimately, Archewell hired a head of audio, who worked in concert with members of Spotify’s Gimlet unit on podcasting ideas. The Gimlet team helped Meghan compile a list of potential guests, and Spotify helped build a podcast studio in the couple’s mansion, said people familiar with the situation. (News Corp’s Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has a content partnership with Spotify’s Gimlet Media unit.)
Choosing the right kind of guest was often fraught. Meghan wrote Taylor Swift a personal letter asking her to come on the podcast. The pop star declined, through a representative.
Meghan would often ask for changes late in the editing process, at times recruiting senior Spotify executives, including then-Chief Content Officer Dawn Ostroff, to call producers and push them to make changes.
The “Archetypes” podcast launched in August of 2022 and went to the top of Spotify’s podcast charts in its premiere week. It halted the release of new episodes in September during the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s grandmother.
Given the show’s success, the audio company and Archewell executives began discussing a second season. Those talks stalled for months before Spotify told Archewell that the show wouldn’t be renewed.
Archewell didn’t make good on all of the terms of the Spotify deal, which included each of the Sussexes voicing and being directly involved in a podcast. Harry, in particular, struggled to land on an idea.
He explored a podcast on veterans but couldn’t find a compelling way to tackle the subject in podcast form. He tossed around subjects such as misinformation and his point of view as someone new to living in America, and at one point considered co-hosting a show with comedian Hasan Minhaj.
Ed Owens, author of the book, “After Elizabeth: Can the Monarchy Save Itself?” said Harry tried to return to subjects he previously focused on, but without the foundation of being a working royal. “They haven’t found the one area that they can really call their own,” Owens said.
Podcasts had their own industry correction. Facing difficulty turning a profit even on popular shows, Spotify has laid off about 800 workers so far this year and has canceled several shows, in addition to “Archetypes.” Spotify continues to make original podcasts, but with a bent toward conversational shows that don’t require heavy editing and high-touch production.
This month, Spotify and the Sussexes’s audio company announced they were ending their partnership. WME, the talent agency that recently signed Meghan, said at the time that the Archewell team was proud of “Archetypes” and that the Duchess continues to develop content for that show’s audience on another platform. Archewell executives hope working with WME will bring about new opportunities, from brand partnerships to podcasts.
Next episode
For Harry and Meghan, the broader streaming slowdown couldn’t come at a more uncertain time. They have indicated they want to move on from talking about the Royal Family following a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Netflix documentary and Prince Harry’s book.
Revelations from these projects appear to have cemented the rift between the Duke and his father, King Charles III. The couple was asked to move out of their Frogmore Cottage home, and while the King invited the Sussexes to his coronation, Harry attended by himself, sat in the third row behind his older brother and was in the country only briefly.
Given their distance from the crown, the sheen Harry and Meghan once lent show-business projects is dimming. It helped cost them what was intended to be their first project with Netflix, an animated show about powerful women of history called “Pearl.”
The children’s show was developed when Meghan was still a working royal. It was created with help from David Furnish, who knew the royal family through his husband, Elton John. When the couple left the Palace and signed their Netflix deal, “Pearl” was the first show announced.
Netflix canceled it in May 2022. Executives decided that few children would care if the show they were watching had been produced by a duchess. (This is the article in its entirety.)
