MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry have extended their Netflix deal – but bosses are hoping they will have some “juicy royal tea to spill”, according to experts.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have signed a new “multi-year, first look deal for film and television projects” with Netflix, the couple has announced. However, speaking on this week’s The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, broadcaster and journalist Esther Craichu said the Sussexes’ deal is simply a “retainer”.
She claimed: “It’s a retainer in case they [Meghan and Harry] decide to accidentally do something entertaining again. That’s basically it. So there’s no commitment. They’ve put no money behind this. It’s basically the right to first refusal. So if they come up with something that doesn’t have to do with their whole kind of sermonising about how to save the world, then Netflix might be like, yes. I mean, to be brutally honest, what they’ve done is they’ve said, ‘unless you have some juicy tea to spill on the royal family, or you get divorced and want to give us a documentary, probably not.”
“But if they have something juicy to say about the royal family, like the king sent me a potted plant, which turned out to be poison ivy, or that ‘H my fox’ just didn’t hold me the way I wanted to, and so we’ve had to consciously uncouple, then maybe. That’s basically it.”
Esther claimed that the deal is the “best of both worlds” and claims Netflix has been “clever in that sense.”
She added: “These people [the Sussexes] are a household name. They’re annoying, but they’re a household name. If they do anything interesting, we have to be first in the queue, because it would be a blockbuster. Everyone would be covering it. It’d be a huge media storm. But at the moment, given their track record, absolutely not. We’re not committing five quid to this.”
Five years ago, Harry and Meghan secured a lucrative contract, thought to be worth more than 100 million dollars (£74million), with Netflix after quitting as senior working royals in 2020. It is not yet known how much the new extended deal will bring in for the couple, or how long it will last.
IDEAL OUTCOME?
News.com.au’sal reporter Bronte Coyne said the new deal is the “ideal outcome for both parties.”
She explained: “We’ve talked about what was going to be next for Harry and Meghan in their Netflix business arm for a long time now, because we knew that this five-year deal was going to expire this year. What was going to be the ideal outcome? OK, they’re not going to sign a deal anything like the one that was signed in 2020, because they don’t really exist anymore.
The landscape has changed completely for TV, but streaming services in particular. So it did seem likely that there would either be a downgraded deal or an expiration of the deal. Now, the fact that both parties can say we’ve reached a new agreement, it was never going to be what it was before, but it is a new agreement.
I think that an argument could be made on either side that it’s a PR win, because the deal wasn’t cancelled, as had been speculated for some time. It’s a first-look deal.”
NEW RELEASES
Announcing the deal, Meghan said in a statement: “We’re proud to extend our partnership with Netflix and expand our work together to include the As Ever brand. My husband and I feel inspired by our partners who work closely with us and our Archewell Productions team to create thoughtful content across genres that resonates globally, and celebrates our shared vision.”
On top of Season 2 of With Love, Meghan – which will drop later this month – they will also do a “Holiday Celebration” Christmas special this December.
“Join Meghan in Montecito for a magical holiday celebration,” the announcement reads. Together, friends and family deck the halls, create holiday feasts, craft heartfelt gifts, and share lots of laughs – with simple how-tos to follow at home. It’s a holiday wonder with warmth, tradition, and a generous dose of joy.”
There will also be a short film called “Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within”.
SUSSEX NETFLIX HISTORY
It was previously thought that the Sussexes’ £74million deal with the streamer was not going to be renewed. Harry’s Polo series, about the sport, was watched by just 500,000 people. It was also understood that bosses were mildly infuriated by Meghan making her As Ever brand a priority.
Lifestyle and cookery show With Love, Meghan only ranked at number 383 in Netflix’s six-monthly engagement report this year, with just 5.3million viewers across the globe.
It was beaten by reruns of the first four seasons of legal drama Suits, which also starred the Duchess in her pre-royal days. Meghan was filmed for her show making ladybird-shaped canapes from cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls.
The show is a smash hit compared to her husband’s docuseries Polo. In the first six months of the year the programme attracted 500,000 views globally, ranking it at number 3,442 out of around 7,000 shows.
