Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have faced issues delivering on major content deals with Netflix and Spotify worth a combined $120 million due to their desire for control and lack of experience.
Bill Simmons, founder of The Ringer, said, “I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation.”
“‘The [expletive] Grifters.’ That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,” joked the host.
Their production company Archewell has seen high executive turnover as the couple are said to be stubborn and unwilling to take advice.
A Hollywood creative, who chose to remain anonymous, said, “Everything with them was fraught and complicated because they wanted complete control.”
“It appears that they just want what they want and won’t take advice,” the insider added.
Public relations and image guru Mark Borkowski said, “Taking on Harry and Meghan was a great coup for Netflix.”
He continued, “It probably got a lot of eyeballs and subscriptions, but they [Harry and Markle] never delivered.”
Adding, “The amount of income this pair has to raise is enormous.”
Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria said, “They have a couple of unscripted things they’re working on,” in addition to “a movie in development” and “a [scripted] series.”
While their Netflix documentary was popular, other planned projects like an animated series have been cancelled.
With lifestyle expenses and the couple now represented by WME, there is pressure to generate income.
Borkowski said, “Meghan and Harry don’t have a quality team around them.”
“They drive this ship, they are in the wheelhouse, whether you are the Obamas, or Meghan and Harry you have to defer to people who can really get the job done,” he explained.
Borkowski suggested, “They just need to sort out a proper production company, they need significant hires. People who can actually develop scripts, wrangle talent.”
Some experts question if audiences want non-revealing content from them given executive challenges and lack of delivered projects to date.
“I think possibly Netflix has dodged a bullet,” said Borkowski.
“They know their content, they are data wonks, they know where the interest is. So they’ve got a very good idea or not whether there is a huge amount of excitement around Meghan and Harry,” explained the public relations advisor.
Borkowski said, “They create a lot of column inches but do people want content from them unless it is revealing something extraordinary [about themselves or the British royals]?”
He added, “I don’t know how much more they can reveal.”
