There are few things in this world more delicate than a hater’s deflated ego. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s haters really thought they had successfully created an alternate reality (yet again) where Harry and Meghan were going broke and shunned by Hollywood. When reality slapped them in their hateful faces, they immediately switched goalposts. What do you mean, Harry and Meghan will executive-produce a scripted polo drama for Netflix? What do you mean, Harry and Meghan have multiple projects in the pipeline for Netflix and other streamers and studios? What do you mean that people still want to collaborate with them professionally? Well… well… well…Harry & Meghan are being forced to collaborate with other producers, because Netflix doesn’t trust them to produce projects solo! Take that!
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were ecstatic to prove the “haters” at Variety (and everywhere else) wrong this week when Netflix announced the duo was executive producing a scripted polo drama at Netflix through Archewell Productions.
The strategic announcement came after a brutal week in which industry Variety claimed the streamer was “done” with the couple (a claim I wrote about a year ago) and would be quietly sunsetting their “first look” deal. However, the news isn’t as great as it sounds.
Executive producers are not hands-on — and I’m told Netflix won’t allow the couple to work on a project solo anymore after the debacle of the low-rated Archewell shows, which included the docuseries “Polo” and Meghan’s’ “With Love, Meghan.”
And so, to ensure success, the streamer has parked the couple — who won the rights to the show — with Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s Fake Empire. Francisca X. Hu (Peacock’s “Teacup,” CW’s “Dynasty”) is writing it.
“Netflix realize the ‘upstairs-downstairs’ look at the incredibly rich and entitled world of polo is a good idea — it’s like a modern ‘Gilded Age’ or ‘The Crown’ — but they also know Meghan and Harry could not execute alone,” a source told me. “So, they’re basically buying the name from the couple and allowing them to be attached to the project.”
The original polo docuseries earned just 1.1 million views and 4.5 million hours viewed — not exactly a ratings juggernaut.
Last week, the argument was that Netflix hates the Sussexes and won’t work with them on anything, and Harry and Meghan are personas non grata throughout Hollywood. Now the argument is… well ACTUALLY Harry and Meghan executive-producing a show for Netflix is a bad thing because it shows that Netflix doesn’t trust them, and here are all of the people lining up to work with the Sussexes!! They’re trying so hard to make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse, furiously screaming “no, no, NO, here’s why it’s bad news, I SWEAR!” My god, can the haters just take the L and walk away with what’s left of their dignity?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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