Netflix deal, looking like it may be over for H&M

[Thedom]

The rumours have been doing the rounds for a while, but Puck News now reporting it, which means it is very likely that their contract with Netflix will not be renewed.

"The streamer is not expected to renew its five-year, $100 million deal signed in 2020 with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Meghan’s passion project, the animated kids show Pearl, has already been canceled, and the unscripted cooking and polo offerings didn’t connect the way the royal couple’s Harry & Meghan did. "

puck.news/the-best-and-worst-deals-of-peak-tv-part-1/

Interesting. It sounds as if Netflix aren't happy with the output. Maybe the Sussexes have waned as celebrities?

Excuse my ignorance. but what is Puck News please @Thedom ?

Puck News report and analyse what is going down in Hollywood from a business perspective, not from a celeb gossipy perspective. They are very credible.

Wikipedia ....

"Puck is an American digital media company founded in 2021. Puck's coverage aims to cover the 'four centers of power' in the United States: Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Washington and Wall Street.[1]"

Meghan’s passion project, the animated kids show Pearl, has already been canceled, and the unscripted cooking and polo offerings didn’t connect the way the royal couple’s Harry & Meghan did

what does that mean, didn’t connect. It’s not launched yet? And there is a movie?

With the cooking show, was it tried out with an audience?

I think it was inevitable. For $100m Netflix must have been expecting a lot of content.

So far they've only produced one ratings hit and that only because it was dishing the royal dirt. Beyond that, there's been little to no output and certainly nothing else that's justified the massive contract they'd negotiated.

Add to that the open secret that they're a nightmare to work with and their reputation is in the bin, Netflix would be mad to consider renewing.

What happened to Meet Me at the Lake?

I wonder, i had forgotten all about it.

Meet me at the lake is in production I think, but was a different kind of deal I think. They bought the rights and then Netflix produce.

Can’t see Harry being too bothered about the Polo, I could imagine Nacho being more upset. But if the cooking show doesn’t materialise that would be a real kicker for Meghan and the ARO project and terrible PR. The ARO was the one thing that I hoped would work out just to allow them to make money and maybe move on in a more productive way.

I thought Netflix was going to operate aro?

I don’t think that anyone is surprised - Netflix massively fucked up investing in the “fucking grifters”

Has the cooking show been axed? Based on gossip sites I thought it had been recorded already?

I actually think Harry and Megan put out a lot of false rumours . Fake news, to make it look like they’ve shit going on

I guess it’s better than saying we tour corrupt countries and collect awards.

I suppose this means that the cooking and the polo shows have been shown to test audiences, and the reaction has not been what had been hoped for

They didn't buy the rights. Netflix optioned the rights to the book, but there has been no movement on it as far as I know. There's no IMDB page for it, so it doesn't appear to be in production. I doubt it will ever see the light of day.

The Netflix deal was very generous - I wonder if the idea was for more royal content, but of course they've really exhausted that and now are completely estranged.

It's a peculiar lifestyle choice, true enough. I can't think how it's sustainable.

That makes sense. Thanks

Neither of them have any discernable skills or abilities, which may seem unkind, but this has been a lot of money to invest in amateurs. I keep thinking that the next thing is going to take off, and it doesn't really.

In a way I'd be surprised if the polo show doesn't get made.

Netflix have had a lot of success with dramatised sports documentaries (eg. drive to survive) and also reality tv focusing on millionaire lifestyles (eg. selling sunset) and polo would be well suited as a blend of both things. It's a sport filled with obscene wealth, a level of danger and there would be plenty of drama to create good stories that people would be compelled by.

Which leads me to think that if the show isn't successful it must be because of Harry's input in some way.

The other problem was that the Netflix deal was made while there was still a huge amount of money in streaming due to the pandemic and many streaming services had money to throw around. It has fallen off a cliff somewhat since then, so Netflix will have had to think long and hard about where to invest their cash this time. Couple this with the fact that Netflix probably expected more Royal gossip and less worthy wokeness from the Sussexes, it wouldn't really be surprising if Netflix now have cold feet

It’s a tough gig to make an impact in.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/20/netflix-is-done-with-harry-and-meghan-not-expected-to-renew-deal-with-couple-report/

I'm not sure.

F1 is hugely popular, but very few people care about polo. Also, it's got a bad reputation for cruelty to animals and being damaging to the environment. A bit out of synch with the times. I can't see many people committing to a series about such a niche and elitist sport. Harry alone simply isn't a big enough draw, as we saw from the Invictus documentary.

Yes, he's not a particularly likable character, and you have to have that in this sort of venture.

The problem is they are trying to be all sophisticated and hovering around trying to do RF duties without being part of the RF. They have no skills, no credentials which unless they have filming crews all over their house filming their day to day activities like the kardashians, there's not much to sell. They don't have contact with the RF which they can't air sell their dirty laundry anymore which is why they can't produce content.