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/

I doubt we will ever know. That would involve someone at Netflix having to reveal that they haven’t paid them the full $100 million or Harry and Megan admitting they hadn’t earned the full fee either. Either way, it would involve one or both sides losing face I think given the extraordinary mortgage situation it’s highly doubtful they got paid the reported fee in full and most certainly not upfront. Which sort of makes you doubt the advice that they are getting from a legal point of view. Especially as Harry seems hellbent on spending his money fighting legal battles against the press (and that doesn’t come cheap).

Ditching him would give her quite a bit of material to work with now everything else is thin on the ground. She could go on umpteen talk shows for years to come jabbering on about her marriage and all focus would be on her (which she’ll love). It would certainly be a good publicity/career move for her.

I think the polo show is made and done. As is the cooking show. Simply it’s not very good so audiences won’t really like it. A pp said they failed to connect meaning test screenings were not postiive

thr aro thing I suspect would be if the cooking show was successful,

I guess we all knew Netflix wouldn’t renew, suspect they will say something nice like they will work in individual projects as they arise then quietly run

He's due to come into a big inheritance in September. Perhaps someone is counting on whistling off into the night with that in their pocket. Perhaps not.

They do seem to have fucked it all up quite impressively.

Edited because, in common with Markle, I can't seem to put a coherent sentence together.

Don’t forget Markle said they had lots of projects in the pipeline. They weren’t going to make us feel good but they were going to make us feel. 🙄 Oh and Harry is loving these projects and is so excited by them. I’ve been on the edge of my seat since waiting for these masterpieces.

Why, when they've obviously received money from Netflix and PRH, do they have such a huge mortgage? Surely the first thing you'd do is pay that down to secure your home. Even if they didn't get $20m for Spare and $100m from Netflix they must have had a wodge of cash, enough to clear the mortgage, anyway.

Perhaps neither are savvy with money. Harry's had other people to make sure he had somewhere to live and money in his pocket. Did Meghan own a home previously?

Any programme H&M make that’s not some indiscretion about the Royals would be very, very contrived and dull.

Cooking? Why? They’re not from that world, they’re not cooks. They have no interest in food, except for their own branded lines. It’s also very low rent stuff. Could you imagine Diana on the telly with oven gloves and a pepper mill?

Polo? It’s a niche, self-contained sport. I doubt more than one in a thousand viewers could name a professional polo player. And I can’t see that a ‘real wives of the polo field’ type bling-fest would be good for the caring, humanitarian image.

I can’t imagine any successful entertainment shows they could make.

no that’s what we do. If you’re very wealthy if the interest on the mortgage is less than the interest you can get on your capital, which it will be by far, then it is best to have a mortgage.

But didn't she use up all the lemons when sending her jam?

Yes - that's what I think. I don't understand the rumours about Netflix helping with ARO - they're a streaming service, not a merchandising company. Does anyone have any definite news on this? Why would they risk throwing good money after bad? And why should they worry about Meghan's business?

i think the ARO not getting off the ground would be a bigger setback than Netflix. I’m sure if they went down the reality route the deals would open up again, how long they’d last would be a separate issue. Also don’t think the interview of only scratching the surface were musings but a reality going forward. The problem is they can’t even be paid off by Charles as seriously how much would they need a year. It would need to come from his personal wealth and rich people do not like spending or the idea that the king of a country even a constitutional monarchy is effectively being emotionally blackmailed by his son who in turn with his wife are involving themselves in this and other countries affairs.

And Netaporter...

Quite - his supply has been cut off and the RF (and probably his UK friends too) are right to be wary about contact with him. They could never trust him to keep anything confidential again. He's really cooked his goose.

There are many demonstrations of Harry's dimness, but for me the most glaring one is his belief that bridges can be mended and earth un-scorched. Did none of his expensive therapists point this out to him? I think (like all H & M's staff) these people must tell him what he wants to hear, and anyone asking awkward questions, or even suggesting that Harry might look at his own conduct and attitudes critically, would swiftly be cancelled.

I am not sure about that . If they split, I am pretty sure the RF will negotiate a tough , watertight agreement with consequences should Meghan break it .
Let’s face it , she wants to retain that title !
As for a reality show , how many people want to hear the same victim , poor me stories about her blink and you miss it time in the RF ? Is there anyone who hasn’t heard the washing up liquid story ??
By cutting off contact with H and M , the RF have ensured that they have cut off the supply of information. Evidence of that was the fact that H and M heard about Catherine’s cancer at the same time as the rest of the world. Ouch .

I think Megan has seen the negative reaction to Harry and scobies books, and they are a cautionary tale. I do believe she will go there, but not for some time.

ARO is clearly a disaster, she should never have launched the brand when she’d nothing behind it. Now we may see her flogging a few bits from it, but I don’t think Netflix will be involved if the cooking show is a flop. She can still do it but it won’t be much of an income stream.

maybe that’s why they are doing these mad tours, they have nothing else.

There is a strong possibility of a book about her time in the RF and I suspect she will be able to use some fairly damning anecdotes.
The recent reference to her suicide ideation, words to effect that she'd "only scratched the surface" of that, suggested to me that may be the next content. I think she has much that she wants to tell.

They have a catch 22. They want to make high brow, serious content. To make this interesting or noteworthy (for anyone) there has to be credibility. They don't have any credibility. They don't have a lifetime of lived experience or expertise which gets peoples attention. We listen to Barack Obama as he was the president for two terms. Even the likes of Louis Theroux have spent years honing their craft.

These two hop from topic to topic - but their output is shallow and meaningless because they lack credibility. They say stuff that anyone of us could say with an hour on ChatGPT. It is boring. We know we are not going to learn anything new or interesting and there are million other options to choose from.

Their selling point is the inside track on the Royals - but they have done that to death and no longer have access. The bitterness is getting very old.

So where to from here? It is difficult to see what they can do that will make the money they need apart from more 'bombshell revelations' but that again is short lived and damages them long term.

I think that was just an empty threat. She said similar on that Cut interview. She likes to stir but sometimes the pot is empty.

I had read that everything is behind because of the previous writers strike, so there hasn’t been much movement.

Interesting point. Yes, that Cut interview was most peculiar.

I think they longed for the type of obsession that the US public had for the likes of Jackie O or Princess Dianna. They are too obviously thirsty for attention though. Ironically, the (new) Princess of Wales is starting to get that sort of public fascination - but precisely because she doesn't want it and doesn't feed it. The mystery fascinates people.

Talking about ARO, it’s interesting because if you look at the hate Blake Lively has been getting the last week, there’s so much about her that chimes with Meghan.

But to sell a lifestyle brand, it has to be authentic. Even Blake failed at this. Her ‘ Preserve ‘ business lasted 1 year. Blake didn’t have half the amount of hate when she launched and it was a failure.
People can’t connect to Meghan, everything she does feels performative, so they aren’t going to buy into ARO. That doesn’t mean that products won’t sell….but the ARO brand will just be one another hate watch. People buying products to negatively review bomb them, swamp customer services with complaints. It’s a hiding to nothing.

It’s a really bad idea.

maybe the cooking show on it own would work but ARO is a bad idea.

They’ve received some money from Netflix, much of which will have gone into the development and production of content, including hiring proper production staff to do the actual work. Payment will have been in stages based on output. Their personal income from that sum will be a fraction, and their outgoings are monumental- Harry’s litigation hobby isn’t cheap- even where he’s won, he has been found to have spent so much that his costs aren’t all recoverable. Between them, they enjoy litigation, polo, high fashion, private travel and private security. Their overheads are millions / year before the mortgage.

I agree. I think that there is a distinct possibility that what she sees as “bad treatment” is not what everyone else would call it. More minor disagreement and misunderstanding. Like the lipgloss thing. A really insignificant incident, and totally understandable reaction from Catherine in most people’s eyes, yet they are both still going on about it like it is a major diplomatic incident, even including it in Spare 🙄

Their problem is that they think themselves to be infinitely interesting and important when actually they are a bit dull. They are both far too earnest and worthy so I think even a fly on the wall Kardashian series wouldn’t be very interesting

Yes I agree. If she had played her cards right she could have had that sort of attention but she’s played it all wrong. No mystery, no style, no charisma. If she’d just worn beautifully tailored clothes and been mindful of what and how she spoke she could quite easily have become some kind of icon. With the right tools it’s really not that difficult when you’re high profile.

So this is Silicon Valley. It’s running the same story. Not used this outlet before, so who knows

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