The royal couple, now living in California, have signed a multiyear pact with the streamer.
The duke and duchess of Sussex are Hollywood players now.

Britain’s Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle have signed a multiyear overall deal at Netflix. As reported by The New York Times, the deal will cover scripted and unscripted TV series, documentaries, feature films and kids’ programming.

The deal comes seven months after the couple announced they would “step back” as senior members of the British royal family. Their signing with Netflix echoes the deal made by former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle, whose Higher Ground Productions produced the Oscar-winning documentary American Factory for the streamer.

Shortly after that, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos said he’d be open to working with the duke and duchess: “Who wouldn’t be interested? Yes, sure,” he told the U.K.’s Press Association.

“Our lives, both independent of each other, and as a couple, have allowed us to understand the power of the human spirit: of courage, resilience and the need for connection,” said the duke and duchess of Sussex. “Through our work with diverse communities and their environments, to shining a light on people and causes around the world, our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope. As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us, as is powerful storytelling through a truthful and relatable lens. We are pleased to work with Ted and the team at Netflix whose unprecedented reach will help us share impactful content that unlocks action.”

The couple already has projects in development at the streamer, including a nature docuseries and an animated series that will celebrate inspiring women.

“Harry and Meghan have inspired millions of people all around the world with their authenticity, optimism and leadership,” said Sarandos, co-CEO and chief content officer at Netflix. “We’re incredibly proud they have chosen Netflix as their creative home — and are excited about telling stories with them that can help build resilience and increase understanding for audiences everywhere.”

The duke and duchess will focus on creating programming that resonates with them, including issues that are the focus of their nonprofit foundation, Archewell. They’re also committed to featuring diverse voices in front of and behind the camera and in hiring for their production company, which is staffing up.

Markle was an actress, most notably on USA’s legal drama Suits, before marrying Prince Harry. She has no plans to return to acting, though per the Times, the couple may appear onscreen in documentary projects. Harry is featured in Netflix’s recently released documentary Rising Phoenix, about the Paralympic Games, and joined with Oprah Winfrey to produce a docuseries on mental health for Apple TV+.

Following their January announcement that they would step down as senior royals, the duke and duchess entered into negotiations with the royal family under which Queen Elizabeth II gave them leave in exchange for the couple not using the titles His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness and to give up public funding. The latter stipulation set off a wave of speculation about how they would support themselves, including potentially entering the entertainment industry.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

Later this month, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will celebrate their second wedding anniversary, but the royal couple has already been through enough together—both good times and bad—to warrant a joint biography.

Today, HarperCollins announced the acquisition of Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, by reporters Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. (Scobie is a royal editor at T&C’s sister brand Harper’s Bazaar, while Durand contributes to O, The Oprah Magazine and Elle, which are also owned by T&C’s parent company, Hearst.)

“With unique access and written with the participation of those closest to the couple, Finding Freedom is an honest, up-close, and disarming portrait of a confident, influential, and forward-thinking couple who are unafraid to break with tradition, determined to create a new path away from the spotlight, and dedicated to building a humanitarian legacy that will make a profound difference in the world,” reads a brief summary from the publisher.

While the authors promise sources that offer the inside scoop on the royal couple, it is understood that this is not an official or endorsed project by Harry or Meghan, and it doesn’t claim to have interviews with the couple, as was previously rumored.

“The aim of this book is to portray the real Harry and Meghan, a couple who continue to inspire many around the world through their humanitarian and charitable work but are often inaccurately portrayed,” Scobie and Durand said in a joint statement released with today’s announcement.

“Our mission has been motivated by a desire to tell an accurate version of their journey and finally present the truth of misreported stories that have become gospel simply because of the amount of times they have been repeated. It is thanks to our sources that we have been able to share the definitive story of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.”

Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family is slated to be released this summer.

Source: https://www.townandcountrymag.com

Only days after lawyers for Meghan Markle faced off with the Mail on Sunday’s parent company in a remote pre-trial hearing, the tabloid came back with another big scoop on the duchess and her husband, Prince Harry. The pair have been collaborating with journalists Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand on a biographical look at their last few years, provisionally called Thoroughly Modern Royals: The Real World of Meghan and Harry.

The book’s two authors have had a fruitful relationship with Meghan and Harry, and have already gotten exclusive access to some of their events. Scobie, who writes for Harper’s Bazaar and is a Good Morning America correspondent, has covered Meghan for years, and was one of two journalists granted exclusive access to Meghan’s last private event as a member of the royal family in March. Durand, a contributor to Elle, attended Meghan’s private event at a London school. According to the Mail on Sunday, Meghan and Harry sat for interviews with Durand and Scobie before they announced their exit in January.

The book was reportedly set to come out in June, but its release date has been pushed to August due to the coronavirus crisis. Dey Street Books, the publisher who released Jessica Simpson’s Open Book earlier this year, hasn’t confirmed the release yet, but their website does feature a cryptic page advertising a book by the authors “Eibocs” and “Dnarud”—Scobie and Durand backwards—with a release date of August 11.

According to a source with knowledge of the deal, the book will cover the period from Meghan and Harry’s introduction to their royal exit in March, including details about her deteriorating relationship with the Markle family. It will approach those years from the perspective of the couple and cast Meghan in a more flattering light than many tabloid stories have.

Their cooperation tracks with some of their motivations from stepping back from the royal family earlier this year. In January, they released statements complaining about the royal rota system, which didn’t always allow them to choose the journalists they worked with. In a documentary last fall, Meghan said she hadn’t been able to develop a “stiff upper lip” and expressed frustration at her inability to rebut stories that she saw as unfair.

While this approach to a royal biography is far from the conventional process for the Buckingham Palace press team, it has precedent. In 1992, Queen Elizabeth was already in the middle of what she would later call her “annus horribilis” when much of her family’s dirty laundry found its way to the public in the form of a tell-all book. Princess Diana had cooperated with Andrew Morton, a tabloid veteran, on Diana: Her True Story, which documented her difficult days in the palace and the affair between Prince Charles and his future wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles.

While the bombshell announcements of the book fueled its status as a bestseller, a more subtle angle of Morton’s story resonates more than two decades after Diana’s death. The book painted a picture of a woman who had suffered personally but was motivated by concern for how her in-laws were adapting to the modern era. “She finds the monarchy claustrophobic and completely outdated with no relevance to today’s life and problems,” a friend of hers told Morton. “She feels that it is a crumbling institution and believes that the family won’t know what has hit it in a few years’ time unless it changes too.”

At a moment when Diana was attempting to negotiate her own exit from the family, the book’s publication strained her already rocky relationship with the Queen. But it also endeared her to an international audience and helped her maintain popularity despite the messiness of a royal divorce. When Vanity Fair wrote about the fallout after the book’s publication in February 1993, the story was called “Diana’s Revenge.”

Meghan and Harry’s choice to go public doesn’t seem to have as much to do with their feelings about the family’s state of affairs. When they stepped back as senior royals, Meghan and Harry were hoping they could find a more progressive role within the family, but were only able to achieve that by leaving their roles behind entirely. Participating in a book might be the most forceful way they are able to make that change without deliberately agitating their relatives.

In charting their careers outside of the royal family, the couple have reportedly taken pains to stay on the monarchy’s good side. There’s no reason to believe that Thoroughly Modern Royals will drop any information that will leave the queen fuming, though there’s a chance that their choice could backfire. But by working with Durand and Scobie, two British journalists who write for American outlets, they’re making a point about who this book is aimed at. Meghan and Harry don’t seem to be trying to set the house on fire—just looking for an opportunity to get a few things off their chests.

Source: https://www.vanityfair.com

Meghan Markle’s first major project since stepping back from her senior role in the royal family is finally here. The Duchess of Sussex lent her voice to the new Disney nature documentary Elephant, and this morning, she appeared in an exclusive clip on Good Morning America to promote the movie.

“I am really grateful to be able to bring this story of elephants to life,” Meghan said in the behind-the-scenes interview, which was filmed by Disney last year.

“I’ve been really lucky to be able to have hands-on experience with elephants in their natural habitat. When you spend time connecting to them in their wildlife you understand that we have a role to play in their preservation and their safety.”

The film, which is streaming now on Disney+, centers around a herd of elephants on an “epic journey” across the Kalahari Desert, and specifically follows an African elephant named Shani and her son Jomo.

“These creatures are so majestic and at the same time, they are so sensitive and so connected,” Meghan said on GMA. “You see in this film just how remarkable they are. Their memories are amazing, the close connection of the herd, the protectiveness of their young—I think they are a lot more like us than they are different.”

Back in January of this year, it was reported that Meghan had signed a voiceover deal with Disney to benefit the wildlife charity Elephants Without Borders, and this project is in partnership with the conservation organization.

“I hope that when people see this film they realize how connected we all are and if we had more of an awareness about the obstacles they are facing we would take care of each other, this planet and these animals in a very different way,” she said.

GALLERY LINK
Screencaptures Good Morning America – April 20 2020

Meghan Markle will talk with Good Morning America on Monday, marking her first television interview since she and Prince Harry split from the royal family. The subject? Elephant, the Disney documentary film that she narrated.

Markle and Harry have been seen recently delivering food to Los Angeles shut-ins for the Project Angel Food charity. The couple recently relocated to Los Angeles and reportedly are living in Malibu while searching for a permanent home and establishing their new business endeavors.

The ABC morning show is promoting Markle as a special guest for Monday’s show, as a voiceover says she’ll offer “an exclusive first look” at the documentary. Hard-hitting questions on their Megxit decision and President Trump’s recent vow not to provide taxpayer paid security are likely off the table.

The documentary is a Disney+ streaming film that follows an elephant herd on a journey through Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Source: https://deadline.com/