Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s start in the United States hasn’t gone exactly as they had planned. According to the Wall Street Journal, the couple is a “flop” in Hollywood after the dissolution of their Spotify podcasting deal and issues with their proposed Netflix projects. Did they just miss the red flags?
A major warning should’ve come when Markle reportedly had trouble securing guests for her podcast, creating an awkward moment with the Duchess and Taylor Swift. The show was initially plotted with Markle working with assistance from the Gimlet team at Spotify to build a guest list and to place a studio in the couple’s mansion.
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According to The Wall Street Journal, the company was not happy with Archewell’s side of creative and was annoyed at how long it took to put together what would be Archetypes, Markle’s eventual addition to the Spotify catalog. But at the time, Markle couldn’t guarantee guests and the show was still a bit amorphous. She even wrote a letter to Taylor Swift and personally asked her to be on the podcast. Swift declined the invite, and she did it through her representative. Pretty cold, T-Swift.
But Markle was also an issue it seems. As The Wall Street Journal details, Markle would ask for changes late in the editing phase, even tapping senior Spotify executives to call producers and force these changes. This includes the Chief Content Officer, Dawn Ostroff.
In the end, there were plans for a second season of Archetypes and the show was quite a success. Talks had happened, but eventually stalled long before Spotify opted not to renew. Per WSJ, the Sussexs didn’t follow all of the terms of their deal with Spotify either.
This includes a project with Prince Harry involved, initially exploring a show about veterans, then pitching a podcast on subjects like misinformation, his own perspective of living in America, and even co-hosting a show with Hasan Minhaj.
Things fell apart for good in the end, angering plenty of folks in the process. Will they be able to turn it around?
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