Selling Sussex – but where will the royal couple draw the line?
As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announce a ‘megawatt’ deal with Netflix, Camilla Tominey wonders what good will come of it
The fact that Selling Sunset is Netflix’s highest rated show has clearly not been lost on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. For as the sun sets on last week’s surprise announcement of their “megawatt” deal with the multimedia giant – which saw the pair sign a rumoured “$100-150million” (£75£112million) contract to become television producers – it’s clear that the couple have bagged a prime piece of showbiz real estate with which to cement their Californian dream.
Yet having agreed to produce documentaries, feature films, scripted television programmes and children’s shows designed to “inform and give hope”, many industry insiders are wondering what the Sussexes will be selling in return for such a vast sum.
In a statement, the couple gave few clues to their programming, saying: “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.”
When Barack and Michelle Obama signed a $50million deal with Netflix two years ago, they used similar language to describe how they intended to use the digital platform to promote their “passion projects”.
In the former First Lady’s case, she ended up starring in an intimate documentary called Becoming – also the name of her autobiography – looking at her “life, hopes and connection with others”.
Seemingly keen to emulate the former US president and his wife, whom they count as friends, are the Duke and Duchess going to have to be prepared to do the same? And to what extent are the Sussexes going to have to sell themselves, as opposed to the causes closest to their hearts?
According to New York media analyst Richard Greenfield, the deal will see them doing both, pointing out that the Obamas’ first Netflix production was American Factory, a documentary about globalisation and US/China relations, which ended up winning an Academy Award.
Made by the Obamas’ production company Higher Ground, the moving film was directed by a relatively unknown husband-and-wife directorial team keen to shine the spotlight on ordinary working people. Other projects highlighting post-war racial discrimination and slavery abolitionist Frederick Douglass are in the pipeline.
The Sussexes have set up an as-yet unnamed production company, and started hiring staff with a view to emulating the Obamas’ output.
Several projects are already in development, including a nature documentary series – a nod to the Duke’s interest in environmental issues – and an animated series about inspirational women.
As Greenfield put it: “I don’t know the terms of the Sussexes’ deal, but my gut instinct is it is going to be less about them starring and more about them using their global star power in attracting people to work on projects like American Factory. This is a production deal, first and foremost.”
Yet with the Duchess said to be eyeing up the White House, and the couple keen to be associated not only with the Obamas, but the Clintons and the Clooneys, will it be enough for them to be just behind the camera?
The Duchess may have ruled out a return to acting, but the success of the Sussexes’ latest venture surely depends on the visibility of their association with it. Which puts the couple in somewhat of a dilemma when it comes to their fiercely guarded privacy.
It already struck many as oxymoronic for a couple needing “more space” to escape the limelight in Los Angeles, of all places. With their recent move to a new, £11million mansion in Santa Barbara, they are hardly lying low as they rub shoulders with celebrity neighbours including Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres.
It could prove problematic to their ongoing privacy case against a British newspaper group if they are seen to be aggressively pursuing the very publicity they claim to have left the Royal Family to avoid.
According to celebrity agent Jonathan Shalit, who has met the Duchess on a number of occasions, the couple will have to strike a “healthy balance” between putting themselves out there and taking a back seat.
“I am sure that when it is relevant to the shows they are making, then they will be in them. The most important word for any broadcaster is ‘authenticity’, so they would be well advised to only champion issues they have got a genuine interest in.
“Part of this will be collaborating with people who wouldn’t come forward if the Sussexes weren’t associated with the project. It’s not like they need to actively seek out the limelight – they are already in it because of who they are.”
And what of the Duchess’s muchdocumented political ambitions? The 39-year-old former UN advocate for women has been campaigning since she was a child. As an 11-year-old, she managed to persuade Procter & Gamble to ditch a sexist TV commercial for washing-up liquid after writing to Hillary Clinton, lawyer Gloria Allred and journalist Linda Ellerbee.
“I’ve never heard her talk about politics, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility,” added Shalit.
“She’s American-born, she has every right to run for president. Ronald Reagan was a B-list actor who ended up in the White House. Never say never.
“The perception of the couple in
America is different to the UK. The UK has a love-hate relationship with the Sussexes, but it’s different in the States. I think Meghan is very ambitious, but in this country that is sometimes considered an unpleasant character trait. Yet she’s achieved a great deal already.
“What I would say about her is, she does have a very magical, comforting way with people. They say men often marry someone in the mould of their mother. She’s got part of the touch Diana had.”
So, too, of course, has the Duke. Having felt overshadowed by his own, arguably less charismatic, brother – it remains to be seen how the 35-year-old royal will feel playing second fiddle to his aspiring wife in the coming years.
Although the Duke was said to have been actively involved in the latest negotiations, there has always been a sense that the Duchess is the one wearing the trousers – despite him being the more experienced statesperson. After all, it was he who launched the Invictus Games on the world stage, and to huge acclaim.
Collectively, however, the couple are still to prove their philanthropic potential when measured against other power couples like Bill and Melinda Gates, who are helping to cure malaria in the developing world.
And while she may have spent seven years on the set of Suits, the Duchess is also as untested as her husband when it comes to TV and film production. But, as Shalit points out, “they’ll be working with the very best and getting extremely wise advice”.
Netflix is behind hugely successful shows, including The Crown, which dramatises the Queen’s reign, and although Shalit said the couple were unlikely to make any programmes that would “embarrass” Her Majesty, The Duke may feel compelled to inquire about future episodes; the sixth and final series is expected to deal with the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Similarly, Netflix recently announced it is to screen Diana: A New
Musical, a Broadway production that features a fictitious scene in which the Queen calls the late princess a “tart”.
Netflix’s chief executive Ted Sarandos said the Sussexes had inspired millions with “authenticity, optimism and leadership”.
Like Selling Sunset, there is no doubt that the Sussexes are Netflix’s hottest property right now as they finally take control of their own narrative. Yet, as with the real estate agents luring buyers to the mansions of Beverly Hills, the success of their latest venture is going to rest on the viewing public.