When Harry met Meghan: next Netflix venture will be TV rom-coms
‘There will be more of a heavy focus on fictional, scripted content. It will be feel-good and light’
PRINCE HARRY and Meghan’s Netflix documentary series was billed as a “love story”, and they have rarely missed an opportunity to gush about their romance.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex now aim to harness their experiences as star-crossed lovers to make romantic comedies.
The couple, who signed a multi-year deal with Netflix in 2020, are moving away from content about themselves and have several “fun” TV series in the pipeline, The Daily Telegraph understands. “There will be more of a heavy focus on fictional, scripted content,” a source said. “It will be rom coms, feelgood and light-hearted programmes.”
The couple will not appear on screen, instead adopting less time-consuming executive producer roles, which will allow them to pursue other projects and philanthropic work.
It comes after the Duke revealed in his memoir that he used to binge-watch Friends, while Meghan has admitted watching When Harry Met Sally “a million times” as well as “all the Julia Roberts rom coms”.
She told Variety magazine last year: “People love love. I’m not excluded in that sentiment. And our definition of love is really expansive: partner love, self-love, the love of community and family. We use that as the baseline of the kind of shows and documentaries we want out there.”
The shift from documentary-style content marks a notable departure for the couple who have so far largely focused their efforts on their own experiences.
In moving towards fictional romance, the Sussexes follow in the footsteps of the Duchess of York, whose second historical romance novel for Mills & Boon is published next month. The development will be considered a welcome respite, following the back-to-ack releases of Archetypes, the Duchess’s Spotify podcast, their Netflix series and then Prince Harry’s memoir.
The couple have kept a low profile since the publication of Harry’s book, Spare, last month, and are keen to keep their heads down. One friend confirmed: “They’ve had enough of being in the spotlight for now. It was a difficult few weeks in many ways and they want to take a step back.”
The couple are understood to be focusing on charity work closer to home in California, which they can pursue under the radar.
They are working on individual projects, including the Duke’s Heart of Invictus documentary series which is due for release this summer.
Despite all of the noise surrounding the Sussexes’ potential appearance at the King’s Coronation, they are not thought to have received any formal contact from either the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Royal family, suggesting that the apology and potential reconciliation that the Duke has called for may not be forthcoming.
So far, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have not acknowledged the couple’s recent claims.
Meanwhile, the move towards scripted content triggered yet more staff changes at Archewell, with both Ben Browning, the internal content head, and Fara Taylor, who leads the marketing team, leaving later this year and not being replaced.