Harry & Meghan 8: Time's Most Insufferable

[Coconut Flan]

2 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

The next question is what will they do when the money they earned gets spent and there aren’t other lucrative contracts?  Besides the two tell-all biographies Harry plans, what have they got to sell?

What are they going to do if they don't earn the full value of those contracts?  They're likely in default so may actually owe damages to Spotify and Netflix.  The options aren't very likely to be exercised with the lack of performance.  Perhaps that's why they're anxious to sell the Montecito house and I read a rumor this morning that Harry was contemplating moving them back to the UK.  

Edited January 26, 2022 by Coconut Flan

[DalmatianCat]

4 hours ago, TN-peach said:

Maybe those are the only people they know?! Other than her mother, did Meghan invite any non-celebrities to her wedding? And based on comments at the time, other than her co-stars most to the invited celebrities didn't really know her (Oprah, the Clooneys). 

Harry used to have a pretty tight group of friends that he’d grown up with who seemed to be genuine friends and didn’t sell him out. Definitely well-connected and wealthy, but not celebrities. I wonder what happened to those friendships.

[EmCatlyn]

3 hours ago, TN-peach said:

Maybe those are the only people they know?! Other than her mother, did Meghan invite any non-celebrities to her wedding? And based on comments at the time, other than her co-stars most to the invited celebrities didn't really know her (Oprah, the Clooneys). 

Maybe that’s all the people they can think of, but it just shows that they are not thinking of real people.  If they wanted to address the impact of Covid on ordinary people they could send one of their minions to the nearest community center or school or hospital and get some names of people with interesting stories, pre-interview them and after selecting the most articulate ones with good stories pass them on to Meghan and Harry to interview for their podcast.

What seems to have happened is they put together the initial podcast as an example of what they could do, then they failed to come up with any other content.  No wonder they need a “producer” to help them produce. 😉

[EmCatlyn]

3 hours ago, Coconut Flan said:

What are they going to do if they don't earn the full value of those contracts?  They're likely in default so may actually owe damages to Spotify and Netflix.  The options aren't very likely to be exercised with the lack of performance.  Perhaps that's why they're anxious to sell the Montecito house and I read a rumor this morning that Harry was contemplating moving them back to the UK.  

As I understand it, at this particular point, both Netflix and Spotify are keeping the deal but insisting that M&H work with a producer to churn out the content they promised.  Definitely if they don’t deliver content, the companies will be unwilling to shell out more.  It was never clear to me how much of an advance they had received.

The rumor that they are moving back to the UK sounds like a false rumor given that Harry is also threatening to not come back to the UK unless he gets police protection.  However, this is Harry and Meghan, anything is possible.  Maybe Harry wants to move back to Frogmore Cottage where the cost of living is less.  The Montecito house sounds as if it would be very expensive to maintain. 

 

[EmCatlyn]

1 hour ago, DalmatianCat said:

Harry used to have a pretty tight group of friends that he’d grown up with who seemed to be genuine friends and didn’t sell him out. Definitely well-connected and wealthy, but not celebrities. I wonder what happened to those friendships.

They may still be personal friends, but when they were putting together a podcast for Pandemic Christmas (or whatever) they went with their “celebrity friends.”

I have also read that some of Harry’s friends were also William’s friends, so they have been kind of in the middle or else trying to stay in the middle.  I wonder also how many of the blame Meghan and how that has affected their relationship with Harry.

[DalmatianCat]

1 hour ago, EmCatlyn said:

The rumor that they are moving back to the UK sounds like a false rumor given that Harry is also threatening to not come back to the UK unless he gets police protection.  However, this is Harry and Meghan, anything is possible.  Maybe Harry wants to move back to Frogmore Cottage where the cost of living is less.  The Montecito house sounds as if it would be very expensive to maintain. 

 

It wouldn’t surprise me if Harry isn’t at least a little homesick at this point and would like to live in England at least part time. I do think he loves Meghan very much, but giving up your entire former life for someone isn’t as easy as the movies make it out to be. I’m sure some parts of being part of the royal family were no picnic, but I do think Harry has a rather high opinion of his family legacy and it stings him a little to not be part of it on a daily basis anymore. Especially since his family has continued on and the general public in the UK aren’t clamoring for him to come back.

[EmCatlyn]

2 hours ago, DalmatianCat said:

It wouldn’t surprise me if Harry isn’t at least a little homesick at this point and would like to live in England at least part time. I do think he loves Meghan very much, but giving up your entire former life for someone isn’t as easy as the movies make it out to be. I’m sure some parts of being part of the royal family were no picnic, but I do think Harry has a rather high opinion of his family legacy and it stings him a little to not be part of it on a daily basis anymore. Especially since his family has continued on and the general public in the UK aren’t clamoring for him to come back.

I agree.  I am sure Harry never meant to leave the UK for good.  They said from the first they wanted to split their time between the UK and “North America.”  I think Harry initially thought they’d be back in less than 6 months.  But between the pandemic and the realization that they weren’t going to get royal level protection, plus Meghan’s pregnancy, etc. they have been away for a couple of years now. (Harry’s brief visits hardly count.)

What I don’t understand is why Harry is saying that he won’t come back to the UK unless he has police protection.  If he wants an excuse not to come back, great.  But if he really wants to be able to spend some time in England and near his family and friends,  looking for a way to feel safe without royal level protection would be better than taking the issue to court. 

[rosamundi]

14 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

I guess we will see them doing commercials at some point. 🙄

That would be an interesting point of contention with the Royal Family, wouldn't it? "Give us some money or you'll see the 6th in line to the throne appearing in adverts."

I know Harry has never had to worry about money in his life, but if I had his resources I would be able to manage quite happily for the rest of my life without having to flog myself and my family to the highest bidder.

[just_ordinary]

10 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

Maybe that’s all the people they can think of, but it just shows that they are not thinking of real people.  If they wanted to address the impact of Covid on ordinary people they could send one of their minions to the nearest community center or school or hospital and get some names of people with interesting stories, pre-interview them and after selecting the most articulate ones with good stories pass them on to Meghan and Harry to interview for their podcast.

What seems to have happened is they put together the initial podcast as an example of what they could do, then they failed to come up with any other content.  No wonder they need a “producer” to help them produce. 😉

But they hired producers themselves. What do they pay those people for? H&M don’t have to come up with stuff themselves really. They just need scouts to filter projects and pitches and than decide what they like and hand it to the professionals they hired. I really don’t get it.

2 hours ago, rosamundi said:

That would be an interesting point of contention with the Royal Family, wouldn't it? "Give us some money or you'll see the 6th in line to the throne appearing in adverts."

I know Harry has never had to worry about money in his life, but if I had his resources I would be able to manage quite happily for the rest of my life without having to flog myself and my family to the highest bidder.

Mike Tindall and Peter Philips have done commercials. Especially Peter got lots of criticism because he posed in front of a picture of BP iirc to sell milk-definitely hinting at his royal connection. Mike is just an opportunistic prick, will shill anything but at least hasn’t used his royal connections that obvious. I think they definitely might go down the route. They already promoted platforms and did payed for speaking gigs. 
How anyone has a money problem with £30+Mil in cash and investments is beyond me. It’s not as if his money was all tied up in his company for example.

[formergothardite]

Not that I think Harry has done anything like Andrew the predator, but I do suspect that both of them have been raised with such excessive privilege that they literally have no idea how to function as normal people. Most royals are probably like this, they just have teams of people who make sure they appear nice in the carefully staged public events. It would be pretty damn hard to be raised in that lifestyle and not end up unable to relate to regular folks. But Harry and Andrew got themselves into situations where people actually see how self absorbed and tone deaf they are. They have been told their entire lives they are super special just because they were born and now they seem to think they can do no wrong and the world owes them everything. 
 

If Harry doesn’t change he is going to implode his life and I won’t be shocked if Megan gets tired of putting up with him and files for divorce. 

[Coconut Flan]

8 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

What I don’t understand is why Harry is saying that he won’t come back to the UK unless he has police protection.  If he wants an excuse not to come back, great.  But if he really wants to be able to spend some time in England and near his family and friends,  looking for a way to feel safe without royal level protection would be better than taking the issue to court. 

Harry has seemed to never fully understand what leaving official duties really meant and the down stream consequences of the decision.  Either the family and palace weren't clear or again like Andrew is it just no one talks reality to them, they don't listen, or they've been so pampered it's unimaginable to them?  There's royalty and accepting the work that goes with it and there's private citizen and accepting the perks you lose.  There wasn't going to be a halfway path and it seemed the Queen was fairly firm on that.  Harry seems to have fought the reality for two years.  

[EmCatlyn]

15 hours ago, formergothardite said:

Not that I think Harry has done anything like Andrew the predator, but I do suspect that both of them have been raised with such excessive privilege that they literally have no idea how to function as normal people. Most royals are probably like this, they just have teams of people who make sure they appear nice in the carefully staged public events. It would be pretty damn hard to be raised in that lifestyle and not end up unable to relate to regular folks. But Harry and Andrew got themselves into situations where people actually see how self absorbed and tone deaf they are. They have been told their entire lives they are super special just because they were born and now they seem to think they can do no wrong and the world owes them everything. 
 

If Harry doesn’t change he is going to implode his life and I won’t be shocked if Megan gets tired of putting up with him and files for divorce. 

Although Harry may not know how real people live, Meghan should, but she seems to be just as entitled and out of touch.  With the possible exception of suing about the police protection, all their mistakes seem to have been made jointly.

[EmCatlyn]

17 hours ago, just_ordinary said:

But they hired producers themselves. What do they pay those people for? H&M don’t have to come up with stuff themselves really. They just need scouts to filter projects and pitches and than decide what they like and hand it to the professionals they hired. I really don’t get it.

Mike Tindall and Peter Philips have done commercials. Especially Peter got lots of criticism because he posed in front of a picture of BP iirc to sell milk-definitely hinting at his royal connection. Mike is just an opportunistic prick, will shill anything but at least hasn’t used his royal connections that obvious. I think they definitely might go down the route. They already promoted platforms and did payed for speaking gigs. 
How anyone has a money problem with £30+Mil in cash and investments is beyond me. It’s not as if his money was all tied up in his company for example.

I think the issue may be that the Sussexes were not working with the producers they had hired and then blamed the producers for their failure to deliver.  Having worked with people who are not good at following through with plans as well as with bosses who will nix anything that doesn’t match their poorly articulated vision, I can imagine some of the problems.

In any case, the description of the job in at least one case wanted someone who could work with celebrities.  My impression is the Sussexes are replacing their producers and Spotify and Netflix are looking for someone who will get the Sussexes to finish some of the promised projects.

[viii]

https://people.com/royals/prince-harry-meghan-markle-covid-19-misinformation-spotify/

LOL how convenient. 

[just_ordinary]

It is indeed. My guess- perfect excuse to stop any business with Spotify. That solves the question where all the great content they wanted to produce there is. I am still firmly believing, that the numbers around the deal where exaggerated. They might have made big bucks with it, but Spotify didn’t just hand our millions without getting results. And quickly. So they might have been overpaid for their 35min single podcast (in good faith that there was more to come), but that’s it. They blew it. 
And honestly, those two need to stop about “false narratives and misinformation” when they themselves use those tactics (on purpose or not) ALL the time. They wanted to provide factual information about COVID on their website. Never happened. [You wonder why they don’t put a podcast series out about it. You know push back against misinformation ok Spotify with their great content.]
They can’t get their story straight when they were married, why Archie isn’t a Prince and might be never become one, how they would let the media know he was on his way/born, that police protection is up for whoever pays for it, 

…and so on and so on. Those two have no expertise whatsoever, but love to lecture everyone about things and do the exact same things they criticise others for.

Edited January 30, 2022 by just_ordinary

[clueliss]

You may see it as convenient. However this would be part of the Joe Rogan Neil young kerfuffle that started earlier this week and now all sorts of artists are yanking their stuff off of Spotify. Also saw a bit on Twitter the other day that I have posted in a different thread as well as the Trump thread the Kushner family has their hands on Spotify.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

2 hours ago, viii said:

https://people.com/royals/prince-harry-meghan-markle-covid-19-misinformation-spotify/

LOL how convenient. 

That is exactly the word for it!  

Even if they are using this for their own benefit, after reading @clueliss  post above I'm glad for any attention brought to this.  

Edited January 30, 2022 by HerNameIsBuffy

[viii]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

You may see it as convenient. However this would be part of the Joe Rogan Neil young kerfuffle that started earlier this week and now all sorts of artists are yanking their stuff off of Spotify. Also saw a bit on Twitter the other day that I have posted in a different thread as well as the Trump thread the Kushner family has their hands on Spotify.

Oh, I’m glad they’re doing it. Love or hate them, they’re a big voice right now and I hope more artists follow suit. However, with the recent issues they’ve had with Spotify, it just seems like a very convenient reason for them to split ways. 

[nausicaa]

52 minutes ago, viii said:

Oh, I’m glad they’re doing it. Love or hate them, they’re a big voice right now and I hope more artists follow suit. However, with the recent issues they’ve had with Spotify, it just seems like a very convenient reason for them to split ways. 

Except I don't believe they're officially splitting ways. And they're keeping the money. 

I think they're really shameless here and really will use any cause to cover their asses. 

Also, ironically it doesn't matter much if they split ways with Spotify since they've only made one podcast for the company. Not much content being lost. 

[Coconut Flan]

The way entertainment contracts work is they wouldn't have been given the total contract potential value up front.

There is usually a base period with attached production say 5 half hour shows in the first year.  That base year will be assigned a value say $5M for 5 shows.  If that isn't completed to the sponsor's satisfaction the other option periods usually four to six aren't exercised and no money is paid for those.  The total potential of the contract is guessstimated by the press and frequently inflated and that is reported.  If H&M don't fulfill the intro contract terms, they'll get far, far less than what we've seen quoted.   Normally the production company is only given funding up front for each episode/podcast as they're done and then the accountants balance the books.  

[MamaJunebug]

2 hours ago, Coconut Flan said:

The way entertainment contracts work is they wouldn't have been given the total contract potential value up front.

I’m sure glad to know this. I worked in a creative capacity, loved it, but ever since retiring I’ve had nightmares in which I’m on deadline and have nothing ready. To observe these two poseurs raking in vast sums for next to no product has made me something-something (“go crazy? Don’t mind if I do!” - Homer Simpson)

 

[viii]

4 hours ago, nausicaa said:

Except I don't believe they're officially splitting ways. And they're keeping the money. 

Yeah… they didn’t get all the money lol. 

[Coconut Flan]

Oh and out of all that money, they had to pay people to help produce the product.  All those pesky producers, sound people, writers, performers, etc.

[just_ordinary]

15 hours ago, viii said:

Oh, I’m glad they’re doing it. Love or hate them, they’re a big voice right now and I hope more artists follow suit. However, with the recent issues they’ve had with Spotify, it just seems like a very convenient reason for them to split ways. 

But again, they haven’t really done anything but jumped on a bandwagon. And they have yet to pull away from Spotify. At this point they used the discussion to excuse the missing content. They haven’t severed ties just yet. I mean, there is just no content to pull, is there.
Spotify has been problematic for years, regarding how they treat small artists. But that exploitation was obviously fine. And now they have a controversial presenter (I mean that’s exactly why you take someone like this on) and a bit of a storm to weather. I don’t agree with Josh Rogan at all. But he’s definitely not the biggest problem with Spotify’s business model. His claims are idiotic (at best), but people are still allowed to be idiots. Spotify should have taken measures for sure. But this has been going on for quite some time(at least August 2021). H&M have done nothing to counter his claims with good content. They say they have complained (?). As if! If they had, we would have heard about it. They just use this now to make themselves look great again, without any real effort on their part.

Edited January 31, 2022 by just_ordinary

[EmCatlyn]

Quote

“Harry has his heart set on returning to the U.K. to see the queen with Meghan, Archie and Lilibet, but that will only happen if the government takes the appropriate measures to protect his family,” an insider exclusively tells Us Weekly of the Duke of Sussex, 37. “He refuses to put them at risk. Their safety comes before anything else.”

Harry Wants His Kids to Meet Cousins — US Magazine

Just another report about how Harry will have to remain in self-exile until he is offered royal protection.