Another One Bites the Dust: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Lose a Major Archewell Employee in 'Blow' to Company
Archewell Productions suffered another major blow for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle now that a prominent employee has called it quits. Company manager Bennett Levine's position was once hailed by Sussex "cheerleader" Omid Scobie as a "hive of activity that continues to grow" — until recently, apparently.
"I'm happy to share that I'm starting a new position at Cinetic Media," Levine shared on his social media account. Shortly after his statement, a Sussex source stepped forward to spill that the manager's exit is "a blow to the company. There's no doubt about that."
This follows the Duchess of Sussex announcing at a red carpet event in November 2023 that Archewell had "so many exciting things on the slate." She added: "Things that make people feel — I was going to say 'good', but it's more than that — things that make people feel something, right?"
Levine's departure comes at a precarious time for the ex-working royals, who recently hit the fourth anniversary of "Megxit" when the duo famously exited the royal stage for the bright lights of Tinseltown. In the autumn of 2020, the Montecito pair signed a $100 million dollar contract with streaming giant Netflix, and recent news is also reportedly looking dismal for the couple's five-year deal.
Levine worked on their 2022 blockbuster documentary with the service, Harry & Meghan, which has turned out to be the only hit the duo has delivered to Netflix. Their original deal called for movies, documentaries, children's programming, and more — but as the end of the agreement rapidly approaches, the duo have only kicked up two additional failed documentaries for a total of three projects in four years.
Royal analysts and entertainment insiders alike have shared how the media conglomerate is "definitely not" going to renew its partnership with the "doolittle" royal rebels. "At this point, Netflix is simply saving face as to try and not look like total fools for paying what have become essentially D-list reality stars such a massive amount of money on a whim," a Hollywood insider spilled. "They keep hoping for a follow-up hit to Harry & Meghan, but even the top levels [of executives] know it probably will not happen."
In August 2023, the streamer released Heart of Invictus, which charted the development and progress of Prince Harry's Invictus Games. The documentary was hyped to be a worthy successor to the often salacious six-part docu-series from December 2022, but the sports-heavy non-fiction special turned out to be a "total flop."
This followed the highly-publicized "dumping" the couple received from Spotify two months earlier, which led to an executive with the audio giant calling the pair "f------ grifters."
Daily Express reported on the insider revelations.