Meghan’s Relaunch Could Be Another Casualty of Los Angeles Fires
Like large sections of Los Angeles continue to burn Netflix appears ready to move forward with the launch of That of Meghan Markle new cooking and DIY show on Wednesday.
Hollywood’s guiding principle tends to be that the show must go on and the fires must be significantly contained in the coming days (although some events, including the Oscar nominations, the Critics Choice Awards, and a series of premieres, have already been postponed or canceled). .
That said, what works for Netflix may not be great for Meghan; floating in your Montecito backyard, swathed in cashmere and linen, picking wild berries in the sun while smoke from Los Angeles wildfires clogs your spectators’ lungs isn’t the best look.
So few could blame Meghan, often criticized for being out of touch, if she worried that it wasn’t exactly the right time to release a ton of ambitious footage of her baking cookies and cakes with her famous friends.
Meghan appears well aware of the danger, and this weekend she made a high-profile trip to a fire victims’ aid center, where she distributed food and supplies to affected families. Meghan’s new social media account, however, remained focused on promoting her new glossy show with a call to action to help the victims of the fire published on their less publicized personal site.
Meghan and Harry’s team declined to comment, and Netflix did not respond to The Daily Beast’s questions about whether the series would be delayed.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited Los Angeles wildfire evacuees in Pasadena on Friday evening. Harry and Meghan were spotted kissing chef José Andrés of World Central Kitchen, who is helping feed families displaced by the California wildfires. The royal show of support at the Pasadena Convention Center follows the announcement that the couple opened their Montecito home to friends and family who had been forced to evacuate due to the fires. #forest fires #losangeles #California
A Hollywood executive told The Daily Beast that the decision would be entirely up to Netflix, with Harry, Meghan and their production company Archewell having “zero influence” over the programming.
They said, “Netflix writes the rules. It’s their world, we can just play in it.
The source added that the new series didn’t seem to be a priority for anyone, even before the fires, which meant Netflix was unlikely to disrupt its carefully planned release schedule, although, as they said: “A time when people’s houses are literally burning down in Los Angeles is not the ideal time to release an ambitious show about housekeeping next door.
The stakes are high for the couple after a series of failures, including a five-part polo documentary, while Netflix executives are “exhausted” from working with Meghan. Its jam and homeware brand, American Riviera Orchard, soft-launched to great fanfare last year, remains stubbornly absent from shelves.
Netflix reportedly bought the rights to the bestselling novel, Meet me at the lake for Archewell to develop but the project has not yet entered production.
Tony Cas marketing expert and writer, previously told the Daily Beast: “Harry and Meghan are box office poison. From a brand perspective, I’m not really sure anything can be done at this point to reverse the obvious consumer apathy towards the Sussexes. They decided to take over America, but no one here found what they were selling particularly convincing.”
Digital consultants told The Daily Beast that Meghan could turn to social media to make money if her TV career doesn’t work out. Gary Frayter, director of social media at Kronus Communications, told the Daily Beast last week: “Meghan could easily make $100,000 per post, at minimum. The same goes for Harry.
Kate adheres to the principle of scarcity
Kate Middleton, 43 this week and recovering from a cancer scare last year, has made it clear she will not attend hundreds of engagements a year as Princess of Wales. Instead, sources say, there will be a limited number of high-profile events and high-impact, all-digital initiatives.
In practice, this means that every Kate appearance will now be a huge media event, and the biggest of the year so far is expected to be her arrival at the British film and television awards, the BAFTAs, in February. President Anna Higgs said she was “very hopeful” that Kate would run, and an insider told the Daily Mail that the British academy is “doing everything possible to ensure” Kate’s participation.
