9 months ago
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While we’re waiting for the British media to get off their asses and start asking real questions about the royals they actually pay for, that same media is doing everything they can to deflect, deflect, deflect. Why ask questions about Prince William and Kate’s situation when you can obsessively detail staffing changes at a California production company? I’m actually surprised that the royal reporters aren’t dusting off the old “Prince Harry and Meghan can’t keep staff” chestnut. Maybe because they know, deep down, that William and Kate are the ones with massive staff turnover.
When the Duchess of Sussex was interviewed on the red carpet at a showbusiness event in Los Angeles last November, she declared that she and Prince Harry had ‘so many exciting things on the slate’ to announce.
‘Things that make people feel – I was going say ‘good’, but it’s more than that – things that make people feel something, right?’ Meghan gushed.
Unfortunately, the most powerful feeling for one key member of their team was, I hear, a desire to quit. The manager of Archewell Productions, the company that Harry and Meghan set up in 2020 amid great fanfare to make television programmes and films, has exited, stage left.
Bennett Levine, who was promoted to manager of Archewell in 2022, left the company this month. When he was taken on as co-ordinator for the business in 2021, his appointment was hailed by the Sussexes’ most outspoken cheerleader, Omid Scobie, as a sign that Archewell was ‘a hive of activity that continues to grow’.
Levine confirms his departure in a message to contacts on social media. ‘I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position at Cinetic Media,’ he says of his new job at an American film financing and distribution company.’
A source tells me: ‘It’s a blow to the company. There’s no doubt about that.’
Production managers take care of the business, financial and recruitment side of film and television productions. Levine’s surprise exit comes amid rumours that Netflix may not renew its deal with Archewell. The US streaming giant paid the Sussexes a rumoured £80million in 2020 as part of a deal that ends in 2025. Levine worked on the tawdry documentary series, Harry & Meghan, which Archewell co-produced with Netflix and was released in 2022.
“Tawdry,” oh my. The Harry & Meghan docuseries was one of the most-watched shows on Netflix for months, and it was well-done and it made news for weeks/months. Notice they don’t mention Heart of Invictus, which was also a great docuseries, although it did not have the kind of audience as the H&M series. Anyway, I have no positive or negative energy towards this staffing change – people switch jobs all the time, especially in entertainment/production. The Sussexes did a lot in their first four years in the US, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re bringing in new blood for their next phase.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
