Topline
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s production company Archewell lost three more executives over the weekend—the latest in a series of high-profile departures for the ex-royals’ brand.
Key Facts
Ben Browning, an Oscar-nominated producer who was tapped to lead content at Archewell, will leave later this year after his contract expires, Variety reported Saturday.
Fara Taylor, the company’s head of marketing, will also leave her role over the course of 2024, according to the same report.
Bennett Levine, a production manager who moved to Archewell with Browning in 2021, also left the company in January, according to his LinkedIn page.
These are not the first executives to leave the company: Mandana Dayani, who served as president of Archewell in 2021-2022, resigned from her position in December 2022, stepping down to allow Prince Harry and Markle to assume “full control” after returning from parental leave, the company confirmed in a statement.
Shortly after Dayani announced her departure, Rebecca Sananes, the company’s head of audio and a producer on its hit podcast “Archetypes,” also left to work as a freelance producer.
Archewell has not returned a request for comment from Forbes, but told Variety that Browning and Taylor “played a critical role in helping to tell the stories of the Duke and Duchess thus far” and wished them well in the future.
Key Background
Prince Harry and Markle, Duchess of Sussex, stepped down as full time members of the royal family in 2020, moving to Meghan’s home state of California. Shortly after moving, the couple set up a new video and audio production company and philanthropic organization under the name Archewell. The new company quickly made a mark by signing high-profile production deals with Netflix in September 2020 and Spotify in December 2020. The Spotify deal was reportedly worth about $20 million, while Netflix paid the company $100 million for a content deal that expires in 2025. The Spotify deal initially proved successful after Archewell released “Archetypes,” an interview podcast hosted by Markle, in August 2022. “Archetypes” quickly became one of the streaming giant’s top podcasts, and eventually won a People’s Choice Award the same year. Despite the initial success, Archewell and Spotify ended their partnership in June 2023 after work on the second season stalled for more than a year, the Wall Street Journal reported. A representative for Markle told the Journal she was working to find “another platform” for the podcast, but the Duchess withdrew her trademark for the name “Archetypes” in September, multiple outlets reported.
What To Watch For
Archewell’s deal with Netflix is still active through 2025, but it is unclear if the company is working on any projects in 2024. So far, the collaboration led to the production of three docuseries distributed by the streaming service: “Harry & Meghan” and “Live to Lead” in 2022 and “Heart of Invictus” in 2023. The Sussexes served as executive producers on both 2022 series, while only Prince Harry worked on the 2023 production. In August, the couple also purchased the film rights to “Meet Me At the Lake,” a 2023 novel by Carley Lake that spent five weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The couple reportedly paid about $3 million for the rights, but few details about the planned production with Netflix have been released so far.
Further Reading
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