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.
We talked extensively about the need for certain people with certain skills for particular phases of a company’s growth. Bennett helped them get to where they are today and now someone else will come to keep the momentum going. The DM is truly bad at business if they don’t understand this, which seeing how their revenue is declining, isn’t a surprise.
I agree. Its pretty common in a growing project to change leadership in different phases and to align with new needs. Also people leave for job growth, so maybe he wanted to work with some old friends, or maybe this gave him a job opportunity growth? Not everyone leaves a company because they have bad relationships with it.
This is the third high profile departure in recent months. You can love Harry and Meghan and still recognize that their production company is not retaining its top talent.
@Megan, If these people got hired at the same time, it is normal they are departing so closely too since their contracts may be up. They may have found a better job with better pay or a cool opportunity. It isn’t like they departed after a few months. People don’t stay at the same job anymore if they want to increase their salary level or to get more experience. If there is something wrong, I am sure the tabloids already offered them a lot of money to talk. Until it happens, stop assuming the worst from two private citizens who have been abused by BM for close to a decade now.
Gone are the days when people stay in one job forever. Watching my own adult children change jobs, the point is growth and new experiences that add to the resume. Archewell is no different.
Also Archwell is a small company. There’s only so far you can go until you have to change companies to continue career growth.
@slush Yeah. The royals may keep some employees forever (even longer than they should) but this is business. This guy wasn’t some longtime friend or partner. It was a job he took at a small company with growing pains as it looks to find its footing. Another opportunity came up with a more established group and he moved on. Harry’s seen it with Invictus and likely Sentebale and probably at BetterUp.
Tawdry in Uncle Gary and Mike Tindall competing on tacky reality TV shows. It is Bad Dad and Crazy Sister selling out Meghan for money. It is tapping private phones. And also too, it is the Daily Mail and most of the Rota.
You beat me to it!! Exactly what I was going to point out. They want to talk about “tawdry,” they should take a look at the leftovers and their hangers-on.
Deflection at its best with this nonsense. The BM need to start digging deep into what is happening with their leftovers and I’m sure they will come up with some real dirt that will bring clicks to their sites. The Sussexes are no longer your concern move on as they have.
Dear British media, how about we talk about will and Kate .let’s talk about the fact that will who is funded by the public refuses to work for the public. Let’s talk about Kate who is also funded by the public wants her business to remain private. Even though she lives off the public purse. Let’s talk about how you won’t talk about Andrew .
Oh you don’t want to talk about those things . Let’s focus on the ones who moved on and don’t live off the public purse
THIS!
Yes, let’s talk about the fact that Kate has five private secretaries in six years, and presently hasn’t got one.
The invisible contract is in full effect. Deflect. Deflect. Deflect. At least little Lili(bet) is being left out of this cycle. What a miserable human Baldimont is to his very rotten core. Harry will never be totally free from the rota rats and will always be Willy’s scapegoat. The British taxpayers are really being cheated.
Lastest in a British trash paper aka the mirror. They have declared that Harry and Meghan are deeply unpopular in America they are struggling kind to get any deals.There is also wide speculation that Jimmy Kimmel is going to ridicule Harry and Meghan at the Oscar’s. I don’t know know how they can stand the strain of all the negative press. Yet Kate fell apart by Meghan mentioning her baby brain. All this trolling seems to have become a national sport very disturbing.
I doubt Harry and Meghan are worried about this sort of nonsense story in the Mirror, the paper that Harry recently beat in court and one of the least trusted papers in the UK.
They are printing the same thing over and over again. Wasn’t it just last week they were with the CEO of Paramount? I wish I was unpopular like that, hanging out with CEO’s, Beyonce’s friends and family, leading a panel on an Oscar nominated short film. Also, if they are made fun of on Oscars, a prestigious award show they aren’t even attending, they are the sh-t. No one makes jokes about you on that show if you are nobody in town. We aren’t talking about Golden Globes that couldn’t get a host until last minute. I am sure H&M would cry about it in their mansion with 1242 bathrooms.
I mean, is he going to tell one joke the whole night and that joke is going to be about Harry and Meghan? Or is he going to tell 50 jokes and all of them about Harry and Meghan? This is what I mean when I say they don’t understand the entertainment industry at all. No host is going to waste time telling a joke about people that no one thinks about or cares about. And people who are famous get poked fun of at award shows all the time. Who cares? They keep trying to make everyone hates the Sussexes happen, and then they show up somewhere with yet ANOTHER CEO.
They are truly going to write articles every single time an employee moves to a new company. Good lord. This is all over my Twitter “For You” feed (ugh). Imagine being this guy and all these weird British people are talking about you online.
I think people forget that people cycle in and out of high level jobs like this, especially with new entities as needs change when the company gets it’s footing. And I think the BM doesn’t have a great understanding of how things work in these fields. They try to apply everything to the royal system as if it’s an exact match, calling them being out and handling business “engagements”, calling employees “aides”, etc. What they never want to mention is why people who work for the BRF which is supposed to be the pinnacle of employment, jump ship so frequently, especially those who work at KP.
If these ex-employees were dropping tea about Archewell, it would be a different story. But they aren’t because 1) they are ethical; 2) there’s none to spill.
Oh I see! Something huge is going on with Pegs – rehab perhaps, or he injured Triple K – and they really need people to focus on something else. Still using Harry and Meghan as scapegoats while the Wails are regrouping.
Whatever has happened, the Middletons are aware and being made to play along. Maybe they’ll even be financially compensated for cooperating, maybe the Party Pieces fiasco will be favorably sorted out. Nothing else can explain why Carole was not seen visiting her beloved daughter on her sick bed.
At this point, the whole scenario feels sinister.
They tried with the jewelry and that fell flat, so now its back to Archewell’s staffing.
Speaking of staffing, the biggest clue to Kate’s eventual phase out, I think, has been the lack of a private secretary for….how long now? A year? A year and a half? If she’s not a working royal she doesn’t need one so they’re not hiring one.
I think you’re right. There’s no reason they couldn’t hire someone in that amount of time. I wonder how that worked though. Did William just tell her that she didn’t need one?
I keep saying this, but I would love to see a “Behind the Scenes at Archewell” type docu film (similar to “The First Monday in May”) where we see Meghan and Harry taking meetings with their team, laying out their calendar, doing their research on companies they choose to collaborate with, relaxing together from their work days and talking, attending events (and the process of choosing what they wear and communicate with their clothing). I love that type of Day/Week in the Life content from people who get shit done.
Everyone called it when Kate got hospitalized & Will got MIA that brace for H&M stories for a few months to deflect from talking about the bizarre adventures of the future King & the future Queen. Once a spare is always a spare, I guess.
Valid reasons for staffing changes that commenters have mentioned aside, it is particularly infuriating to me that the tabloids that have dedicated themselves to making absolutely anything or anyone even tangentially associated with Meghan absolutely radioactive, just an absolute cesspit of the most vile, racist, misogynoir commentary any public figure has been subjected to in recent memory, and these are the exact same tabloids printing headlines wondering why people might find working in that environment exhausting. It’s because of YOU, not because of HER, A*HOLES.
I read about this, and also another piece about how the BRF is worried m&h will run out of money. Hmm. Slightly as if they’re trying to imply that, should m&h come back into the fold, it’s because they need to not because the BRF needs them.
I am going to leave this Mariah lyrics for the BM Rats:
It’s confusing yo’, you’re confused you know
Why you’re wasting your time?
Got you all fired up with your Napoleon complex
Seeing right through you like you’re bathing in Windex
Oh, oh, oh boy why you so obsessed with me?
Sign: Harry, Meghan, Archie, Lili, Doria, Guy, Pula, Mamamia & Lady Suckie
According to Eden, the guy has been with Archewell since 2021, so him leaving 3 years later is not a catastrophe but a sign of the times. Most people don’t stay in a company for more than 3 years anyway. My guess is the insider who says that it’s a blow for Archewell is Becky English.
The Sussex News changes by the hour literally. This morning a Royal Expert’ on the Daily Mirror said that Meghan would get frighteningly jealous of Kate when she becomes Queen. Keep the Wicked Fairy away! Then it’s all the Sussex staff leave, their lives are in chaos, they have no money and are desperate. It’s the so called ‘experts’ who are desperate. To become an expert doesn’t that involve a course of study? Or just the ability to make up outlandish stories.
Somehow I don’t get the feeling that Meghan is looking at Kate and thinking “I wish that was me.” More like ” I’m glad that’s not me” or “Thank God that’s not me!” Speaking of staff, what happened to the new CEO for the Wales, the one who was supposed to be “the servant leader” or Kate’s new personal secretary? How can The Statesman and Buttons function without them?
Meghan was born and grew up in a country with no monarchy
I doubt she would care about Kate being queen consort
Being the spouse of a monarch seems like one of the worst jobs you could possibly have imo. Yes, it comes with money and a title but that doesn’t make up for the excessive scrutiny, lack of freedom and sheer monotony of the job. Camilla looks bored to tears half the time. Meghan probably wakes up every morning thanking her lucky stars she no longer has to live the life of a working royal.
When it comes to such ‘royal experts’, something someone told me once comes to mind … ‘ex’ is a former something and a ‘(s)pert’ is a drip under pressure.
Whatever. This person left and they’ll hire some someone else.
As slow and uncertain as things are now in Hollywood, there will be no shortage of good candidates. The Sussexes will have their pick.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣”tawd🤣”tawd, 😂😂😂😂Oh my, let’s not talk about earthsht 😂😂😂😂. People change jobs, companies change structure, but the Royal family have never listened to the old adage” if you stand still as a company, you die “!!!, now as the firm has become as stale and uninteresting as last week’s loaf, let’s start taking bets, Archwell or the firm? Guess my money is on Archwell standing strong as Palace walls crumble
If Levine shepherded both Harry & Meghan and Heart of Invictus, those are two powerful and unique pieces of work. If Archewell is going in a different direction (Meghan has talked about doing a rom-com, for example), this is a good time for him to move on.
What’s funny to me is, the article says in 2020 the Sussexes were paid a rumored $80 million as part of their Netflix deal, but OMG!, there’s rumors Netflix may not renew their deal! Whatever will they do now?
If the Sussexes have received $80 million, I think they’ll be able to scrape by for a bit even if Netflix opts out in 2025.
They also said Levine was this top-notch guy that they’re losing, but they also said he was responsible for the docu-series, Harry & Meghan. Which they claimed was tawdry. So is he top-notch is does he produce tawdry shlock, which is it?
Well they’ll have to fill those positions and continue pursuing their goals. Is this regular Hollywood churn, but being a big deal because it’s the Sussexes? Maybe. I do think that they love the philanthropic arm of Archewell and the production side isn’t pushed front and center. We’ll see how it pans out. That said, I work for a large established company and we’ve had a lot of churn, lay offs, resignations, lateral moves etc. The division I’m currently in has a whole new team and it definitely affects workflow to start over. The Sussexes seem to be hitting their stride in some areas but definitely have some growing pains and learning opportunities in others. Hope they can solidify their staff so it’s not a big deal every time someone comes or goes. Still think them being at the premier in Jamaica shook up a lot of people. They’ve have 2 solid, very good shows for Netflix so far so they just need to keep plugging away.
They’ve had 3 solid, very good shows for Netflix. I periodically go back and rewatch ‘Live to Lead’ episodes because of the amazing people.
The BM should be reporting on how badly women married-ins do in the RF. The mystery surrounding Kate and the MIA William should be of great concern to the taxpayer. And I’m still waiting to hear about a divorce announcement from the RF. Who could it be getting a divorce?
Why hasn’t someone started a “Where’s Willy” meme already. Remember, the late Queen said she had to be ‘seen’ to believed. Have they learned nothing from her long reign? You would think this is the perfect opportunity for Willy to be a wonder, what with juggling care for Kate, the kids, and stepping into his father’s shoes. Instead of rising to the occasion, he is sinking into oblivion. There is no reason at all for William to be missing in action and becoming the object of speculation.
The world will be a much better place when these rags are bankrupt and gone. Hopefully I am alive to see the day the world no longer allows these hate rags to exist to target people, mainly women and minorities. If Britain isn’t strong enough to break away from their media masters then it’s time for the rest of the world to start passing serious laws protecting people from this kind of criminal behavior, targeting people just for being popular or standing up for themselves is not news. Also it should be noted under every headline that there is ongoing legal action with the Sussex’s because this is beyond unethical and most of the propaganda articles are nothing but hit pieces. These people are not pirates they are wannabe assassin.
Does the BM know that the US is a free-enterprise/free-moving country with a variety of opportunities across the 50 states and that possibly the experience and skill set these executives acquired are something headhunters always look for 🙄.
I guess they don’t have as many opportunities in the UK due to Brexit 🙄🙄 and pissing other people off.
Best news I have read in the daily fail. Netflix has announced that Suits was the highest streamed series of 2023. 😂😂😂😂
How long has it been since Kate last had a private secretary?
Oh, noes!… Tawdry!
Also: Harry is suing us. 😆😂😁