Topline
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have bought the rights to the bestselling novel Meet Me at the Lake through their company Archewell Productions and will work with Netflix to bring the story to the small screen, a spokesperson for Penguin Random House confirmed to Forbes Monday, adapting a story that shares several similarities to their own lives.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the Athletics Competition during … [+]
Key Facts
Carley Fortune, author of the New York Times bestselling book, said in a statement she is “so thrilled about working with Netflix and Archewell to bring Meet Me at the Lake to the screen.”
The novel tells the story of Will and Fern, a couple who meet in their 30s, and deals with themes of childhood trauma that closely resemble Harry and Markle’s own lives—including losing a parent in a car crash, as Harry did with Princess Diana, and postpartum struggles, which Markle opened up about in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
It is set near Toronto, where Markle was living when she started dating Harry and filming the show Suits, and discusses mental health challenges, which the prince discussed in length in his memoir Spare.
Meet Me At The Lake—which shares a publisher with Spare— spent five weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and has amassed more than 95,000 Goodreads ratings since it was first published in May.
British tabloid The Sun estimated Archewell Productions paid as much as $3.8 million (£3 million) for the film rights, but Penguin Random House did not confirm the dollar amount to Forbes.
Key Background
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle famously stepped away from their royal duties and moved to Los Angeles in March 2020. In September 2020, the pair signed a five-year, $100 million contract with Netflix to produce documentaries, docuseries, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming. The documentary Harry & Meghan premiered in December 2022 and was Netflix’s biggest documentary debut ever, and the streaming platform has a docuseries called Heart of Invictus in the works, but no premiere date has been announced. Meet Me At The Lake will be the couple’s third project with Netflix. Harry and Markle also signed a since-terminated, multi-million dollar deal with Spotify in December of 2020. The deal ended in June after producing just one series—a podcast called Archetypes hosted by Markle that lasted one season and featured interviews with guests like Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, Mindy Kaling, Paris Hilton and Trevor Noah. Forbes estimated the Spotify deal to be worth between $15 million and $18 million.
Rick Hoffman, Patrick J. Adams, Meghan Markle, Sarah Rafferty, Gina Torres and Gabriel Macht of … [+]
Surprising Fact
Suits, the show Markle acted in before leaving to date Harry, broke its own Nielsen streaming record last month after premiering on Netflix and Peacock in June. The USA Network series had 3.7 billion viewing minutes in the week of July 3 to July 9, up 17% from when the series first broke the record for most-watched acquired content with 3.1 billion minutes, Deadline reported. Suits premiered in June of 2011 and ended in September of 2019 with season nine, two seasons after Markle’s last appearance on the show.
Further Reading
Here’s What We Know About Prince Harry And Meghan Markle’s $135 Million Deals (Forbes)
Harry And Meghan’s Spotify Podcast Deal Ends (Forbes)
Meghan Markle Says She Was ‘Fed To The Wolves’ In New Trailer For Netflix Documentary (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/08/07/prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-buy-rights-to-bestseller-meet-me-at-the-lake-for-netflix/