Will Harry and Meghan follow Barack and Michelle Obama and sign a deal with Netflix?

Will the Duke and Duchess of Sussex follow the post-White House business template of the now very rich Obamas with whom they have rather a lot in common?

Barack and Michelle Obama, left, signed up for Netflix. Will Meghan and Harry, right, do the same?

Even before anyone at Netflix expressed interest in working with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the company and its rivals loomed large as an option for a power couple looking to reinvent themselves.

The streaming wars have created an unprecedented demand for content. With that comes opportunity for those outside the entertainment industry who nonetheless have global reach.

The mould was shaped in 2018 when Barack and Michelle Obama signed an exclusive production deal with Netflix to make “scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries and features” that would explore issues the former president and first lady had pursued during his eight years in office.

“Barack and Michelle Obama are among the world’s most respected and highly recognised public figures and are uniquely positioned to discover and highlight stories of people who make a difference in their communities and strive to change the world for the better,” Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix, said at the time.

Michelle Obama with American TV queen, Ellen.

Those words, which disregarded the Obamas’ lack of production experience, could be applied almost as easily to their friends the duke and duchess. That impression was confirmed at the weekend when Mr Sarandos was asked at an event in Los Angeles whether Netflix would consider striking a deal with Harry and Meghan after their departure from the royal family. “Who wouldn’t be interested?” he said.

The Obamas became involved as executive producers with their first release, American Factory, at the Sundance film festival last January. Their production company Higher Ground struck a $US3 million deal to acquire the finished documentary about a Chinese billionaire who opens a factory at an abandoned car plant in Ohio.

The Obamas were prominent in the film’s marketing. Nine months later they were 50th on The Hollywood Reporter’s list of the 100 most powerful people in entertainment and last week American Factory was nominated for an Oscar.

The managerial and executive clout of the Obamas outstrips that of the duke and duchess, who are younger and have previously worked in the military and the charity sector (him) and as an actress and lifestyle blogger (her).

However, Prince Harry’s effectiveness in carving a niche in the royal family and raising the profile of the Invictus Games, as well as his wife’s brand-building, suggest that for royals they are unusually well equipped.

Sources familiar with the Obama deal told The Hollywood Reporter that the Netflix contract, which is believed to be worth tens of millions of dollars, grew out of a deep relationship with Mr Sarandos. His wife, Nicole Avant, served as ambassador to the Bahamas during the Obama administration.

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex meet Beyonce Knowles-Carter and Jay-Z at the European Premiere of Disney's The Lion King.

The Obamas also have friends in entertainment, from Tom Hanks and Ellen DeGeneres to Beyonce and Jay-Z. The duke and duchess’s similarly strong connections were demonstrated at their wedding, where guests included Oprah Winfrey and the Clooneys.

They may have other suitors. Harry and Winfrey are working on a six-part series about mental health for Apple TV+. Apple, a relative newcomer to TV and film production with even deeper pockets than Netflix, is focused on family content, which may be a closer fit with the couple’s priorities. Another family-friendly option is Disney, which launched a streaming platform in the US in November. The duke was filmed in July telling Robert Iger, head of Disney, that the duchess “does voiceovers”.

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