Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s friendship with Paramount boss Brian Robbins will help them as they eye up a new TV streaming deal, a branding expert said today.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were invited to Jamaica for a Bob Marley film premiere by the family of Mr Robbins – with whom they are ‘personal friends’.
The father-of-three is a top Hollywood name who is the chief executive of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, and lives with his stylist wife Tracy James in Los Angeles.
The Sussexes’ friendship with the Robbins family is notable given Harry and Meghan are likely to be searching for new forms of income, with their £80million Netflix deal expiring next year and their £15million Spotify contract having ended early last June.
It is also intriguing that Paramount owns Comedy Central which airs South Park . An episode of the show last February entitled ‘The Worldwide Privacy Tour’ mockingly depicted Harry and Meghan on a publicity blitz to promote Harry’s book, ‘Waaagh’.
Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told that it was time for Harry and Meghan ‘to shop around and look at where they can land their next ratings winner’.
He also said they would likely be getting tips for Archewell Productions and could also be pitching ideas for children’s content for Nickelodeon and scripted shows for Paramount+, which is available for £6.99 a month in the UK and $5.99 in the US.
Mr Robbins is a friend to many Hollywood stars and was seen posing with Tina Fey and Lindsay Lohan at the Mean Girls premiere in New York just a fortnight ago.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose with Brian Robbins, the president and chief executive of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, and his wife Tracy James, in Kingston on Tuesday night
Paramount owns Comedy Central which airs South Park. An episode last February entitled ‘The Worldwide Privacy Tour’ mockingly depicted Harry and Meghan on a publicity blitz
The Duke and Duchess with Paramount boss Brian Robbins and wife Tracy James on Tuesday
A source told that Harry and Meghan ‘have long been fans of Bob Marley’s music and message’ and ‘have a personal friendship with the Robbins family, who invited them’.
ANALYSIS: ‘It’s time for Harry and Meghan to shop around and look at where they can land the next ratings winner’
By NICK EDE
Meghan and Harry have a genuine friendship with Brian and his partner and because the new Marley film was being produced by Paramount it was only right that they should be invited to the movie premiere.
Meghan and Brian have a few things in common including his start in the business as a TV presenter and actor and subsequently a producer and now head of the entertainment giant.
Meghan and Harry will surely be getting tips on producing for their Archewell TV arm but also I can imagine pitching ideas for children for Nickelodeon and Paramount Plus for scripted.
With their current deals drying up, it’s time for them to shop around and look at where they can land their next ratings winner.
Meghan and Harry still hold a lot of box office wattage and can use this to their advantage and build a solid reputation for making good content.
All eyes are on them at the moment for their next steps but being friends with Hollywood’s power players won’t do them any harm at all.’
The couple were ‘delighted to attend’ the screening of One Love – which celebrates the late reggae singer’s life – in Kingston on Tuesday night, the source added.
Also speaking to was Mr Ede, who said today: ‘Meghan and Harry have a genuine friendship with Brian and his partner and because the new Marley film was being produced by Paramount it was only right that they should be invited to the movie premiere.
‘Meghan and Brian have a few things in common including his start in the business as a TV presenter and actor and subsequently a producer and now head of the entertainment giant.
‘Meghan and Harry will surely be getting tips on producing for their Archewell TV arm but also I can imagine pitching ideas for children for Nickelodeon and Paramount Plus for scripted.
‘With their current deals drying up, it’s time for them to shop around and look at where they can land their next ratings winner.’
He added that the Sussexes ‘still hold a lot of box office wattage’ and explained how they could ‘use this to their advantage and build a solid reputation for making good content’.
Mr Ede continued: ‘All eyes are on them at the moment for their next steps but being friends with Hollywood’s power players won’t do them any harm at all.’
On Tuesday, Harry and Meghan were also pictured alongside Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness, who wants to make Jamaica a republic – with a referendum set to be held later this year.
Mr Holness told the now-Prince and Princess of Wales during their 2022 tour to the Caribbean that his country is ‘moving on’ and intends to ‘fulfil our true ambitions and destiny as an independent, developed, prosperous country’.
The Sussexes’ appearance came as Harry’s father, the King, prepares to undergo hospital treatment for an enlarged prostate, and Kate remains in hospital after abdominal surgery.
With other observers still waiting for a statement from the Sussexes about Charles and Kate being in hospital, royal commentator Phil Dampier told : ‘It seems Harry and Meghan will turn up at the opening of an envelope these days.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his wife Juliet on Tuesday for the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love at the Carib Theatre in Kingston
Prince Harry and Meghan with Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness and his wife Juliet
‘Under normal circumstances there would be nothing wrong with them going to a film premiere. But at a time when his father is going under the knife and Jamaica is making noises about ditching the monarchy, this is rather insensitive.’
The Sussexes also posed with Jamaica’s minister of legal and constitutional affairs, Marlene Malahoo Forte.
Mrs Malahoo Forte told Sky News ahead of the King’s coronation last May that an ‘urgent’ referendum could be held as early as 2024 to ‘sever ties’ and remove Charles as Jamaica’s monarch.
‘(Republicanism) is about us saying goodbye to a form of government that is linked to a painful past of colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade,’ she said.=
The Sussexes pose at the event on Tuesday night with Marlene Malahoo Forte, Jamaica’s minister for legal and constitutional affairs, who said last year that Jamaica could soon ‘sever ties’ with the monarchy, because it was time for the nation’s future to be ‘in Jamaican hands’
Harry and Meghan sit in the theatre in Kingston on Tuesday as they attend the film premiere
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the red carpet premiere for the Bob Marley film on Tuesday
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet other guests on the red carpet in Kingston on Tuesday
Meghan, 42, wore a long, black A-line gown with gold earrings and had her hair in a slicked-back bun.
Harry, 39, was dressed in a dark suit and open-necked white shirt. Marley’s son Ziggy was also in attendance.
The biopic will be released in February and stars British actors Kingsley Ben-Adir as Marley and Lashana Lynch as his wife, Rita.
Harry travelled to Jamaica in 2012 representing his grandmother, the late Queen, during a celebratory Diamond Jubilee tour.
Father-of-three Brian Robbins lives with his stylist wife Tracy James (pictured) in Los Angeles
Brian Robbins (front right) poses with other guests including James Norton (third right) at the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love at the Carib 5 Theatre in Kingston, Jamaica, on Tuesday
Brian Robbins speaks during the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love in Kingston on Tuesday
Brian Robbins (far left) with James Norton (second left) at the premiere in Jamaica on Tuesday
Earlier this month, Brian Robbins posed with Tina Fey (left) and Lindsay Lohan (right) at the premiere of Mean Girls at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York on January 8, 2024
Brian Robbins (second left) with Sandra Bullock (far left), Liza Chasin (second right) and Daniel Radcliffe (far right) at the premiere of The Lost City in Austin, Texas, on March 12, 2022
The overseas trip was hailed a resounding success, with Harry sprinting with Olympic 100m champion Usain Bolt and dancing to Marley’s music in Kingston.
He showed off a talent for diplomacy by hugging and holding hands with then-Jamaican prime minister Portia Simpson-Miller just hours after she repeated her intention to hold a referendum to remove Elizabeth II as head of state.
Meghan married her first husband, film producer Trevor Engelson, on a beach in Jamaica 2011, with the couple divorcing less than two years later.
The former Suits star also wrote on her now-defunct lifestyle blog that her mother took her to visit the slums of Jamaica when she was 10 to teach her about the ‘harsh realities’ of life.