Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Obstacles to Success in Hollywood: 'House with No Foundation' (Exclusive)

"People threw money at them with hopes and dreams that it would translate into success," says a Hollywood insider

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are experiencing growing pains finding a path to find success in Hollywood.

In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their intention to "step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent" before moving to California months later. After inking multimillion dollar deals with Netflix and Spotify, the couple have delivered a record-breaking Netflix series about their break from palace life, a hit podcast and a bestselling book — but in recent months, they split from Spotify, where they had a reported $20 million deal, and have been criticized by the Wall Street Journal for low content output on Netflix (where their deal is valued at $100 million).

While there are various factors at play — COVID-19 wreaked havoc across much of Hollywood, and the industry is currently frozen in a writers and actors strike — some say excitement over the royals entering the entertainment space was overvalued.

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“The attention, commotion, and hubbub was wrapped up in the fact that Harry is a royal, and people threw money at them with hopes and dreams that it would translate into success," a Hollywood insider tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week's cover story. "But I think it’s been a rude awakening for everyone — it’s like they built a house with no foundation."

The insider adds, "The royal element, and the in some ways the drama around them, inflated the price, deals and expectations."

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There have been big wins: Their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan broke streaming records, and a different Hollywood source says that Meghan, who starred on the hit legal drama Suits from 2011 to 2018, displayed a keen marketing sensibility and was closely involved in the promotional plan. "She was fully engaged and had actionable ideas," says the source.

However, Prince Harry and Meghan's Netflix projects without a royal component haven't shared the series' success. The docuseries Live to Lead, about various global changemakers, debuted to indifference, and an animated project called Pearl, about a little girl inspired by female leaders, was quietly dropped last year, although other scripted projects are reportedly in the works.

Meghan's Archetypes podcast climbed the charts and won a People's Choice Award but ended after just 12 episodes. One veteran podcasting executive says Spotify is partly to blame, pointing out that the Obamas have since moved their podcasting operations to Audible: "No one stuck it out [at Spotify], because the shows weren’t done well, or they overpaid and they couldn’t bring in audiences," says the executive.

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But critics called the execution contrived. "What works in podcasting is authenticity and intimacy and revealing things either about yourself or about a topic that says something that [listeners] haven’t really thought about," says the executive. "None of that happened. And Meghan wasn’t prepared to do that, because she lives an incredibly guarded life."

A source close to the Archetypes production says the couple was not set up for success at Spotify: "They were given no formal lay of the land to kick things off, so they were already on unsteady footing even before the ink was dry.”

But the protective web spun around the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not help. “Things moved very slowly on both ends,” the source says. “It was rare to have a direct conversation with them, so everything had to flow through a million middle persons." (Netflix and Spotify both declined to comment.)

Leading Archewell's production company, the couple has also experienced ongoing staff turnover. In a statement to The Wall Street Journal in June, a spokesperson said, “New companies often make changes in their start-up phase, both with people and strategy, and we are no exception.”

Some argue Prince Harry and Meghan are being held to a higher standard than others in show business.

“Very few other production companies are measured by what’s actually hit the airwaves,” says a source.

Related: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Are 'Playful and Flirty,' Says Source: 'Not into a Big Scene' (Exclusive)

Up next? Meghan signed with recently signed with powerhouse agency William Morris Endeavor — something a top Hollywood insider describes as "really smart, because they can put her in touch with filmmakers and creative people and producers and people who know how to make a TV show or a film."

With the right projects and people around them, the insider says, a second act is within reach: "I think within Hollywood, people are rooting for them."

Heart of Invictus, a documentary-style look at Prince Harry's Invictus Games for wounded warriors, is also set to drop soon on Netflix.

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