Meghan Markle's cancelled Netflix show called Pearl faces 'plagiarism' claims from British author
Meghan's show was cancelled three years agoMeghan Markle’s cancelled Netflix show from 2022 has been criticised by an author, who has spoken out.
The planned animated kids’ show called Pearl was scrapped in May 2022.
Meghan Markle’s cancelled Netflix show attracts controversy
Back in July 2021, Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Foundation announced that they were developing an animated kids show for Netflix.
The project, titled Pearl, focused around a 12-year-old girl’s “heroic adventure as she learns to step into her power and finds inspiration from influential women throughout history”.
However, in May 2022, the project was cancelled. Netflix explained at the time that they were scaling back on production of animated kids shows. Pearl was one of the shows included.
Now, British author Mel Elliot has claimed that Meghan’s scrapped show bore similarities “too great for me to ignore” to her own book series, Pearl Power.
British author calls out ‘similarities’ between Meghan’s cancelled show and her book series
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Elliot explained that she had planned to turn Pearl Power into an animated series.
She claims that she began working on the animated series back in 2018. There’s even test footage to prove it on her socials.
The similarities were too great for me to ignore.
Each episode of Pearl Power was to open with Pearl presenting a school project on a famous, inspiring woman, before going on a shared adventure. The footage shows Pearl going on an adventure alongside Billy Jean King.
Speaking to the Mail, Elliot said: “Meghan is a feminist who sticks up for other women, so I was disappointed and confused to see how similar Netflix’s proposed show Pearl was to my own Pearl Power, who had been created seven years earlier. Of course, I can’t know if anyone on her team had seen it and been inspired by it, but the similarities were too great for me to ignore.”
Meghan hit with ‘plagiarism’ accusations
Elliot continued.
“The world of arts and media are very competitive, and I’m afraid it’s quite common for powerful people to rip off the work of less well-known creatives — although I’m not saying that’s what happened here,” she said.
She then went on to say that her lawyers contacted Archewell and Netflix in July 2021. Elliot herself followed up in October 2021 and February 2022. However, she heard nothing back.
“I am glad that Meghan’s Pearl show was dropped, and I hope that I had something to do with it. But what I really wanted was for it to have gone ahead, and for me to have been acknowledged or invited to work as a collaborator on the series. Pearl was my dream project and now, annoyingly, if I reprise my own creation, it’s going to look like I have copied the idea from someone else,” she then said.
Elliot then went on to say that she would have “loved” to have collaborated with Meghan and Netflix on the project.
How much did Netflix pay for Meghan Markle?
Meghan and Harry signed a reported five-year deal worth $100 million (approx £75m) with Netflix back in 2020.
Through this deal, they have released four projects – most recently, Meghan’s much-derided series, With Love, Meghan.
Does Meghan Markle still have a deal with Netflix?
It has yet to be confirmed whether Netflix will offer Meghan and Harry another deal.
However, the duchess’ association with the streamer is not over yet. A second season of her show, With Love, Meghan, will be dropping on the streamer later this year.
Royal Insider has contacted reps for Meghan for comment.
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