There was rampant hypothesis concerning the standing of the Prince documentary at Netflix, which was broadly reported to have stalled attributable to disagreements between Netflix, director Ezra Edelman, and the Prince Property over factual content material within the manufacturing. Yesterday, Netflix and the Prince Property ended this hypothesis via the next joint assertion:
“The Prince Property and Netflix have reached an settlement the place the Property will develop and launch a Prince documentary and different unique content material from Prince’s Vault archive. Because of this, Netflix won’t be releasing a Prince documentary.”
The Prince documentary has been beneath growth for a few years. Following the loss of life of Prince Rogers Nelson in 2016, his property was managed for a few years by Comerica Financial institution & Belief, which sought to monetize Prince’s appreciable belongings with the intention to repay the Property’s bills whereas his property wound its approach via the probate court docket. As a part of these efforts, Comerica entered into an settlement with Netflix, on behalf of the Property, to provide a documentary sequence on Prince’s life, which was first reported on in 2018. Netflix was given intensive entry to Prince’s archives to provide the documentary.
Prince’s longtime legal professional and trusted confidant, L. Londell McMillan, addressed the information on X:
Thanks. Having full entry to advertise Prince’s music with content material makes it higher particularly within the digital age the place visible belongings mixed with audio drives viewership and attain. https://t.co/pw0ctFUjnb
— L Londell McMillan (@LondellMcMillan) February 7, 2025
Anybody disparaging or slandering Prince has an issue with me. He had human flaws, as all of us do, however he was a terrific man, biggest artist ever, philanthropist, innovator, and he helped many individuals together with me. Individuals can say what they need however received’t use his platform to do it ☔️
— L Londell McMillan (@LondellMcMillan) February 7, 2025
A lot Love To These Who Present REAL LOVE TO PRINCE 💜💯
— L Londell McMillan (@LondellMcMillan) February 7, 2025
In August 2022, the probate court docket distributed Prince’s belongings to 2 court-approved possession teams, Prince Legacy LLC and Major Wave Music. After Prince Legacy and Major Wave took over co-management of the Property, they considered a lower of the documentary and have become concerned in a dispute with Netflix and Ezra Edelman over the existence of factual inaccuracies, mischaracterizations, and the sensationalization of sure occasions. After numerous “unnamed sources” started disclosing these discussions to the media, there was widespread reporting beginning in July 2024 regarding this dispute and the destiny of the documentary. These sources claimed that, along with the dispute over the factual content material, the Property had shut down Netflix’s entry to Prince’s archives, and that Edelman had delivered a nine-hour documentary to Netflix the place the settlement solely granted music rights adequate for a six-hour documentary.
In September 2024, Prince Legacy and Major Wave issued the next joint assertion:
These with the duty of finishing up Prince’s needs shall honor his creativity and genius. We’re working to resolve issues regarding the documentary in order that his story could also be instructed in a approach that’s factually appropriate and doesn’t mischaracterize or sensationalize his life. We sit up for persevering with to share Prince’s items and have a good time his profound and lasting influence on the world.
Yesterday’s announcement signifies that Netflix and the Property have resolved their disputes and that the events are, respectively, shifting on from this troubled undertaking. Whereas the Property shall be pushing forward with a definitive Prince documentary, it will likely be doing so with one other collaborative associate, and never Netflix.
