Prince Estate Rejects Netflix Documentary

The Estate of Prince has pulled the plug on an upcoming documentary on Netlfix...

From Variety

A six-part Prince documentary for Netflix directed by Ezra Edelman is “dead in the water” after representatives for the late artist’s estate claimed a first cut of the film was filled with “dramatic” factual inaccuracies and “sensationalized” renderings of certain events from his life, sources close to the situation tell Variety.

Edelman, best known for the “O.J.: Made in America” documentary, has been quietly working on the film for four years and is said to be “devastated” by the impasse.

While the deal for the documentary calls for a six-hour series, Edelman instead delivered nine hours, a violation of the agreement that presumably enabled the estate to withhold music rights. Although Netflix and Edelman maintain final cut of the film, a Prince documentary without his music would face daunting, if not insurmountable, creative and commercial obstacles.

The original deal for the documentary, which was never officially announced but reported exclusively by Variety in 2018, was made between Netflix and representatives of Comerica Bank, the interim executor for Prince’s estate. Edelman, who was enlisted to replace original director Ava DuVernay, was given extensive access to Prince’s archives and produced a cut of the film that was screened recently for insiders.

Details on the alleged inaccuracies were not clear, but an unnamed source insisted to Puck that “it’s not revelations of drug use or sexual stuff.” Instead, sources tells Variety that the estate felt strongly that certain events had been “sensationalized” and not properly fact-checked, and that those claims were met with opposition by Edelman. On the other hand, different sources told Puck and Variety that the issues were more about “control,” and the estate felt the documentary was not sufficiently positive.