EXCLUSIVE: We’ve seen efforts to share risk and upside in success, and many times they come and go. Artists Equity , hatched by pals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and backed by a long-term financial commitment from RedBird Capital billionaire Gerry Cardinale, has a real chance to reshape the tenuous pay landscape in a talent-friendly way. Since Deadline first broke their plans , Affleck and Damon have used their personal relationships and the hard knock lessons from over 30 years of their Oscar careers to create a sound equity participation formula for those involved in their projects.
It’s a formula they believe provides more transparency in profit sharing than is available from the studios and streamers that will release the films Artists Equity bankrolls. Housed in Los Angeles offices with a staff that has swelled past 70 employees working on film, TV, a full scale ad agency, and a lean-in on documentaries, Artists Equity is growing quickly. Affleck is CEO and treats that like a full time job, running it all with Damon’s wife, Luciana Damon.
Matt Damon serves as Chief Content Officer and pitches in, between starring in films like Oppenheimer . Their output began with Air, the superb drama about how Nike transformed the sneaker market making a disruptive shoe deal with Michael Jordan before he played a minute of NBA ball. Affleck directed and played Nike chief Phil Knight and Damon played Sonny Vaccaro, who convinced Jordan’s mom (Viola Davis) to trust Nike over better.
