Matt Damon and Ben Affleck will be adopting an inclusion rider in all future project, according to their head of strategic outreach, Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, for the Pearl Street Films production company announced on Twitter this Monday.
DiGiovanni also thanked Michael B. Jordan for pledging to adopt the inclusion rider last week. “@michaelb4jordan Thank you for always supporting broader representation in the industry. On behalf of Pearl Street Films, Matt Damon, @BenAffleck, Jennifer Todd, Drew Vinton & I will be adopting the #InclusionRider for all of our projects moving forward,” she tweeted.
What is an Inclusion Rider?
Hollywood has made some major strides in recent years to achieve diversity. That said, Frances McDormand used her Best Actress Oscar win to encourage Hollywood to use “inclusion riders” in their contracts, which would require any production to interview a broad spectrum of divisor people for supporting roles and jobs on set.
Ultimately, a rider contract is a way that actors, directors and people in high ranking positions working in the entertainment industry can use their power to advocate for diversity throughout the production.
McDormand’s inclusion rider contains specific provisions for how film productions should go about making hires for supporting roles on-screen roles and behind-the-camera crew roles. It specifies that for auditions for all supporting roles there should include at least one woman and one person “from any other under-represented group” including people of color, disabled, LGBTQ or having a combination of these attributes. In addition, it states that roles written for a male actor are not excluded from that requirement.
The same provisions can apply for major crew positions including directing, photography, editor, productions design, composer, among others.
“In support of the women and men who are leading this fight, I will be adopting the Inclusion Rider for all projects produced by my company Outlier Society,” via Instagram March 7.
Damon and Affleck will next produce — and Affleck will direct — “Witness for the Prosecution,” based on Agatha Christie’s novel.
Related:
- Major Casting Director Says Diversity in Hollywood is Changing
- Producers Say More Diversity in Hollywood is “Paying Off”
- New York Approves Multi-Million Film Tax Credit to Increase Diversity
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