Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are adopting inclusion riders for all future projects at their production company Pearl Street Films.
Inclusion riders, contractual clauses whereby actors or executives can demand diverse cast and crew members on a project, hit the headlines earlier this month (Mar18) after Best Actress winner Frances McDormand asked stars to adopt them in her acceptance speech at the Academy Awards.
Last week (end11Mar18), Michael B. Jordan announced his company would be adopting the riders, and on Tuesday, Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni the Head of Strategic Outreach at Pearl Street Films, tweeted Michael stating Ben and Matt would follow suit.
Praising the Black Panther star, Fanshen wrote, "Thank you for always supporting broader representation in the industry. On behalf of Pearl Street Films, Matt Damon, @BenAffleck, (Pearl Street executives) Jennifer Todd, Drew Vinton & I will be adopting the #InclusionRider for all of our projects moving forward."
Fanshen, an actor, producer, and educator, also serves on the board of The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the think tank founded by University of Southern California professor Dr. Stacy L. Smith, who first proposed the concept of the inclusion rider.
The move comes after Matt apologised for comments which appeared to downplay the seriousness of the sexual misconduct allegations which have rocked Hollywood. Ben also apologised after he was accused of touching a female presenter's breast during a 2003 TV interview.
Michael, 30, was the first major star to formally announce he planned to heed Frances' call to support inclusion riders.
"In support of the women & men who are leading this fight, I will be adopting the Inclusion Rider for all projects produced by my company Outlier Society," he wrote on Instagram. "I've been privileged to work with powerful woman & persons of colour throughout my career & it's Outlier's mission to continue to create for talented individuals going forward."
