Hollywood’s most powerful stars, directors and writers have been increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with streaming-era paychecks, namely the refusal of entertainment companies to share the money generated from breakout hits, as was more common in decades past. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon announced on Sunday that they had decided to take action.

Instead of continuing to work for hire, they plan to start an independent production company, called Artists Equity and have obtained a minimum of $100 million in financing from the investment firm RedBird Capital Partners. Affleck and Damon have also committed an unknown amount of capital, and Affleck, whose hits as a filmmaker include Argo and The Town, has agreed to work exclusively for Artists Equity.

“This is the next act of my career for a long, long time,” Affleck said. Damon has committed to star in a set number of films (he wouldn’t say how many) and will produce exclusively for the company. The two hope to capitalise on a shift in the film and television business: Streaming services like Netflix are beginning to care more about the quality of content than sheer volume. To give an incentive to high-calibre actors and off-camera artisans to work for them, Affleck and Damon said they intended to give those people a cut of the profit. Lower upfront fees, potentially big payouts in success.

“As streamers have proliferated, they have really ended back-end participation, and so this is partly an effort to try to recapture some of that value and share it in a way that’s more equitable,” Affleck said in a phone interview.

“Not just writers and directors and stars. But also cinematographers, editors, costume designers and other crucial artists who, in my view, are very underpaid.” Affleck, 50, will be the chief executive, while Damon, 52, will be a chief creative officer. Over their 30-year entertainment careers, Affleck and Damon have worked on films that have generated $10.7 billion at the global box office. They have three Oscars between them.

“I know what kind of freedoms artists long for and how they can be empowered — treated like grownups,” Affleck said. Studios are famous for endless second-guessing, particularly in the development of film ideas, resulting in a plodding process that most creators despise. Damon said in a statement that Artists Equity would allow film and television creators to “take ownership of their creative power, providing a platform for both established and emerging filmmakers to streamline the development of their content”.

RedBird was founded in 2014 by Gerry Cardinale, a former Goldman Sachs executive who is known for building businesses. He was, for example, involved in the creation in 2001 of the YES regional sports network, which broadcasts New York Yankees games, with the Steinbrenner family. He described RedBird’s investment in Artists Equity as “a significant, nine-figure commitment, with the ability to scale over time.”

Cardinale added: “You can’t put your toe in the water. You have to commit.” RedBird’s portfolio is worth about $7.5 billion, according to a spokeswoman. Artists Equity harks back to the original United Artists, which was founded in 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith as a way to exert greater control over their creative and financial destinies. (United Artists has long since become a traditional film company and is now owned by Amazon.)

Artists Equity expects to have three projects released next year, with a goal of five per year, Affleck said. The first film, which does not yet have a title, was produced with Skydance Sports, Mandalay Pictures and Amazon Studios. It focuses on the sneaker salesman who convinced Michael Jordan to team with Nike in the 1980s, resulting in Air Jordans. Affleck directed it over the summer from a script he wrote with Damon and Alex Convery. Damon plays the salesman, Sonny Vaccaro. Affleck plays the Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

(New York Times News Service)