Ben Affleck, who has a new studio Artists Equity in partnership with Matt Damon says he is looking for movies that are both commercially and smart. “people remember 20 years later.”
His latest project, due to be released next year, fits that bill. Damon is the star of this story, which tells the real story behind the legendary Air Jordan brand. It will release in 2023, in collaboration with Mandalay Pictures and Skydance Sports. Artists Equity expects to release three projects in 2019, with the possibility of releasing five more per year.
“I see no difference between commercial and quality,” Affleck said during a wide ranging Q&A at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in NYC alongside Artists Equity’s investor partner Gerry Cardinale of Redbird Capital.
It takes time to achieve quality “If you ask Reed Hastings … I’m sure there’s some risk in that, and I’m sure they had a great strategy, but I would have said, ‘How are we going to make 50 great movies?! How is that possible? There’s no committee big enough. There aren’t enough — you just can’t do it. It’s a thing that requires attention and dedication and work and resists the assembly line process. Scott Stuber is a really talented, smart guy who I really like… but it’s an impossible job,” Affleck said, referring to the giant streamer’s founder and co-CEO and to its head of original films.
“There’s bigger audience for action movies than there is for small dramas – I get that. Certain genres play more broadly and you can’t not be mindful of that. But let’s do a good one, let’s surprise the audience, let’s make them care about it,” He concluded.
“The first wave of streaming was about volume,” Cardinale. “The second wave is about quality.”
The pair joined an eclectic roster at the daylong event set to feature execs from Hastings and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy along with video Q&As with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX.
Affleck, Damon and Cardinale, Redbird’s founder and managing partner, formally announced the launch of their artist-led studio earlier this month, planning to partner with filmmakers to empower creative vision and broaden access to profit participation through “entrepreneurial partnerships” Filmmakers
Michael Joe is the chief operating officer. He was previously COO at STX Films, and EVP at Universal Pictures.
Artists Equity, founded by the founders of Artists Equity, is an intellectual property platform for monetization. The core principles are: broadening profit participation; fostering IP monetization via creator partnerships; and using a data-driven distribution approach.