At the offices of Artists Equity, the full-service content company founded four years ago by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Batman is the doorman. As you step out of the red-carpeted elevator in a sleek West Hollywood high-rise, the superhero replica greets you with a menacing stare. Affleck played the Caped Crusader in four films between 2016 and 2023.
Across from Batman stands a mannequin dressed in the orange NASA costume worn by Damon in the 2015 hit “The Martian.” The display is an effective hype tool, like a version of Jennifer Hudson’s “spirit tunnel” but for bros, as one enters a space rarely open to press. Covering two floors with expansive views of the Hills, the office doubles as a museum for memorabilia that chronicles the adventures of Hollywood’s most consequential childhood besties. Outside Affleck’s office, there’s a credenza housing the Oscars he and Damon won for writing “Good Will Hunting,” the 1997 film that catapulted them to stardom. (Affleck has a second Oscar for producing best picture winner “Argo,” which he also starred in and directed.) Elsewhere, there’s proof that nearly 30 years later, they continue to enjoy the fruits of that early acclaim: A miniature version of a Trojan horse from Damon’s recent blockbuster “The Odyssey” and the Batcycle Affleck rode in the less beloved “The Flash” are also exhibited.
Affleck, at 54, wants to make clear that this whole enterprise isn’t just a Matt-and-Ben shrine. You go spend all this time on a movie, work so hard, and all you get is a little plastic DVD. I always wonder what happens to this stuff.
Most people put it in some warehouse in Simi Valley.” The movies commemorated throughout the office — in Affleck’s suite, there’s also the rubber nun mask he wore as a robber in “The Town” and a Tommy gun from “Live by Night” — have little in common besides Affleck and Damon’s talent. Yet they serve as reminders not merely of memories and hard work, but of a model Artists Equity hopes to reshape. After all, Affleck will soon add a memento from “Animals,” the forthcoming abduction thriller that he directed and stars in alongside Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun and Gillian Anderson.
It was not made in the legacy studio system, but through Artists Equity’s partnership with Netflix — a first-look deal to produce and distribute films for streaming. The arrangement has made Affleck and Damon’s humble shop the leading outside producer of the company’s original movies — including their onscreen reunion, “The Rip,” which hit the platform in January. (Netflix also acquired Affleck’s AI startup InterPositive in July for nearly $590 million in cash.) For all of Artists Equity’s bona fides, little is known about its inner workings. In 2022, well into the streaming revolution that turned show business economics upside down, Affleck and Damon formed AE with RedBird Capital kingpin Gerry Cardinale (an equity backer in David Ellison’s acquisition of both Paramount and Warner Bros.
Together, they’re the perfect person,” Cardinale said. The company’s promise is to give creatives greater access to profits, almost in real time. The company shares all streaming revenue with above the line talent — including screenwriters, directors, actors and producers — in addition to traditional fees.
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