Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to support 'inclusion rider'

Damon and Affleck to support inclusion rider (Credit: PA)

Before the Oscars and Frances McDormand’s rousing Best Actress acceptance speech, few were familiar with the ‘inclusion rider’.

But now leading names in the movies are signing up.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have now said that any future movies made by their production company Pearl Street will be adopting the contractual agreement.

Collaborator and childhood friend of Damon and Affleck Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, who along with civil rights attorney Kalpana Kotagal and media researcher Stacy Smith coined the term, tweeted out the news.

“It’s great to see Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and the Pearl Street Films team using their influence to create opportunities for people from underrepresented groups to enter the industry. The Inclusion Rider is an important tool for Hollywood, and other industries, to create workplaces that truly reflect our diverse world,” added Kotagal.

The inclusion rider is a clause that can be added to any actor’s contract, which means that a compulsory 50 percent diversity is put in place in any given production they are involved in.

They join the likes of Michael B. Jordan, whose own company Outlier Society Productions, will also use the inclusion rider.

McDormand gave worldwide exposure to the phrase while picking up the gong for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.

“I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider,” she said.

It appears that Hollywood heard her loud and clear.

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