{"id":547955,"date":"2026-03-20T01:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/547955\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T01:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:15:08","slug":"artists-equity-unveils-writers-room-in-house-development-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/547955\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists Equity Unveils Writers’ Room In-House Development Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tArtists Equity<\/a> is unveiling its Writers\u2019 Room program, an in-house development initiative focused on cultivating original screenplays. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe program invites writers to pitch film ideas across a range of genres, with rooms launched around selected ideas.\u00a0The scripts are then incubated with the goal and expectation of becoming viable packages in Artists Equity\u2019s slate, complete with concrete attachments and financing strategy. As part of the program, Academy Award-winning writers Ben Affleck<\/a>, Matt Damon<\/a> and Eric Roth<\/a> (\u201cForrest Gump,\u201d \u201cDune\u201d) deliver regular feedback to the participating writers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe backbone of this company is collaboration with great artists, and that\u2019s what this program is all about,\u201d said Affleck and Damon, the Artist Equity\u2019s CEO and Chief Content Officer, respectively. \u201cArtists Equity is committed to the often-overlooked process of homegrown development, and cultivating the bold, original ideas that sustain a thriving film business. We want to give writers real support and a real pathway to success. This isn\u2019t about writing scripts for scripts\u2019 sake. We want to bring great films to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Writers\u2019 Room program has had two successful pilot rounds \u2014 the room takes place twice a year, with submissions coming through agents \u2014 yielding a total of four scripts currently in packaging and four in progress. The newly commenced third round features eight writers across two rooms. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe participants, representing a mix of established and emerging voices, are Jason Stone (\u201cThe Altruists,\u201d \u201cThe Hardy Boys\u201d); Gabriel Sherman (\u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d The \u201cLoudest Voice\u201d); E.T. Feigenbaum (\u201cBlink Twice,\u201d \u201cHigh Fidelity\u201d); Flint Wainess (\u201cLinda and Monica,\u201d \u201cSuper in Love\u201d); Jono Matt (upcoming \u201cFoster The Snowman\u201d); Sam Mazany (\u201cTires\u201d); Agatha Helena Nowicki (\u201cKingdom Come,\u201d \u201cGorilla and the Bird\u201d); and Steven Robillard (\u201cSummer Qamp,\u201d upcoming \u201cThe Up & Up\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Writers\u2019 Room represents fundamentally what is so special about Ben and Matt\u2019s vision for Artists Equity,\u201d said Amy Baer, Artists Equity\u2019s president of film and television<\/a>. \u201cThis program offers writers a better script development dynamic, without the endless notes and shifting goalposts that have become all too familiar. The pilot program has been beyond promising, bearing enough fruit to make this an integral part and official cornerstone of our creative agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWriters are paid WGA scale during the program and go on to participate in Artists Equity\u2019s talent-first business model. Films emerging from the program will join the studio\u2019s portfolio.<\/p>\n

\n\tArtists Equity has a multi-year film deal with Sony Pictures for theatrical and recently launched a creative partnership with Netflix<\/a>. Founded in 2022 by Affleck, Damon and Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital, the company has produced successful scripted projects including \u201cThe Accountant 2,\u201d \u201cThe Instigators,\u201d \u201cUnstoppable\u201d and \u201cAir,\u201d as well as a slate of documentaries, plus advertising campaigns for Dunkin\u2019 (including four consecutive Super Bowl ads) and Stella Artois. The company\u2019s most recent film was the Netflix chart-topper \u201cThe Rip,\u201d starring Affleck, Damon, Steven Yeun and Teyana Taylor. Next up is the thriller \u201cAnimals,\u201d directed by Affleck, who stars alongside Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson and Yeun.<\/p>\n

\n\t[Pictured: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon; Eric Roth]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artists Equity is unveiling its Writers\u2019 Room program, an in-house development initiative focused on cultivating original screenplays. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[173285,4267,49,48,361,75,213304,26831],"class_list":["post-547955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-artists-equity","tag-ben-affleck","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-eric-roth","tag-matt-damon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}