{"id":639420,"date":"2026-10-07T19:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T19:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/639420\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T19:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T19:50:09","slug":"ben-affleck-and-matt-damon-launch-artists-equity-independent-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/639420\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Launch Artists Equity Independent Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBen Affleck<\/a> and Matt Damon<\/a>\u2019s Artists Equity<\/a> has launched Artists Equity Independent Pictures, a new banner dedicated to platforming emerging filmmakers in the indie space, Variety can exclusively reveal.<\/p>\n

\n\tJennifer Westin, SVP, creative affairs and production, will lead day-to-day supervision of the AEIP slate under the guidance of Amy Baer, Artists Equity\u2019s president of film and television.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe owe much of our careers to independent cinema, so we\u2019re keenly aware of its enormous role in discovering and refining talent,\u201d said Affleck and Damon, Artists Equity\u2019s CEO and chief content officer, respectively. \u201cArtists Equity Independent Pictures is a way for us to empower rising voices with real potential, broaden the type of stories we\u2019re telling and serve an audience that continues to express a growing desire for high-quality independent films.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBacked by an independent theatrical film fund, AEIP\u2019s early projects include \u201cA Woman in the Sun,\u201d the directorial debut of \u201cNyad\u201d screenwriter Julia Cox. Cast members for the family drama include Ren\u00e9e Zellweger, Sissy Spacek and Mia Threapleton. Another project on the AEIP slate is \u201cDownriver\u201d from director Sam Jones and screenwriter Carl Hiaasen. AEIP is producing alongside Seth Caplan, Dori Rath, Hungry Bull Productions\u2019 Joseph Restaino and Groundswell Productions\u2019 Michael London. Executive producers are William P. Foley II, Douglas K. Ammerman, Castille Landon, William Crawford Shippey and Tony Stopperan for Hungry Bull Productions.<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside of the Independent Pictures initiative, Artists Equity has the thriller \u201cAnimals,\u201d starring and directed by Affleck, hitting Netflix Oct. 9. Affleck also co-wrote the script with Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray. Other cast members include Steven Yeun, Kerry Washington and Gillian Anderson. Also coming soon from Artists Equity is \u201cFree Byrd,\u201d starring Dwayne Johnson<\/a> as a Las Vegas motorcycle stuntman who conceals his dementia diagnosis while preparing for one final jump. \u201cSing Sing\u201d filmmaker Greg Kwedar serves as director.<\/p>\n

\n\tAffleck, Damon and Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital launched Artists Equity in 2022. The banner\u2019s first film was the 2023 sports drama \u201cAir,\u201d directed by Affleck, who starred alongside Damon, Jason Bateman and Viola Davis. Other Artists Equity projects include \u201cSmall Things Like These,\u201d \u201cThe Rip,\u201d \u201cThe Accountant 2,\u201d \u201cThe Instigators\u201d and \u201cUnstoppable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Affleck and Matt Damon\u2019s Artists Equity has launched Artists Equity Independent Pictures, a new banner dedicated to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[88538,8128,458,146,85,46,71561],"class_list":["post-639420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-artists-equity","tag-ben-affleck","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-matt-damon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}