Ben Affleck has been an outspoken liberal for years.
He has campaigned on behalf of several Democrat politicians.
But Ben Affleck just issued a stunning admission about this Hollywood secret that will leave you in stunned silence.
Ben and Matt start a company
Hollywood superstars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have been friends for years.
They co-wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting, which took their careers to another level.
And they recently launched a production company together called Artists Equity.
The idea behind the venture was to give artists more ownership, both creatively and financially, on film and television projects.
The film industry has become infamous for “Hollywood accounting,” the practice of every movie losing money so studios and production companies don’t have to pay out net profits.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film in the series, famously “lost” money for Warner Bros. because of supposed overhead costs and other expenses.
Of course, Harry Potter 5 was a massive moneymaker, but the accountants found ways to say it lost $167 million despite raking in just under $1 billion at the box office.
That’s why actors and directors as a rule negotiate percentages of the gross profits, not the net.
Affleck and Damon explained their thought process behind the company with Deadline.
Fear of “cancelation”
During the interview, Affleck said that actors live with financial insecurity on a project-to-project basis.
And he mentioned that one reason people’s careers could abruptly end was because they could get “canceled” for saying the wrong thing.
Affleck said, “I don’t know when this might go away. I’m one errant remark away from being canceled, or I’m one movie bomb away from never working again, and I’ve got a family and so forth. Naturally, people seek to do what’s in their best interest. . .And so that’s part of what you have to account for. It’s trying to straddle that divide and say, look, we’re going to tell you upfront, you have to invest something into the movie.”
It’s surprising to see Affleck admit that cancel culture does indeed exist after the Left tried to deny it for years.
Cancel culture got really bad in the Donald Trump era.
Perhaps Trump’s resounding victory in the 2024 Presidential election could change that.
As for the economics of the business, Affleck further explained, “[O]ne of the problems with the way deals have evolved in Hollywood is that I think intentionally or not, people have been taught that the participation [profit sharing] in projects isn’t real. We’ve gotten into this game of, okay, sure, well, it’s not gross, it’s net participation, and then these costs are going to build against it and it’s going to come after these fees. There’s this dance of, well, you’ll audit us, we’ll give a little, you’ll audit us again. And that has become this enshrined ritual in Hollywood. It may have been appropriate for a different economic climate in the movie business, but we don’t feel it’s appropriate when you’re asking people to commit their time and effort and artistry in the way that these filmmakers have committed theirs.”
Is Affleck signaling that he’s sick of the “woke” cancel mob?
Stay tuned to Unmuzzled News for any updates to this ongoing story.
