It’s time to add another production company to the inclusion rider group.
Last week, we talked about actor/producer Michael B. Jordan publicly announcing that his production company, Outlier Society, would be adopting the inclusion rider policy for all upcoming productions. This is after actress Frances McDormand made the term popular while giving her Oscar acceptance speech. Now, it looks like another high-profile production company is following Jordan’s lead.
According to a tweet by producer Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, Pearl Street Films will be adopting the inclusion rider policy, as well. “[Michael B. Jordan] Thank you for always supporting broader representation in the industry. On behalf of Pearl Street Films, Matt Damon, [Ben Affleck], Jennifer Todd, Drew Vinton & I will be adopting the #InclusionRider for all of our projects moving forward,” she tweeted yesterday.
As seen in the Tweet, Pearl Street Films is the production company founded by actors (and best buds) Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The company has produced such films as “Jason Bourne,” “Live by Night,” “Manchester by the Sea,” and a variety of other projects upcoming. And if the tweet is to be believed, and there’s no reason not to believe it, it looks like Pearl Street will be working to be more diverse in front of and behind the camera.
After the Oscars, we discussed the importance of the inclusion rider, and specifically McDormand’s speech. The basic idea is that the rider is a stipulation, put in a contract, that says that a production should have a certain level of diversity in the project’s cast and crew. While there’s no specific numbers or percentages publicly stated, the general hope is that this rider will help Hollywood become more inclusive of diverse creators and performers.
It looks like Outlier Society and Pearl Street Films are the first high-profile production companies to mandate the policy across the board. With names like Jordan, Affleck, and Damon publicly committing to this practice, we can fully expect others to follow suit.
https://twitter.com/fanshen/status/973374277792739328
