28 Years After ‘Good Will Hunting,’ Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Are Back for Something Bigger

Published Oct 8, 2026, 3:45 PM EDT

Tania Hussain is an Executive Editor at Collider responsible for creative, editorial, and managerial duties. In addition to leading content ideation and development, she works to generate innovative and compelling ideas for feature articles and reviews with her editorial team across Features, Lists, Reviews, and Interviews. She also serves as the primary editor overseeing Collider’s Signature Series profiles, spotlighting some of the most influential voices in film and television. Tania has helped cover and ideate content for major events for Collider, including the Toronto International Film Festival. She has also conducted more than 100 interviews since her start in the business more than 15 years ago. Some favorites include Joel McHale, Charlie Cox, Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey, Kate Winslet, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Richter, Jordan Schlansky, Jamie Dornan, Yeardley Smith, Rafe Spall, Esther Smith, and a reasonable toss-up between Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog. She has covered set visits, in-person junkets, and red carpets for several films and TV shows, including most recently, The Sheep Detectives, Masterchef, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

As one of the best films of the 20th century, Good Will Hunting has a way of sticking with its audience long after Will drives out of Boston. There’s Robin Williams’ warmth, the easy connection between old friends, and a young man who is able to solve almost everything except how to figure out what he wants from his own life. Beneath that sharp, affecting dialogue is also a pretty generous idea: being talented and being given a chance are two different things. Sometimes, someone else has to help close that gap.

Thankfully, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon understand that distinction with a lot of humility. The film they wrote and starred in became their breakthrough project in the late ’90s, earning them the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1998. And now, almost three decades later, their latest venture brings that part of their history into focus. Through Artists Equity, the company the pair founded with Gerry Cardinale in 2022, the real-life best friends and collaborators are creating a dedicated home for emerging filmmakers.

As first reported by Variety, Artists Equity Independent Pictures will support new voices in independent cinema, backed by an independent theatrical film fund. Jennifer Westin, the company’s senior vice president of creative affairs and production, will oversee its slate under Amy Baer, president of film and television.

While it’s definitely another layer to the company’s growth, it also speaks to something more personal: what two filmmakers choose to do with the influence they’ve earned. Affleck and Damon have the experience of seeing their own screenplay become a film that changed their careers and now want to help other filmmakers get their work onto the screen.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Are Giving New Filmmakers a Place to Start

“We owe much of our careers to independent cinema, so we’re keenly aware of its enormous role in discovering and refining talent,” Affleck and Damon said in a joint statement. “Artists Equity Independent Pictures is a way for us to empower rising voices with real potential, broaden the type of stories we’re telling and serve an audience that continues to express a growing desire for high-quality independent films.”

For Affleck, that ambition goes beyond putting two familiar names on another movie poster. In a separate interview with Variety, he explains why he had been reluctant to talk publicly about the company. “I’ve been a bit reluctant to talk about [Artists Equity] because I don’t want the perception of what we’re doing to be limited to me and Matt. We’re consciously trying to achieve something bigger.”

That gives their commitment to independent filmmaking a more personal purpose. After years of working independently and together, the two know what an opportunity can mean early in a career, and Affleck seems to appreciate being on the other side of that decision now. As he put it later in the conversation, “To be able to say yes to financing movies of a certain scale is a gift.”

One of the banner’s early projects gives their ambitions a clear starting point. A Woman in the Sun marks the directorial debut of Julia Cox, the screenwriter behind the award-nominated Nyad. Renée Zellweger, Sissy Spacek, and Mia Threapleton will star in the film, which follows a Nantucket bartender whose mother becomes ill and whose daughter returns home. While Cox already has experience writing for the screen, directing is a whole other beast. Having established actors on board gives her experienced collaborators as she takes that next step.

Another early project is Downriver, by director Sam Jones and screenwriter Carl Hiaasen. Both films will help establish what this new banner looks like in practice, beyond the considerable pull of its founders’ names. But these efforts are part of a broader goal within Artists Equity, allowing those who make films to share a bigger portion of that success.

In his Variety interview, Affleck explains how the company strives to compensate writers, directors, actors, and producers as if they were investors in a film too. Artists Equity has also negotiated performance-based bonuses with Netflix for entire crews. “I can’t change the world, but I can change the nature of commerce or the way we work and operate. If you want more control as an artist, you’ve got to be willing to take more responsibility,” he said.

With Hollywood so often turning to sequels and familiar franchises, there’s plenty of room for new, original stories. By helping more filmmakers get theirs made, Affleck and Damon are giving audiences something new to discover — and hopefully love for years to come.

For more information about Artists Equity and its upcoming projects, visit ArtistsEquity.com.