Ben and Matt make good

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunited for a Netflix movie called The Rip. It’s pretty good! Just a solid action flick, the kind of movie that used to make a reliable $100 million in theaters but now goes straight to Netflix. I bring up The Rip because it was made through Affleck and Damon’s Artists Equity production banner, which seeks to create more, er, equity amongst filmmakers, cast and crew alike. Their philosophy is simple—when a movie succeeds, everyone wins. A rising tide lifts all boats. Lainey wrote about it here, especially as it relates to Netflix, which notably does not have box office to share from.

But it seems like Affleck and Damon’s profit-sharing deal will still net everyone involved with The Rip some kind of bonus, since the movie has done well on Netflix. It will be a multi-tiered, one-time payout, but it’s better than nothing. The money will probably be a drop in the bucket for the likes of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, but to the day job actors, the below-the-line workers who do not get rich making movies, such a bonus can make a real difference. I wish more studios, distributors, and streamers were willing to do performance-based bonuses like this, just make it a transparent part of the industry’s pay scale, not some mysterious contractual data point NDA’d to death, and one that is usually only available to A-listers.

Good for Ben and Matt, though, for real, for using their clout to create these equitable opportunities for the people they work with. Other A-listers could take note. I also wonder if anyone else will try to get Netflix to make one of these bonus deals, or if they’ll just never work with Artists Equity again. Time will tell.

Here’s Ben Affleck enjoying some Mickey D’s last night. How long before McDonald’s has him making commercials for them?

What else happened today…

The winter Olympics and Paralympics start in a couple weeks, which means it’s time for athletes to talk about wellness. Here’s Paralympian Brenna Huckaby talking about mindfulness and staying grounded amidst the craziness of the Games. (Popsugar)

Raye is on the cover of Elle and it’s good, as is the profile. (Go Fug Yourself)

 Alana Hadid has entered the Beckham-Peltz chat. (Celebitchy)

Jason Mantzoukas is profiled in The New York Times. His is an interesting perspective on fame and success in entertainment, because he didn’t get famous until his forties. I love Jason Mantzoukas, he’s reliably hilarious in everything he does, and a better actor than he gives himself credit for (check out The Long Dumb Road). But I also love him for this perspective, he never takes his success too seriously, because it came so late. He seems genuinely gratified by the opportunities he’s getting, but also incapable of turning into a fame monster. You know that thing about people getting “stuck” at whatever age they got famous? Well, Zooks got famous as a forty-something, so he’s “stuck” as…a well-adjusted adult. (NYT)