Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are adopting inclusion riders for their production company Pearl Street.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

The company is taking inspiration from Frances McDormand's Oscars speech by introducing the clause, which is aimed at promoting diversity among casting and crew memberships in all future deals.

Their colleague Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni announced the news on Twitter during the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Texas.

She tweeted: "@michaelb4jordan Thank you for always supporting broader representation in the industry. On behalf of Pearl Street Films, Matt Damon, @BenAffleck, Jennifer Todd, Drew Vinton & I will be adopting the #InclusionRider for all of our projects moving forward. (sic)"

Their company is following in the footsteps of 'Plack Panther' star Michael B. Jordan, who last week announced he is adding an inclusion rider to all projects produced through his company Outlier Society Productions.

He wrote on Instagram: "In support of the women & men who are leading this fight, I will be adopting the Inclusion Rider for all projects produced by my company Outlier Society. I've been privileged to work with powerful woman & persons of color throughout my career & it's Outlier's mission to continue to create for talented individuals going forward. (sic)"

The changes come after 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' star Frances McDormand used her acceptance speech for Best Actress at the Academy Awards to urge filmmakers to include the clause in future contract requests.

She asked for all the female nominees in the room at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles to stand, and then said: "Look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed.

"Don't talk to us about it at the parties tonight. Invite us into our office in a couple of days - or you can come to ours, whichever suits you best - and we'll tell you all about them...

"I have two words for you: Inclusion rider."

Both Affleck and Damon have been embroiled in the Harvey Weinstein scandal and #MeToo movement.

Weinstein produced the award-winning debut which made their careers, 'Good Will Hunting', and they worked with him on several other projects.

Rose McGowan claims in her autobiography 'Brave' that she told Affleck that Weinstein had raped her when they were working together in 1997.

In Weinstein's public denial of McGowan's allegations, he made public an email from Affleck which read: "She never told me nor did I ever infer that she was attacked by anyone. Any accounts to the contrary are false. I have no knowledge about anything Rose did or claimed to have done."

According to Deadline, Ben's email was sent last July, before the scandal broke.

After the scandal broke, Affleck said: "I knew he was sleazy and kind of a bully, but unfortunately that wasn't uncommon. I was brand new to Hollywood ... I was 24 years old. I never made a movie and didn't know much of anything really."

Meanwhile, Damon came under fire previously for seeming to suggest that there was a difference between sexual harassment and sexual misconduct.

He had said: "There's a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right?"

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