Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's company signs up to use inclusion riders

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have worked together for more than 20 years

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's film company is to use "inclusion riders" in its contracts as part of a drive to improve diversity on and off screen.

Frances McDormand used her Oscars best actress acceptance speech to call on Hollywood to use the clauses.

Inclusion riders specify that women and people of minorities must be properly represented in the cast and crew.

Damon and Affleck's Pearl Street Films has produced features like Jason Bourne and Manchester By The Sea.

• What on earth is an inclusion rider?

Their news comes after Black Panther Michael B Jordan announced that he would add an inclusion rider on all movies made by his Outlier Society production company.

Actor and producer Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, who is head of strategic outreach for Pearl Street Films, praised Jordan on Twitter.

She added: "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."

Media researcher Stacy Smith invented the term "inclusion rider" during a talk in which she came up with ways to show more women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities on screen.

According to the University of Southern California, where Dr Smith is an associate professor, the concept of an inclusion rider is: "A-list actors can incorporate a clause in their contracts that stipulates that inclusion, both on camera and behind the scenes for crew members, be reflected in films.

"The rider states that women, people of colour, people with disabilities, and members of LGBT and marginalised communities who are traditionally under-represented be depicted on screen in proportion to their representation in the population."

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