Matt Damon and Ben Affleck thought they had struck lifelong wealth when they sold the script for Good Will Hunting in 1997, only to learn a blunt lesson about taxes and Hollywood accounting.
At a Glance
- Damon and Affleck earned $600,000 for the Oscar-winning screenplay
- After taxes and fees, each cleared roughly $110,000
- The pair burned through the cash in six months
- Why it matters: A candid look at how sudden fame and money can vanish faster than expected
The longtime friends shared the eye-opening details during a January 12 interview on The Howard Stern Show. When Stern asked whether they had “blown through” the sale price, Affleck joked, “Well it turns out, Howard, you have to pay these things called taxes.”
Damon chimed in with the same incredulity they felt decades earlier: “It was a big wake-up call. We were like, ‘We understand this guy gets half, but who else gets half? What’s happening?'”
Affleck likened the rapid depletion of funds to “having an ex-wife right away – you just divide, divide, divide.” The quip, he noted, was not meant to reference any real relationship.
A $600,000 Check Becomes $110,000
The duo, who met growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had previously revealed on The Drew Barrymore Show that they kept a joint bank account in the late 1990s. Once studio payments, agent commissions, and federal taxes were settled, only about $220,000 remained. Split evenly, that left each actor roughly $110,000.
Affleck recalled his initial excitement: “I was like ‘We are now rich for life. My needs are over. I will never have to work again. I’m rich. Forever.'”
Their newfound “fortune” evaporated quickly:
- Each bought a Jeep Cherokee for about $55,000
- They rented a party house on Glencoe Way near the Hollywood Bowl for $5,000 a month
- Within six months the money was gone
Oscar Gold, Wallet Empty
Despite the financial squeeze, the gamble paid off creatively. Good Will Hunting won Ben Affleck and Matt Damon the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and catapulted both into A-list status.
Since that whirlwind year, the pair have built durable Hollywood careers. Damon, now 55, and Affleck, 53, recently reunited to promote their upcoming crime thriller The Rip.
In a January 8 Netflix promo video, they reflected on their friendship:
“I think we’re lucky, actually, to not have a friendship that’s really rooted in rivalry,” Affleck said. “There’s friendships that I see or relationships that are so much driven by like, yes, it’s part of the friendship, but it’s also one-upmanship or rivalry. … Having a friend and some solidarity makes it a much more kind of bearable thing.”
The candid money story underscores how even headline-making paychecks can shrink once the IRS and agents take their cuts-an industry reality many newcomers still learn the hard way.
Key Takeaways
- A $600,000 script sale translated into about $110,000 each after taxes and fees
- Lavish spending and high rent drained their accounts in half a year
- The experience became a financial wake-up call that shaped their future money habits
- Their enduring friendship and joint success continue with new projects like The Rip
