Ben Affleck Says the GOOD WILL HUNTING Script Sold for $600,000 But They Were Broke in Six Months Despite Thinking They Were Set for Life

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were two young, struggling, up-and-coming actors when they wrote the script for Good Will Hunting. The 1997 film won the pair the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, as well as the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for their co-star, Robin Williams, and the film was nominated for seven more Academy Awards. It has gone on to stay a favorite of many film fans, and it marks the kick off of Affleck and Damon’s prolific careers, but it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing from that point on.

In a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show (via IndieWire), Affleck explained the trouble they were in after selling their script:

“When we sold ‘Good Will Hunting’ I thought we were now rich for life. My needs are over! I’ll never have to work again! I’m rich forever! We sold [the script] for $600,000. We split that, $300,000 each, and then the agents got $30,000, so we had $270,000. We paid about $160,000 in taxes so we had $110,000. We each bought $55,000 Jeep Cherokees and then had $55,000 left.”

He went on to add:

“Naturally we decided to rent a $5,000-a-month party house on Glencoe Way by the Hollywood Bowl and we were broke in six months.”

The pair have come a long way since then. While they were waiting for their big break, they were best friends who lived together on very little means, and had an unconventional way of getting each other through the hard times. They recently revealed on a March episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast that they shared a bank account as young actors before Good Will Hunting turned them into industry heavyweights.

“It was unusual, but we needed the money for auditions,” Damon said, calling it “a weird thing in retrospect.”

“We were going to help each other and be there for each other. It was like, ‘You’re not going to be alone. I’m not going to be alone. Let’s go out there and do this together.’”

Any time Affleck or Damon booked a role, the money from the gig would get deposited into the bank account. As Damon explained:

“As long as one of us had money we knew the power wasn’t going to get shut off. After doing [1992′s] ‘Geronimo’ I probably had 35 grand in the bank. I was like, ‘We’re good for a year.’”

Of course there were rules, but they were somewhat stretched. Damon went on:

“You were allowed to go to [auditions in] New York with the money. You were allowed to take out $10 and get quarters and go to [the arcade] and play video games. Eventually we were allowed to try to buy beer, which never fucking worked.”

Those days are long gone, but they helped to shape them, and make them grateful for where they are today. Affleck and Damon most recently starred together in Affleck’s Michael Jordan-Nike drama Air.