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Writers never know if producers read the scripts they send, so when Matt Damon & Ben Affleck were trying to get GOOD WILL HUNTING made they found a way to tell who’d gotten to page 60.

Their gimmick was to put on page 60 an unrelated gay sex scene between two straight male characters. Although they sent it everywhere to be read, no one said a word about the from-out-of-nowhere scene — except for Miramax’s Harvey Weinstein who asked what the hell it was supposed to mean.

Since no one but Harvey brought it up, they decided Miramax should produce HUNTING, which became a huge hit. Directed by Gus Van Sant (DRUGSTORE COWBOY) from Damon & Affleck’s screenplay, it starred Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård & Minnie Driver. HUNTING, which premiered in L.A. Dec. 2, 1997, was made for just $10M and did $225.9M worldwide.

The picture’s roots go back to when Damon was at Harvard and was supposed to write a one-act play for a class he was taking. Instead, he wrote a 40 page movie script. He subsequently asked his pal, Affleck, to help him develop the screenplay, which they finished in 1994. It started out as a thriller set in the tough streets of South Boston about a young man, Will, with a soaring IQ, whom the government wants to recruit no matter what they have to do.

Things started out well when the indie production company Castle Rock Entertainment bought their screenplay for $675,000. Rob Reiner, who was heading Castle Rock, said to forget the thriller elements and make it a relationship story between Will and his therapist.

Development is rarely a fun time for filmmakers and that was the case for Damon & Affleck. Castle Rock ended up giving them 30 days to sell HUNTING to another studio so Castle Rock could recoup its costs. If not, Castle Rock would move forward — but without Damon & Affleck starring. The casting that the studios really wanted was Brad Pitt & Leonardo DiCaprio.

With no buyers lining up, Affleck sent their screenplay to director Kevin Smith (CLERKS), with whom he & Damon were working on CHASING AMY. Smith read it and said he’d bring it to Weinstein, who loved it and paid off Castle Rock. Weinstein wanted some script changes — including dropping that scene on page 60!

When Miramax started looking for a director, names like Mel Gibson and Michael Mann surfaced. Talks with Gibson went nowhere. Mann wanted Will to be a car thief and said Damon wasn’t well enough known to star. Miramax asked Mann to do screen tests with Damon & Affleck, after which he said he still didn’t want Damon. That was the end of Mann and  HUNTING.

Damon & Affleck decided to bring in Van Sant, whose DRUGSTORE COWBOY they had both liked. Weinstein was on board with Van Sant and suddenly HUNTING was out of development and into production.