James Franco will be teaching filmmaking to high school students. According to Palo Alto Online, the 37-year-old "127 Hours" actor will be giving free film classes beginning September 13.
"I Will teach a high school film class at Paly High," Franco wrote on his Instagram announcement on Sunday. "The class I would have wanted when I was in high school."
A photo posted by James Franco (@jamesfrancotv) on Sep 6, 2015 at 4:04pm PDT
The Palo Alto native will be teaming up with his former journalism teacher, Esther Wojcicki in an eight-part workshop open to all local students from 9th to 12th grade. 24 lucky students will then be grouped into three's to work on different "episodes" using the film script Franco wrote himself. The film class will meet in a 5-hour session once a month although groups will be required to meet in between.
As Wojcicki will be donating her time for free, Franco, whose net worth is $20 million, is reportedly covering all the class expenses and has asked his brothers Dave and Tom, as well as mom Betsy to participate.
"He's really passionate about project-based learning, authentic learning," Wojcicki said of her former student - who was also a teacher in New York University and the University of California in Los Angeles. "I think that that's his motivation -- he wants to show (that) it can actually be done, to other schools around the county (that) people don't have to wait around for new legislation or more classroom buildings or whatever. It can be done now."
"He really is very interested in education," she added. "He's a very multitalented Renaissance guy."
To join the class, students must submit a 200-word essay on why they want to join the workshop and what they would bring to class, along with a minute-long video shot on their smart phones introducing themselves. According to Wojcicki, Franco and his assistant will be joining her in reviewing the applications open for submission until Thursday, September 10, at midnight.
