francophiles rejoice!

Apparently the the 10 other film projects* James Franco has been involved with this year have left him feeling unfulfilled, because now he is trying to make a series of films about a book of short stories he wrote called Palo Alto. But rather than get the project underway by spending some of his own personal fortune—which, thanks to all those movies he makes, is estimated to worth more than $20 million—James Franco would like you to foot the bill.

Well, not the whole bill. Just, you know, whatever you can pitch in.

Yes, James Franco is the latest Hollywood celebrity to turn to crowdfunding as a way to raise money to make a film that, in all likelihood, nobody wants to see. The plan is to have four "up-and-coming" filmmakers make three films based on the short stories in Palo Alto: Memoria, Killing Animals, and Yosemite. I don't know if two of the four filmmakers are going to have to fight each other to the death using broken pool cues, or whether two of them or going to have to collaborate, or what. But that's the deal. And apparently they will donate all of the proceeds, should there be any (there won't) to a charity that encourages actors and musicians to "donate their time and talent" to sick children.

Sound like a good idea? Then prove it. Go give James Franco your money.

*No, really, 10 films. They are As I Lay Dying, This Is the End, Kink, Oz: the Great and Powerful, Spring Breakers, Lovelace, The Garden of Last Days, Interior. Leather Bar., The Director, True Story, and Good People.