James Franco Needs $500K to Produce Films about Palo Alto

Palo Alto isn't just about technology companies—it's about the people who live there.

Actor and author James Franco wants to bring to the silver screen fictional stories based on his childhood in Palo Alto and he's started an online campaign to raise $500,000 from public contributions to produce three films. So far he's raised $156,555 and has 17 days left to get the rest.

He explains that despite his fame, it's still difficult to "find investors and distributors for my films."

"Unfortunately, things aren’t that easy. More times than not, I have put in my own money to produce my films and my student’s films," Franco said on the Indiegogo.com site. "However, this time it’s different; We need more funding, I will still fund part of it but I need of your help, filming three feature films back-to-back requires more funding than I can give."

And to Franco's credit, he plans to donate all of the profits from the films to the non-profit "The Art of Elysium," which encourages working actors, artists and musicians to volunteer their time and talent encourage children with serious medical conditions.

Like a Kickstarter campaign, contributors at different levels receive perks for their contributions. But unlike Kickstarter, Indiegogo does allow the solicitor—in this case Franco—to keep the funds raised at the end of the 30 days.

Franco will film scenes from Palo Alto this August, guess where? Around Palo Alto. Patch hopes to keep you updated. Stay tuned!