James Franco to Teach Class at NYU

NEW YORK – James Franco will start teaching a third-year graduate class on directing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, the New York Post reported.

A maximum of 12 students will be able to register for the course on adapting poetry into short films, it said.
The 32-year-old actor and director is expecting his own MFA in film production from the school in May.

“He’s here to teach because he really knows something about directing that he can share with our students,” John Tintori, chair of the graduate film program at Tisch, told the Post. “He’s incredibly prolific, and that comes from a real work ethic - and that’s another thing to impart to our students.”

Among those who have previously taught Tisch courses are Winter’s Bone director Debra Granik and Zoolander co-screenwriter John Hamburg, according to the Post.

Franco also recently teamed up with Columbia College Hollywood to offer a 12-student editing class, in which students will create a half-hour documentary using footage from his film career. “Master Class: Editing James Franco...With James Franco” will be taught by Franco’s editor Tyler Danna.