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The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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James Franco visits Paly seeking student insight

When many Paly students arrived to their English classes today, they received a surprise visit from actor and Paly graduate James Franco, best known for his roles in the “Spiderman” movies and the television series “Freaks and Geeks.”

Instead of observing the Paly atmosphere, Franco presented students with an opportunity to help with the novel he is writing as a thesis for his creative writing studies at UCLA. Franco invited students to submit stories or anecdotes based on any fictional or personal life experiences.

“I want to try to incorporate real students’ voices in the book, hopefully in raw form,” Franco said.

In the several presentations Franco made during English classes throughout the day, Franco informed students of the possibility of getting work published in his novel. Franco also requested that students limit their work to 14 pages or less, double spaced, and using 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font. The due date for submissions is December 18, Franco says.

Furthermore, Franco will begin working with about 15 journalism students from Paly’s newspaper publication, The Campanile, to focus on experiences of living in the Silicon Valley. Research will be conducted on many Silicon Valley companies based locally, including Apple, Google, and Hewlett Packard, Franco says.

“They [students of The Campanile] are doing journalistic work to help [create the background] atmosphere for the story,” Franco said. “I’m writing a novel, its fiction, but I want it to be set in a realistic context in a Palo Alto that people recognize.”

Franco says his novel will be set in the early 1990’s and 2007. In order to do so, Franco is also gathering information from unofficial Palo Alto historian Steve Staiger and the PAPD to capture major events in Silicon Valley history.

“I’m hoping to somehow connect Palo Alto to the Palo Alto of 10 years ago,” Franco said.

For now, Franco’s novel serves primarily as his thesis, as Franco is currently majoring in creative writing at UCLA. However, Franco says he will continue to pursue creative writing after completing his current novel.

“I find a lot of satisfaction in writing,” Franco said. “I love the process, [and] the people I interact with when I’m writing. I don’t think I’ll ever stop acting. It is just that my primary focus is now writing.”

Currently, Franco is also in the process of applying to a MFA (Master of Fine Arts) program, as well as the Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University.

Aside from his thesis work, Franco says he is working on several other media projects, one of which is a short film based on a short story called Red Leaves by William Faulkner. In January, Franco will be working with director Gus Van Sant and actor Sean Penn in a movie titled Milk in San Francisco. The movie will be based on the true story of gay-rights activist and politician Harvey Milk.

Franco’s most recent movie, “The Pineapple Express,” will be out in theaters August of 2008.

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