James Franco – who was reported to earn $7m from Oz: the Great & Powerful alone – has started an indiegogo campaign to procure half a million dollars to fund three films. He's raising money so that a collection of young filmmakers can adapt his 2011 short story collection, "Palo Alto."

"Because of who I am, people often believe that it is easy to find investors and distributors for my films," Franco wrote on the crowdsourcing platform. "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. 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."

Like Franco, Zach Braff has opted to get funding from the public and the Veronica Mars film also used this technique, but the aforementioned celebs have been ridiculed and criticised for using a form of funding usually utilised by those without the money to engage in creative projects themselves, especially considering how much these actors make per film.

"We just need a little more help," Franco added in an accompanying video. "I'm putting money into these projects because I believe in them and I believe in these filmmakers. These stories are very important to me and very personal."

To his credit, though, Franco has pledged to donate any profits from the films to Art of Elysium.

James FrancoFranco wearing a bad hat at Cannes

James Franco
Look at Franco's bad beard - it's bad, isn't it