James Franco agrees to pay over $2 million to settle lawsuit alleging he pushed students to perform explicit sex scenes at his acting school

• James Franco has agreed to pay $2,235,000 to settle a lawsuit brought against him.
• The lawsuit was filed by former students of his now-shuttered acting school Studio 4.
• It alleged Franco and his associates pushed students to perform explicit sex scenes on camera.

Actor James Franco has agreed to pay $2,235,000 to settle a lawsuit in which he and his associates were accused of pushing students at his now-shuttered acting school Studio 4 to perform explicit sex scenes on camera.

The settlement was revealed in a court filing in Los Angeles Superior Court, and a judge still has to approve it, Deadline reported.

Two former students at Franco's school, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, led the lawsuit.

According to the filing, Franco and the other defendants, his business partners Jay Davis and Vince Jolivette, "deny any violations" despite the joint approval by both parties for the settlement being approved.

"Although Defendants contend they are not liable for any of the claims alleged, they have agreed to settle in the manner and upon the terms of the proposed Settlement Agreement," the filing states.

In a lawsuit filed in 2019, Tither-Kaplan and Gaal alleged that Franco and his business partners "engaged in widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behavior towards female students by sexualizing their power as a teacher and an employer by dangling the opportunity for roles in their projects."

This behavior, the suit continues, "led to an environment of harassment and sexual exploitation both in and out of the class."

Tuition was $300 a month, but there were additional master classes offered that could cost up to $2,000. One of those master classes was on sex scenes and cost $740.

According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by The New York Times, students had to audition for the course by recording a video which was then sent to Franco to review. In doing so, they also said that they had to give up their rights to these recordings.

The draw, according to the lawsuit, was that students would be allowed exclusive rights to audition for roles in Franco's indie films, but it later turned out that the roles were open to other actors.

At the time of the Tither-Kaplan and Gaal lawsuit, Franco was already dealing with allegations of inappropriate behavior.

In January 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that five women had accused Franco of "inappropriate or sexually exploitative" behavior. Franco denied the allegations.

Since the accusations were made public, the Oscar-nominated actor has found blowback in Hollywood. Franco lost the opportunity to direct the recent release, "Zola," based on the viral 148-thread tweet by Aziah "Zola" King about a stripping trip she took with a new friend to Florida.

Franco's longtime friend and frequent collaborator Seth Rogen told The Sunday Times in May that he has no plans to work with Franco in the future.

"I can say it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic," Rogen said.