If you enjoyed James Franco's recent short story about definitely not having sex with someone called "Lindsay Lohan", you can learn the fine art of writing from the Palo Alto actor and sometime NYU and UCLA lecturer – all for the princely sum of $25.

Franco is launching an screenwriting course on Skillshare, an online teaching site. "Introduction to Screenwriting for Short Films" is a 90-minute, 15-lesson programme taught by Franco and Vince Jolivette, his former drama school buddy who co-founded Rabbit Bandini Productions with the actor. Over the course of the self-paced classes, Franco and Jolivette will teach aspiring screenwriters how to budget their films, pitch to investors, adapt written works and develop screenplay concepts. 

In a promo video for the class, the cover star of our December 2013 issue explains his reasons for turning online professor: "There's part of me that thinks of my younger self, who wasn't in those film programmes. I really get excited by the idea of being able to share our experiences and lessons – I think I'm as equipped as any, I've worked with some great people."

Students will adapt one of three texts — The Spoon River Anthology, Pastures of Heaven or Winesburg, Ohio — to produce an 8-minute screenplay. The best writer will be chosen by Franco and Jolivette to received individual feedback, which will probably not take the form of lying around in bed with Franco taking naked selfies (but you can always hope). 

So far, 277 people have signed up. You can still join the class on Slideshare.

Read our December 2013 cover interview with Franco here. For a taster of Professor Franco's work, watch his short film Dream below: