Hollywood star James Franco has agreed to a settlement of $2.2 million in a class-action lawsuit that was brought against the Oscar-nominated actor claiming that he forced former students of his Studio 4 Film School to take part in explicit sex scenes while being recorded. The Hollywood Reporter revealed the news of the settlement following the publication of court documents, which detailed the settlement being prepared to go before a judge for approval. The news of the settlement comes within a year of Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, former students at Franco's school, lodging a complaint suggesting that his students were victims of fraud.

In January 2018, Tither-Kaplan was one of five women who told their story to the Los Angeles Times, detailing claims that The Deuce star had been sexually exploitative and inappropriate towards them while on set. All of the claims made were refuted by Franco on numerous occasions. Even before the #MeToo movement gave more women the strength to speak out against issues faced in the industry, Franco had been the subject of scrutiny on more than one occasion. He walked a line in 2014 when asking a 17 year old girl on Instagram for her hotel details and whether he should rent a room for them.

The messages had continued even after he learned the age of the girl, who he first met outside a theater in New York. When the messages were made public, Franco brushed off the controversy saying, "I'm embarrassed, and I guess I'm just a model of how social media is tricky." Since that time, frequent collaborator Seth Rogen says he won't work with James Franco.

The settlement detailed by the Hollywood Reporter sees Tither-Kaplan being paid $670,500 and Gaal taking $223,500, less legal fees of around $300,000 between them. An additional $1.341million will be shared between other students, less fees of just over $800,000. It is stated that any of the money that remains unclaimed will be then donated to the National Women's Law Center. The documents state that Franco has agreed to "non-economic" terms for the separate plaintiffs, but the specific details relating to this is currently not available to the public. As well as Franco, his production company, Rabbit Bandini and his partners Jay Davis and Vince Jolivette are named as defendants in the case.

A statement has also been agreed to by all parties, which forms part of the settlement terms, and reads, "While Defendants continue to deny the allegations in the Complaint, they acknowledge that Plaintiffs have raised important issues; and all parties strongly believe that now is a critical time to focus on addressing the mistreatment of women in Hollywood. All agree on the need to make sure that no one in the entertainment industry - regardless of race, religion, disability, ethnicity, background, gender or sexual orientation - faces discrimination, harassment or prejudice of any kind."

While it is unlikely that there will be any further action brought against Franco or his partners following the settlement, it is a case that raises just as many questions as answers for the 127 Hours actor. While there is no admission of wrongdoing lodged, the statement agreed and the settlement itself suggests that there were issues faced by the students of Studio 4 Film School in some capacity and they will at least feel some sense of a kind of justice being done for them and others from the school who will benefit from it. This news originated at The Hollywood Reporter.