The true and tragic story of a very young and very talented comedian from the 70's whose sudden rise to fame had some of its benefits -- and some of its burdens.

In 2010 James Franco optioned the rights to Stephen Elliott’s memoir, The Adderall Diaries. In 2015 The Adderall Diaries starring James Franco and Ed Harris premiered at the TriBeca Film Festival. After Adderall is a surreal re-imagining about what happens when James Franco makes a movie about your life.

Algren will spotlight the hard-knock life and authentic creative legacy of one of the most underrated writers of the twentieth century, Nelson Algren. Algren's brutally honest portrayal of the American underclass and his hard-nosed lifestyle became his pathway to compassion. Through interviews with Algren contemporaries, experts, and "literary soulmates," as well as through the photography of Algren's friends, Art Shay and Stephen Deutch, the film will tell his story. It will celebrate his tremendous contribution to and influence on American letters, and push Algren, champion of the marginalized, out from the margins.