FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ (CBS5) -
James Fox, who co-stars in the National Geographic Channel's Chasing UFOs, is a filmmaker who has made two documentaries about UFOs - including Out of the Blue and I Know What I Saw.
"People say to me, 'Aren't you the guy that does the UFO stuff?'" he said. "And I say yeah. (They say), 'Why do you do that?' I say, well if Earth were being visited, would you like to know about it? They're like, 'Damn right I would.' Well, I'm convinced it's happening."
Fox's beliefs about intelligent life outside of Earth are shared by many of the 2,500 people expected to attend this week's 22nd Annual UFO Congress, Convention and Film Festival at Fort McDowell Resort & Casino.
"It just like gave me goose bumps," Michelle Jonas said about seeing the infamous Phoenix Lights which appeared over the Valley in March 1997. "We had to pull over off the side of the road and just take a second look, because it was not like anything we'd ever seen out here at all."
Fox hopes someone with evidence of alien contact in that event, or any other, is willing to share it for use in a documentary he's working on called The 701.
He said 701 is in reference to the number of UFO sightings, out of 12,618, the Air Force wasn't able to explain in its two-decade study Project Blue Book, which ended in 1969.
Fox is offering $100,000 for authentic video or photographs that can help prove alien existence.
"If I had a million dollars to put up, I'd put a million dollars up, because I'm convinced it's (evidence) out there," he said. "It's just we need to provide enough of an incentive for people to come forward."
Fox said he'll assemble a team of experts to weed out fakes.
"Obviously, one's going to say, 'Well, what's the definitive proof?'" he said. "We can't base the existence or non-existence on just a piece of video footage. But, that coupled with eyewitness testimony in an event, say the Phoenix Lights case, would be a very strong case."
But even believers CBS 5 spoke with said it'll be hard to prove the existence of extra-terrestrial life.
"It's just like God," said Scott Corder, who attended the UFO conference on Thursday. "You got proof of God? The same thing with UFOs. You got proof of UFO's? No. Same thing. It's not going to be proven until ‘they' allow it."
If you'd like to submit UFO video or photographs, visit The 701 website.
Copyright 2013 CBS 5 (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved.
Filmmaker James Fox. (CBS 5 News)
