Assignment: Screenplay Adaptation from Kafka Short Story

Rani Deighe Crowe, Ball State University

This lesson is especially created for the screenwriting process, but may be adapted for production. The lesson can be done in class or any combination of in class, online, or take home assignment/lecture.

In the lesson, the class reads the short short story, “Passers-by” by Franz Kafka. After determining its meaning and essence, the students write a 1-3 page screenplay of the film. They then share some of their results and compare strategies. The class then watches six short film versions diverse in style, narrative strategies, and cultural origin (all 2-4 minutes). Versions include an American interpretation, an animated Israeli adaptation, a Korean interpretation, an Australian interpretation with indigenous actors, and a German interpretation. Considering the specificity of character, setting, and cultural context, students then revise their adaptations.

The lesson includes viewing multiculturally diverse short film interpretations of the same story. Through watching different interpretations, the exercise asks students to consider how different world and cultural settings and character specificity contribute to the film’s meaning and support and translate the original story and theme. The students are asked to consider if there are underrepresented characters who would contribute to the film’s meaning. The students then rewrite the assignment with these considerations in mind.

Links to the Kafka story and short films are included in the assignment sheet.

Assignment sheet:

Keywords: adaptation, analysis, multicultural, representation, screenwriting, short film