Trade Your Sheep For Cameras: "Settlers of Catan" Film Rights Sold

An article on VentureBeat suggests that the German board game classic The Settlers of Catan has been optioned for the silver screen by producer Gail Katz, who was introduced to the game by her obsessed college-aged children.

Settlers is easily one of the most popular and well-known board games, able to support several players and with straightforward rules that can lead to diabolical, contentious negotiations -- the best breaker of friendships since your group's last round of Munchkin.

With several expansions, variations, and even a Star Trek Catan board game, Settlers has been a strong presence in the board game community for many years -- and now, apparently, among the Silicon Valley elite, as well.

The article quotes Zynga cofounder Mark Pingus as saying "none of us have time to play 18 holes of golf, but we can handle a pizza and a board game."  Settlers has been popular in the Silicon Valley networking community for a decade, serving as a more palatable method of gaming and interaction for the tech elite that started in the same college gaming communities as so many other Settlers fans.

The appeal of Settlers runs deep, and fans of the game have strong opinions about their enjoyment (and about wheat); what Katz might develop as a concept for a film version of Settlers is anyone's guess, but any entry from geek fandom into the mainstream media market is potentially a welcome one.  Besides, it never hurts to have more people to recruit for a game night.

Whether the concept resembles Game of Thrones or not, the way has been paved by the well-received (and eerily accurate) The Lord of Catan for a movie that truly evokes the nature of the game itself -- we'll see what the future might hold for a film version of The Settlers of Catan.

I'm still holding out for a film in which Tim Cook and Elon Musk nearly come to blows over negotiating a trade of sheep for bricks, and don't tell me you aren't, too.

SELMA's brilliance shines a light on diversity - a light we all need to see.

Selma movie poster

Sunday's 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards were illuminating. For me, primarily because much has changed in the realm of equality, and it was apparent that even with the approximate 80% white attendance and nominations at the show, we are now continuing to see a steady stream of minority representation in the Hollywood & entertainment realms. That steady representation's message is one of continual improvement and change, which was the message behind the nominees. Specifically, that of the movie Selma. Last week I went with some very close friends to see a special pre-screening of Selma. The film took the post 1964 Civil Rights Act which desegregated the south and allowed blacks to vote, events in Selma, Alabama and made it into a gorgeous screenplay told in a docudrama format. Selma, was nothing short of perfectly cast by Aisha Coley, and brilliantly directed by Ava DuVernay. It is unmistakably Oscar worthy.