Lights Camera Stirling

Stirling keeps turning up on screen, often when you least expect it. One day it’s a medieval stronghold or a gothic graveyard, the next it’s doubling for another city entirely and selling the illusion perfectly. We sit down with author and academic Tom Christie to unpack why filmmakers return to Stirling again and again, and what his new book Lights Camera Stirling reveals about the city’s hidden life as a film and TV location.
 
Tom takes us behind the scenes of independent publishing with Extremis Publishing, the arts and culture press he runs with his sister Julie. We talk about how a small publisher balances editing, design, marketing and events, and why helping writers find their voice matters just as much as selling books. From there we get into the heart of the project: Stirling’s heritage, landscapes and cultural organisations, and how all of that combines to create a place directors can shoot across genres, decades and styles.
 
Along the way we touch on 60 productions featured in the book, including titles like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Greyfriars Bobby, Good Omens and multiple versions of The 39 Steps. We also explore Stirling’s film education pedigree at Forth Valley College and the University of Stirling, plus the potential impact of the planned Stirling Studios on jobs, training and homegrown talent. If you care about Scottish filmmaking, film tourism, screen culture or the creative economy, this conversation is a smart, local lens on a fast-moving industry.
 
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Transcript

Meet Tom Christie And His Work

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hi, my name is Neil Monday, and I'm your host for the Sterling Business Podcast. The podcast is brought to you from Studio King Street here in the heart of Sterling. You can book our wonderful studio by going onto our website and making your booking that way, or sending uh an email to inquiries at studio kingstreet.com. Or you can simply pick up the phone and give Laura a call to make your uh make your booking. So, over to this week's episode of the Sterling Business Podcast. So, welcome back to Studio King Street, Tom. Thank you very much, Neil. It's a great pleasure to be here. The Canon and Ballwalk Podcasting Ride again. So uh this week on the Sterling Business Podcast, uh you're going to talk to us about your new book, uh Lights Camera Sterling. So um that's what we're here for uh today to talk about. So why before we do that though, why don't you just uh let the audience know a little bit about your background and uh tell them where you've come from?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Yeah, sure thing. Well uh my name is Tom Christie. Uh I'm uh academic and author, uh occasional um lecturer at Forth Valley College, where I teach on publishing practice. Um and in addition, um do lots of other things around about the area, including uh being secretary to the Board of Uh Trustees for Forthgiving, previous which is the The Sons of the Rock Society, um, their new trading name. So you're a busy man.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

So uh you're also part of an award-winning publishing team with your sister, I believe, uh Julie. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that and your business Extremist Publishing? Yes.

Running Extremis Publishing Day To Day

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Well, Extremist Publishing was founded eleven years ago um between my sister Julie and myself. Um it is an arts, media, and culture nonfiction independent book uh company. Um we publish uh a wide range of different titles uh with many different authors um and all sorts of different topics um and subject areas uh that can include travel writing, uh popular culture, um, society and history and all sorts of different uh areas. Um so it's it's always been an interesting subject to be in, but never more so than it is now. Um I think the publishing world is changing dramatically, and um I I think the people who are getting the most out of it are the ones who are kind of preempting where the changes are going to be. So it's it's been a fascinating challenge. So how do you operate that business day-to-day uh between yourself and Julie? Um well we both uh have a very different range of skills. And uh the the company came about because my background had been in writing and publishing. Um Julie had done lots of different work for many different organizations, both in the the uh private sector and the third sector in relation to marketing and uh publicity. Um so as a result, we we kind of split the responsibilities between us. Um I've taken more of uh uh uh a lead on things like the editing and uh the interior design of the books. Um Julie is more involved in the uh the marketing and in the sort of publicizing of various titles as they come out. Um and and both of us are involved in all sorts of different events as well, um sometimes with different authors, sometimes with books that we've written ourselves, um, and and sometimes just to try and raise awareness of publishing um and uh the creative arts generally. So how many authors do you think you've worked with over the years then? Aaron Ross Powell Well, lots of different ones actually. We've certainly got around twenty on the books now that we've worked with. Um and uh actually the the the beauty of it is the people that we've actually worked with on a number of different occasions uh who perhaps thought they only had one book in them, but in reality have had two or three. Um and and that's the really important thing we feel about publishing is that we know we want to encourage people, um, we want people to find their voice. Um and the age doesn't need to be uh in any way uh something that holds people back. Um sometimes the the authors that we have who are the most the more mature authors are the ones who have the most fascinating stories to tell and certainly the most life experience. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

So your passion for writing is very clear to those that know you, Tom. Uh you've written over twenty books over the years yourself. Um very diverse topics. Um you give the audience a little bit of a background and and and a bit of an insight in terms of some of those books before we specifically talk about your new book to tell us.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Well, um my background uh really is quite diverse because my first degree was in English literature. Um I then did a master's in British cinema history uh and then returned to literature to do a PhD in Scottish literature. Um so many of the books I've written have reflected that interest in popular culture. Um some of them have been about um topics such as retro gaming, uh digital humanities, um, interactive fiction, those kind of uh areas. Um but I mean they've also encompassed various different things like modern literature, uh in some cases television, sometimes music. Um but I would say predominantly modern cinema and looking at the stories that are told by cinema, what it can say about society and what it can say about really people the people who make the films as much as it can about the messages that those films hold. Um so really all different aspects of that which continue to fascinate me. Um they always say uh you know keep writing as long as you keep you know being fascinated by the subjects you write about. Uh and uh I'm I'm pleased to say that I'm every bit as galvanized now as I was when I started twenty years ago.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

And we did a podcast previously, uh written about the Christmas time actually to promote some of the uh some of the titles that you'd written about Christmas movies and uh and the like. So you're an all-year-round type type of guy.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah, absolutely. I mean uh Christmas films are an interesting one because uh I I wrote a four-volume series as we discussed in the previous podcast, um, that that took uh the the history of the Christmas film from the forties when the modern Christmas film was kind of uh first established, um, all the way up to the late nineties and all of the different kind of themes and uh sort of cultural impacts that those films have had. So, yeah, I mean that's been one particularly interesting area.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Great. Okay, so your new book, Lights Canberra Sterling. Uh what's this about and what was the genesis of writing it?

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Well, as it was a book I've really wanted to write for a while, and um uh because simply Stirling itself is such a fascinating place to live and work. And um, you know, the one of the good things about Stirling, and one of the things I I feel most proud about um as someone who lives here, is the fact that there is so much to be said about Stirling's heritage and its culture and its history. Um and you look around the town, you look at all these amazing different things that are going on, um, you look at um, for instance, the historic environments of Scotland and uh you know the obviously all of the history that they communicate um from the castle and various other sites. You look at uh the Stirling Heritage Alliance, who are working all the year round uh to make people aware of the history and culture of Stirling. And then you look at places like Maiden Stirling, which are showing you the modern aspects of of culture and sterling um with all those wonderful artisanal crafts that are there. So what I wanted to explore in this book with my my sister Julie, who's my co-director at Extremis, um, was what it is about Stirling that makes it such a special place for filmmakers? Um why over these decades has it continued to attract more and more filmmakers to the area? Um is it the history of the place? Is it the way that uh Stirling doubles for other locations? Um, you know, so for that point of view, it was a really fascinating book to research because there's just simply so much to say about it.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Brilliant. Okay, so Stirling has become a better recognized uh uh uh you know on a day-by-day basis when it comes to film and media. Uh obviously with the university they have uh some pretty significant programs and and courses around film media, same with Forth Valley College. Um and they've got a decent pedigree, I guess, in in that kind of whole uh whole whole industry sector. But we've also heard of uh um Stirling becoming the home of the largest uh Scotland's largest film studio. What do you make of that?

Film And TV Locations Featured

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Well, you're absolutely right to say that there's uh uh a fantastic pedigree in Stirling uh when it comes to film studies and also the practicalities of filmmaking. Uh I mean Forth Valley College's uh Stirling campus, for instance, uh has a whole raft of different courses involved in you know all of the many different aspects of filmmaking, um, from sound design through to the cinematography aspects of it. Um it's a it's a really fantastic uh range of courses that they have. Um and then you look at um Stilling University and their film and media department and the the huge variety of different subjects that they've dealt with over the years, you know, all these pioneering academics like Professor John Isaod and all of those major figures. Um, from that point of view, yes, I mean it's it's a terrific place to study film, it's a terrific place to make films, you know, to have that creative drive. Um but also, as you rightly mentioned, the Stirling Studios, I mean, this is a an enormous development for Stirling, um, one which is poised to create thousands of jobs over the coming years. Um and and it's just it's a fantastic opportunity for the whole area. Um, because whereas this book talks about all of the different cultural impact from films that have been made really from the forties onwards, um, although in actual fact you could go further back than that, you know, if you're looking at documentary filmmaking specifically, um, it just goes to show that the future is bright. I mean, there will be filmmakers now who are looking at all of those major landmarks, the castle, the Wallace Monument, uh the Tollbooth perhaps, you know, the Old Town Cemetery, all of those iconic landmarks. And they're going to be filled with inspiration for their own creative work. Um I mean this book is very much just a a a starting pistol, if you like, for some of the amazing new creative talent we're going to be seeing in the years and decades ahead. Aaron Ross Powell And how many films and TV programs do we uh reference in this book, Tom? Well, it's it you know, it was a tough one for this book because uh the the hardest question was what you leave out. Um there are so many different things in the area. So this book covers sixty of the most prominent TV TV and film productions. Um there are so many different things to talk about in so many different genres. Um and that was the amazing thing, the stories that were behind it, um, the the cultural impact of them. Um you see films like uh Monty Python, The Holy Grail, which people obviously remember very fondly from the 70s, and we look at how um students from Stilling University were bust in um to to act as extras in on the film. Um you see films like The Adventures of the Greyfriars Bobby, the um the 2005 remake, um, and uh the amazing uh impact that that had because it uses Stirling very extensively at the castle and the Old Time Cemetery as uh uh as a double for uh Edinburgh in in the in the Victorian era. Um so there are all those kind of films, but there are all these new productions as well, th for instance Good Omens, the uh the Amazon series uh which filmed at the the Old Times Cemetery as well. Um we have uh the 39 steps, which uh not only filmed uh in in the late fifties uh in the Stirlingshire area, uh but also in 2008, um, where you had the uh Argyles Lodging, for instance, used as a prominent location. So Stirling has actually seventy-eight steps. Okay.

How The Studio Could Change Stirling

SPEAKER_01 10:58

And how do you think the uh the the the film studio is going to impact the area? You talked about bringing new jobs to the area, which is fantastic, but uh you know do you see it elevating the uh the whole kind of sector to another level again uh you know when when that comes along?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Oh, I would certainly hope so. And I and I would expect that to be the case actually, because I mean we're we're very fortunate to have a local authority that sees the the great benefit of uh creativity and artistic expression. Um and uh as a result, you only need to look, for instance, at the the new Frankenstein film, uh the Gail Moore del Toro version, um, which uh used uh the uh Wallace Monument as the uh the inspiration for for Frankenstein's laboratory tower. Um now uh again that was an occasion where the council were able to work with the filmmakers uh to make sure that the original J.T. Rochhead Victorian plans for the Wallace Monument were made available to them as they uh considered their own model uh for the film. Um so as a result of that, uh, you know, you very much have uh this wonderful potential to encourage filmmakers from across the world into Stirling, um, to look at the amazing different range of terrain and uh different places across the the region. Um but also of course homegrown talent. You know, you've mentioned obviously the college and the university and uh you know all of the potential there for uh you know young filmmakers uh emerging into the industry is going to give them an amazing opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

So am I right in thinking they also filmed uh section of the uh Lockerby uh movie that that uh Colin Firth a couple of years ago. Was that actually done in the uh Stirling area? I heard it was done at the kind of site of the studios, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Yes, that's right. Yes, there is a scene um filmed in uh one of the Army Barracks buildings um featuring Colin Firth um in in that area. And uh of course, interestingly, there were actually two Locker Bay dramas filmed around the same time. Um one of them was filmed at the Pathfoot Building on the Stilling University campus. Right. Um and in particular there were scenes around Oscar's cafeteria. Um it's used to double for FBI um establishments, I think, including the quantico training area.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

And uh they actually had to put drapes up uh around the windows so that people couldn't see the castle and the Wallace Monument from the from the more than just the uh the scene, you know, the horrific scene when uh you know when the count and the bodies in the in the aircraft hanging. There was uh there was other filming done in and around Stilling for that, which people probably don't even don't even realise.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Yes. I mean I think in both productions there was uh great care taken to be as respectful as possible to the families of the the victims involved in that that terrible atrocity. Um but uh as a result of that, you know, amazing to think two different productions from completely different backgrounds um taking place you know in in such a small area um uh as uh as sterling, you know, to sort of take place here.

Where To Buy The Book

SPEAKER_01 13:55

That's good. So uh why don't you just share with the listeners where they can get access to your book tomorrow, Canberra Sterling? Where uh where where about can uh can the audience go and obtain this?

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Uh well, people can buy it online from all good retailers. Um if you look on our website, extremistpublishing.com, uh you'll be able to find uh details about the book uh and where it can be bought. Um it can also be purchased from independent booksellers. Um if you ask them to uh to to source the book from the ISBN, um they'll be able to track it down for you.

Dundee Volume And Future Installments

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Okay. Well this is not the uh the first in the series. Um did you do Lights Camera Dundee recently as well?

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Yes, that's absolutely true. Yes, the the previous volume is Lights Camera Dundee. Uh another fascinating book to to work on um for entirely different reasons actually. Um because the county of Angus uh actually has something very much in common with Stirling, which is a an enormous range of different terrains and environments. Um and uh that's the amazing thing because they say here in Stirling you can have filming for historical dramas, um in some cases fantasy sci-fi even. But then you take a f a drive perhaps two, three miles out of the the city, and there are all these various different um you know vitally important rural communities um which have all played a part in in different films. Um you get films, for instance, like Um Complicity, which was filmed near Kippin, the adaptation of the Ian Banks book. Um you have uh Calin and the Falls of Docker, which has appeared in all sorts of films such as uh Casino Royale and and many others. Uh so for that reason, um you know it has been an absolute treasure probe. And the Dundee book was exactly the same. There's actually no crossover between the two either, which is amazing. No no film featured in one that also featured in the other. And there's maybe a trilogy in the pipeline somewhere, is there?

How To Contact Tom And Closing

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Well uh maybe another city somewhere near yet. Watch the space is all I'll say. That's great. Okay, so if anyone from the community uh out there would like to get in touch and learn a little bit more about what you do, where would the best uh place uh to go be?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Uh well I have uh a website, tomchistybooks.co.uk, um, which features all of my different books and um other writing and various different events that I take part in. Um I'm also on LinkedIn and academia.edu, um, so people can contact me via those channels as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Thanks, Tom, for coming along and uh letting us know a little bit more about Lights Canvas Sterling. Um great timing and in and uh with respect to uh the new studio opening very, very soon. So um yeah, let's hope that uh that that we get the message out there far and wide and uh uh help you sell loads of books.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Thank you very much, Neil. And you know, I hope that people out there are looking at those hundreds of square miles of wonderful rural countryside, all of those wonderful communities, and of course the amazing uh history here in Stirling itself. Um and they're already charging up the batteries for the film cameras. Brilliant. Thank you very much, Tom. Thank you so much for inviting me. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

So that brings us to another end of an episode of the Sterling Business Podcast. Thank you again to our guests this week. Remember to follow us on the YouTube channel, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Until next time, stay safe.