The path of a north-east filmmaker from a life of crime to a career behind the lens has been turned into a book.
Mark Stirton has been proudly flying the flag for local filmmaking after his Aberdeen-set dark comedy, One Day Removals, became a huge hit.
The director, originally of Midstocket, turned his life around after being arrested in 1987 at the age of 17, following the attempted armed robbery of a chip shop on King Street.
Upon his release, he found solace in the world of cinema and years later founded Stirton Productions along with producer Michael Clark.
Now Mr Stirton has turned his story and film industry experiences into a book called “Movie Boy” – as he polishes his latest flick, Dark Highlands, in the editing suite.
The autobiographical Movie Boy started life as a documentary, however Mr Stirton turned it into a novel full of laughs whilst making his partly Aberdeenshire-filmed Dark Highlands.
The 46-year-old said: “There was going to be Movie Boy the documentary and Dark Highlands the film and I decided two would be too much and a documentary wasn’t going to have the commercial appeal of a thriller. I decided to make it a book.
“This is filmmaking from a working class point of view. My investors are people who work in museums and are cabbies. I read a few books about filmmaking, they tend to be from a very posh point of view. I didn’t do it that way.
“What I am talking about in the book was that I was a terrible criminal – I got caught, I got sentenced. I think I could have ended up going down a life of crime, it could have got considerably worse.
“I was lucky enough to find filmmaking. That kept me on the straight and narrow.
“The other thing I wanted to show was I did a really stupid thing when I was young and very often was told ‘your life is ruined’. It didn’t happen.
“I did all these things, but you can go forward from a fairly rubbish position to a much better one.”
Mr Stirton added: “I wrote it parallel to Dark highlands. I was writing and filming at the same time. Dark Highlands is very serious and the book is all laughs. It was keeping the comedy aspect of my life going.”
The book can be found on Amazon.
Dark Highlands was made almost entirely in the Cairngorms, with portions filmed around Loch Muick, near Ballater.
The crew was also on location on the West Coast, the Highlands and in Aberdeen.
Mr Stirton convinced Japanese actor Junichi Kajioka – who featured in last year’s James Bond film, Spectre – to take on the leading role as an artist who seeks inspiration for his work in the Scottish Highlands.
Things quickly take a turn for the worse and the character is forced into a struggle for survival in an unforgiving environment.
Mr Stirton said: “It is a very visual story. It is an interesting one to edit, there is no dialogue in it.”
He added the post-production of Dark Highlands has been an experience has “enjoyed immensely”.
“I have enjoyed it more than any others. I think it is because it is a thriller,” he said.
He hopes to have the film ready in time for November.
