Think of some of the most iconic scenes in one of the biggest TV series to have graced our screens in recent times, and their roots can be traced back to a shed in Co Tyrone.
For the best part of a decade, Coalisland firm Setbuild created castles, boats and other sets for HBO series Game of Thrones.
Nowadays, with the film studio industry in Northern Ireland booming, Setbuild works on some of the biggest productions to hit our screens on Netflix.
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But the business itself actually started from humble beginnings more than 25 years ago, when Cole Doherty began building small sets for the local Craic Theatre.
Now the business is managed by Cole’s son Shea, who keeps more than 20 local people employed across their various projects.
“It started when my dad used to build theatre sets and stuff like that. He then got asked about doing a wee film in Donaghmore and that’s where it all started,” Shea told Belfast Live.
“The BBC got on to him then and he also got asked to go on to a bigger production called Pukoon, and it was one of the biggest films at that time that was done over here.
“So it all started from there and then just progressed. We are Coalisland based, that’s where the workshop is at now but most of the time we will usually be in Belfast.
“It depends what sort of film you are doing and what production you are doing.
“My dad got lucky a wee bit, he was very good at his job and that is what got him noticed.
“He was one of the first men that started over here in the production end of things, there might have been some people in the BBC and what not, but he was the first who started doing the bigger productions outside of the BBC.”
Shea said that eight series of Game of Thrones partly filmed in Northern Ireland was a big boost to the business and kept locals employed for many years.
“The last 15 years it has got really big here, Game of Thrones really kicked it off here so after that they started building more studios.
“Game of Thrones went on for eight, nine, ten years. It was massive and kept you going for maybe eight or nine months of the year.
“The last two seasons of it went for nearly two years straight. It kept a lot of boys going at that time too.
“There is a boom on here at the moment and hopefully now in the next two years there is going to be a big two years for the film industry over here.
“Hopefully that is good for all the local lads here that we employ. If you go back to the crunch in 2008, my dad employed a lot of local lads from Coalisland. People joke and say that he employed half of Coalisland at that time.
“It was good back then because men were struggling for work and my dad gave it to them, he was lucky enough that he could give it to them and the film industry kept him going.”
The Coalisland firm built sets for Netflix hit School For Good and Evil, and has also worked on upcoming film Lift, starring Kevin Hart.
“It’s not just all about the big ones, the smaller ones keep us going when those bigger ones aren’t here,” Shea adds.
“Whenever we’re not actually doing film stuff, we’ll go out on to sites and stuff just to keep busy.
“Hopefully in the next two years they are talking about a lot of big productions coming in, Blade Runner is coming in so it should hopefully keep a lot of men in work for a good while too.
“The boys enjoy this work too, you’re doing something different every day, you’re not out on a building site every day doing the same stuff over and over again.
“You could be going from building a boat to building a spaceship to building an army tank, so the boys really enjoy it.”
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