Ben and Nathan McQuaid graduated from the University of Stirling in 2025 and under a year later they are prepping for the world premiere of their micro-budget extra-terrestrial adventure Welcome To G-Town at Glasgow Film Festival. Brig sat down with the brothers to discuss the film.
The project came about at the beginning of their fourth year at the University of Stirling, with independent horror expert Graham Hughes who also graduated in 2009. With the help of Hughes they navigated the world of independent filmmaking, all while working on their dissertations.
The brothers commented: “We began shooting it before graduation. We wanted to study film then found out halfway through it’s more of a media and television course.”
Whilst the brothers acknowledged the hard work of staff on their course, they also expressed disdain at the lack of film-making on the Film & Media course. “It’s not the teachers fault. We have more of a TV industry than a film one in Scotland. Filming tv shows for England. Like The Traitors, who barely even hire Scottish people.”
“Our whole film-making education came from AirTV, we met a lot of our crew there and the older guys when we joined [fourth years] taught us what it’s like to be on a film set. It was good to be taught how to work a crew. Stirling doesn’t teach drama so AirTV is a place to shoot it without anybody looking down on what you’re doing. Drama has its place.”
Brig asked: “Why the horror genre?”
Well, the simple answer was that low-budget filmmakers can get away with horror. Horror fans are, typically, a lot more forgiving – especially with new crew and cast. Their influences include Peter Jackson and Bill Forsyth, as well as their executive producer Graham Hughes who deftly handles intergalactic horror in a Scottish setting.
The brothers self-inserted their own lives in ways. “Something on our minds was where do we go after graduation?” They admitted that if they had made the film five or thirty years on, it wouldn’t be the same.
Advice to Stirling students
The brothers advise that students at the University of Stirling should: “Keep in touch with friends and collaborators. If you work as a team, you can help each other out.”
Featured Image Credit: Courteney Pearson