Belfast - On a cold, windy morning, on a frost-capped hillside overlooking the sea, a small, shivering group of people gather round a large rock.
The ice on the ground crunches as a Chinese tourist wearing a long, fur-trimmed black cloak stretches her neck towards the rock, a great sword rising above her head.
Fortunately for Cawei Hua, 24, from Shanghai, the sword is plastic, the cloak a borrowed prop, and the hillside – in Cawei Hua– a regular stop on one of the many location tours celebrating the George RR Martin book series that became the HBO fantasy Game Of Thrones.
The stone in Cairncastle marks the point where Ned Stark (Sean Bean) executed a deserter in the show’s first season. In the nearly six years since that scene was shot, the series has become a global phenomenon and Northern Ireland – where most of the show has been filmed – has benefitted.
A popular location is Cushendun Caves, below the coastal village of Cushendun and formed over 400 million years by Northern Ireland’s harsh weather.
Here, the red sorceress Melisandre (Carice van Houte) gives birth to a magic “shadow baby”. The caves are also the only entrance to the convent, where nuns are probably confused to see tourists regularly re-enact the scene for photographs. The tours are a chance for visitors to see where scenes have been set as well as an often overlooked part of the country.
Northern Ireland has reaped the rewards of the exposure to millions of viewers around the world.
Droves of tourists are flocking to the country, joining eight-hour bus tours to see the locations made famous by Game Of Thrones, stopping off at castles, hills, caves and beaches to grab selfies complete with swords and shields.
But the level of fandom has presented the production with challenges.
Although the book series, collectively called A Song Of Ice And Fire, has dictated what happens in its small-screen adaptation, the show will overtake Martin’s novels in the upcoming season.
Keeping the two stories aligned isn’t a problem – Martin has helped to write the screen adaptations, so when he completes the new books, the two will match. However, that the show will presage the books has sparked even more intrigue among obsessive fans, who hunt compulsively for hints, sneak peeks and outright spoilers.
A photo posted by Vincent To (@vinceoutwest) on Oct 15, 2015 at 1:23pm PDT
At the height of the Northern Ireland summer, when the show is being filmed, Robert Boake, Northern Ireland location manager for Game Of Thrones, says the crew turn away an increasing number of buses, up to seven a day, looking to catch a glimpse of future events in Westeros, the fictional country in which the show is based.
“We have more paparazzi following us around,” says Boake.
“Drones are an increasing problem. We have to consider when we’re filming that people are interested in seeing what the storyline may be. We are being followed around more than we used to.”
Providing the setting for a huge hit can bring a windfall for a province or small country. The most famous example is how films in Peter Jackson’s wildly successful Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit trilogies were followed by soaring tourism income in New Zealand.
In the year to September 2001, three months before the release of the first of the films, The Fellowship of the Ring, New Zealand reported tourism earnings of $5.3-billion. In the year to March 2014, the figure was $10.3bn from tourists.
Although it is hard to measure whether the increase was directly related to Lord Of The Rings, according to Forbes, at least 80 percent of tourists understood the two trilogies had been filmed in the country, even if this wasn’t the only reason they gave for visiting. Added to the tourism income is the amount spent by productions with New Zealand’s small businesses.
Eight years ago, Northern Ireland gambled on Game Of Thrones having the same effect on its gross domestic product.
Northern Ireland Screen, a government-backed agency that aims to boost the number of films and television shows and quantity of digital content produced there, met HBO in 2008 to discuss Game Of Thrones.
As an incentive to the network to anchor production in the six counties, Northern Ireland Screen footed the $4.6m production bill for the pilot and first season. The investment alone returned about $30m in expenditure on goods and services.
As of last year’s fifth season, Northern Ireland Screen had invested $17.6m in the show, while the HBO cast and crew had spent $162m in hotels, transport and other production costs.
This figure does not include the money generated by tourism.
Although the financial effect of Game Of Thrones is not documented by Northern Ireland’s tourism organisations, the large number of tour companies launched since the show began is a good indicator of its impact.
Many visitors go to Ballintoy, a small fishing town on the north coast, where the show’s Iron Islands scenes are filmed, or to Carnlough Harbour, where scenes have been filmed for the sixth season.
Some tours, like the Thrones and Stones group, also take in some of the country’s tourist attractions yet to be featured in the show, such as Giant’s Causeway, where basalt columns rise out of the sea at the bottom of spectacular cliff faces, and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, 20m in length and suspended 30m above the rocks below.
The series has also brought opportunities for film talent and led to the emergence of new film-makers and writers. Northern Ireland Screen credits Game Of Thrones with instilling enough confidence in potential investors to build two new film and television soundstages in Belfast.
As a result of the show’s success, more production projects have come to Northern Ireland, such as the Universal Pictures horror movie Dracula Untold and the BBC’s serial killer drama The Fall.
It wasn’t always so appealing. Northern Ireland Screen’s Richard Williams recalls a time before Game Of Thrones when his organisation would go to Los Angeles and London to drum up interest in filming in the country. “In LA, we got a total blank. In London, maybe not a total blank but not exactly a joyous reception.
“If the people we’re talking to now know nothing else, they know Game Of Thrones is anchored in Northern Ireland. That gives us a credibility platform that wasn’t there before.”
Boake says the Game Of Thrones machine has grow enormously.
“The production size, the scale of what we’re doing and the level of ambition have increased.”
The locations team has grown from five people eight years ago to 20.
“You’ll see more cranes – more trailers, trucks, people, horses, marquees.”
The sixth season includes the series’ biggest battle scene yet, show writer and producer Bryan Cogman has told Entertainment Weekly. No information about the scene has been leaked, but it’s rumoured to include hundreds of extras.
Although two more books in the series A Song Of Ice And Fire have yet to be released, it’s unclear how many seasons will follow in the TV series.
HBO has guaranteed Game Of Thrones for another two seasons – its creators say they don’t see it continuing far beyond that.
However, one of the quarries the show uses often for shoots has reportedly been leased for 15 years.
It looks like this seam could be mined for quite some time.
The Independent