Working in Waterstone's for 25 years, Mark Stay dreamed of becoming a writer and seeing his film scripts brought to life on the big screen.

But he never imagined Warner Bros would snap up one of his screenplays and turn it into a multi-million pound movie...

One thing stands out when Mark Stay is asked about watching his biggest movie on a cinema screen for the first time - and it's perhaps not quite what you'd expect.

“Seeing that legendary logo at the beginning - it’s Bugs Bunny and Clint Eastwood - was such an out-of-body experience," he recalls.

For Mark, the fact the film he describes as “Straw Dogs meets Gremlins” had been brought to life was brilliant. But seeing the Warner Bros logo at the start? That was beyond his wildest dreams.

Mark is one half of the Kentish duo that brought the movie Unwelcome - a celebration of British horror and Irish folklore stories - to cinemas, having teamed up with Whitstable-based director Jon Wright.

And talking from his home in Reculver, near Herne Bay, Mark looks back fondly on the birth of the film and March 2020 - a time which will go down in history for more obvious reasons.

“We were talking about violence; we love it in movies but in real life it gives us the shakes, and we wanted to show the consequences of it, how violence begets violence,” began Mark.

“It makes it sound very heavy but really it’s a good fun monster movie with some goblins.

“We’d been working on the script for a year then boom, March 2020 happens, we sent it to a producer but we didn’t think it would get made, the world was turning on its head.

“We sent it off first thing in the morning and by lunchtime he’d read it and optioned it and sold it to Warner Bros UK - it was an incredible turn of events.”

With thanks to a £1.2 million investment from Warner Bros - with the budget coming in at about £7-9 million - the movie was shot between the first and second lockdowns.

It's Mark and Jon's second outing together having both worked on the 2014 sci-fi picture Robot Overlords, starring Gillian Anderson and Ben Kingsley, but this time it's a completely different world.

Unwelcome follows Jamie and Maya, a couple with a child on the way who ditch London for rural Ireland after inheriting a house.

However, there’s a catch - they must leave an offering every day to the Red Caps, a group of vicious, violent, bloodthirsty goblins.

Given the film is a horror, it requires little imagination to know what could happen to our protagonists if they forget. And, of course, they forget.

“We decided to take the perfect couple and torment them for an hour and a half.” jokes Mark.

“Jamie and Maya are this young, cool progressive couple about to start a family and they’re the sort of people we all want to be friends with.

“As for villains, we talk about the Red Caps but the real monster is Daddy Whelan and his family.

“Wherever you live there’s always one family that ruins it for everyone, isn’t there?”

Played by Colm Meaney, Daddy Whelan is the head of a kleptomaniac, hyper-aggressive family of builders. As you’d expect, the top dog is the worst of the bunch.

But off-screen, one of Mark’s acting heroes is described as being one of the nicest men around, with the work of the Layer Cake and Star Trek star being applauded by viewers.

And as for the ending, Mark knows - and loves - that the climax of the film has got people talking. To him, it’s one of the biggest compliments in the world.

He said: “The reaction has been interesting, everyone goes on about the ending and we wanted to have something people remembered.

“It does suddenly ramp up and get intense - the ending has turned it into a bit of a Marmite film, but people react to the ending, which I love.

“One of my greatest moments ever was having the premiere at the Sitges festival in Spain and hearing the crowd react to the ending.

“You write the stuff you want to see on the screen and if they don’t like it, no problem, you can’t please everyone.”

The project is set to make it onto streaming services, but which ones is still being kept under wraps for now.

And Mark won’t be resting on his laurels, with a rom-com in production and multiple books on his mind.

But the biggest project - or at least the one that will gather the most traction - is a 10-episode series that will come out at the end of the year on Disney+.

Titled ‘Nautilus’, the show will follow the early life of Jules Verne’s book character Captain Nemo, with those starring including Shazad Latif and Richard E. Grant.

Fearing the wrath of Disney lawyers he can’t reveal too much, but says the show was inspired by something he originally put together with the media titans buying it from him.

It gives him the chance to move on to his first true love - books - and how Kent has inspired his latest series, The Witches of Woodville, with books four and five set to arrive soon.

“The Witches of Woodville is set in 1940; it’s a fictional village to make my life easier, but really it’s a greatest hits of Kent villages," he says.

“Moving here I really found out that the war is everywhere; we’ve got the RAF museum close to us, pillboxes everywhere, Reculver is where they tested the bouncing bomb.

“Kent has been a huge inspiration to me and has brought my work to life in a way I couldn’t have done anywhere else.

“I’d love to see a TV show based on my work; that would be my number one goal - to see a crew in Kent making a series based on the Witches of Woodville.”

Having moved to the area about five years ago after Jon Wright - among others - urged him to, he considers himself to “not be quite a DFL”.

Born in London but moving over from Surrey, he says his arrival to the county was “one of the best things” he’s ever done and is particularly vocal in his praise of Herne Bay.

With the creative scene in Kent rapidly growing, especially with the rumoured arrival of Netflix studios in Ashford, Mark says the potential is there to turn the county into the next big thing.

“It is one of the best things I’ve ever done. Unless you’re a Russian oligarch you’ve no chance of getting a big garden in Surrey," he joked.

“I was told for years to move to Kent, there’s a huge cultural community out here, it’s all going on here.

“We’ve just had Empire of Light made in Margate, there’s a great community down here - so much talent - that could really make something of it.

“There could be and are so many great filming locations in Kent, and could Ashford become the next Pinewood Studios? You never know, but I would dearly love so. There is definitely room for a vibrant new studio.”

Mark’s career trajectory hasn’t been straight forward, with a Christmas job at a Waterstone’s in Dorking turning into a 25-year career wedged between his attempts to pursue acting and writing.

But as someone who is now able to make a living out of writing, Mark wants to see other people continue to knock on the door. His advice?

“There’s never been a better time to make short films; you can do it on your phone, nobody has to see it and you’ll learn a lot more,” he said.

“You make a film three times - you write it, film it then you edit it. You learn so much about the creative process. Keep making things, it’s the best way to learn.

“I started by putting plays on at my local theatre and you just can’t beat the feeling of putting something in front of an audience; you learn what works and what doesn’t.

“I’ve spoken to writers groups all around Kent; there’s so much talent and passion out there. My advice is to get on with it, don’t wait. You learn by doing.”

And as for Mark’s future ambitions, there’s a lofty goal in mind - but he certainly can’t be accused of lacking the talent to do it.

“I want to complete the set - I’ve had Warner Bros and I want to see Paramount, Disney, Universal, all of the big companies, on the screen at the start of my film.”