Peaky Blinders creator joins push to boost region’s screen industry

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has joined forces with other West Midlands figures from the TV and film industries to launch a group to boost the region’s creative industry.

Knight, together with Nativity film franchise founder Debbie Isitt and other figures from the region’s TV, film and games industries joined Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street to officially launch Create Central.

Knight said: “The West Midlands will be the big new everything in European film and television production.

“It will be bigger and better and the people who make the region what it is will be nurtured and inspired to make great moving image content. Watch this creative space.”

Create Central has been developed with national bodies including the BFI, ScreenSkills, UKie, Creative England, the Creative Industries Federation and PACT to build on the region’s existing creative and cultural talent and take it to the next level, helping to drive investment, growth and thousands of new jobs.

Street said: “There has never been a better time to invest and support our creative sector in the West Midlands.

“This is a boom time for production in the industry with the likes of Amazon, Apple, Disney, and Netflix all investing hundreds of millions of pounds in original UK content. As the home of original story telling, our region has the tradition and talent to capitalise on this in a big way.

“The tales of Shakespeare and Tolkien still generate enormous value and interest to this day, and our modern-day storytellers are continuing this success with hits like Peaky Blinders, the Nativity franchise, and Citizen Khan.

“Create Central will harness the talent of the brightest and best people within the industry so we can turbo charge our creative sector and lead the way once again.”

The Mayor said the WMCA would work with Create Central to deliver an innovative scheme to train more people for jobs in the film, TV and games sectors.

The WMCA will make up to £500,000 available to launch a series of pilot Create Central Bootcamps in collaboration with ScreenSkills, Ukie and local colleges and providers by the end of the year.

The Mayor added: “We know we cannot grow our screen sector without the right talent and skills in place here in the West Midlands, which is why the WMCA in partnership with Create Central will be piloting new ways to help the industry source great local talent.”

He said the WMCA was looking to see 29,000 new, high skilled jobs in the digital and creative industries by 2030.

Create Central, which also includes Citizen Khan creator Adil Ray and will be chaired by international industry heavyweight Ed Shedd, will dovetail with the region’s wider cultural and tourism sector including the Royal Shakespeare Company and the forthcoming Coventry City of Culture in 2021.

Create Central also aims to capitalise on the region’s status as the UK’s only city-wide 5G testbed – a technology it believes will be invaluable to digital and creative innovators including Leamington Spa’s internationally recognised games companies.

Amanda Nevill, chief executive of the BFI, said: “We really congratulate the West Midlands for having the foresight to capitalise on one of the fastest growing sectors within the UK’s creative industries which are worth over £100 billion to our economy today.

“This is great news for a whole range of businesses that will benefit from a thriving screen sector in the area, creating jobs and new international trading opportunities, and new opportunities for the next generation of creative storytellers in the West Midlands.”