A new regional agency supporting film, TV and digital content production has launched in the West Midlands.
Production Central WM will provide industry support to enable established domestic and international broadcasters, streamers, producers, location managers and home-grown filmmakers to deliver their creative projects in the region.
The West Midlands has been home to Peaky Blinders, with creator Steven Knight recently announcing that two new series are set to be filmed in Birmingham. Other productions include Late Night Lycett and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, with programmes such as MasterChef and Silent Witness currently being produced in the region.
The region has also been awarded £25 million as part of the Government’s Creative Places Growth Fund to help grow the already booming creative industries, extending beyond film and TV, and into video games, createch, music and performing arts and design.
Funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and delivered by the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), Production Central WM aims to become the go-to, trusted partner for the filming industry. Partnered with Create Central and endorsed by West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker, it will connect industry professionals to a regional production network.
The new office will be managed at WMGC by Martin Simms, who has more than two decades of experience in the film and TV sector, with the launch project led by Graham Webb, Executive Lead at Create Central.
The launch of Production Central WM follows the announcement by the BBC that it has signed a second memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Create Central to further support creative growth in the region. It is anticipated that the new film production office will increase regional GVA by £100-200 million over the next five years, and provide a boost to employment of 100-200 jobs per production and 1,000-2,000 long-term posts.
Steven Knight CBE, creator of Peaky Blinders, said: “The West Midlands is old, new, green field, brown field, urban, rural, posh, poor, 16th century to 21st century, high rise, high end, low end, back to backs, chimney stacks and babbling brooks…most of which have never been shot.
“And it costs less than most other places. If you want to shoot here, we now have a brand new, super-fit for purpose film production office which matches the region’s ambitions. It’s called Production Central WM and whatever location you want we can find it within an hour’s drive of New Street station. Try us.”
The region has provided backdrops from established studio settings such as Digbeth Loc. and The Bond to backdrops like the Black Country Living Museum, Coventry Cathedral and Victoria Square in Birmingham, for not only location managers, but also a growing travel trend known as ‘set jetting’. The phenomenon of tourists visiting locations they have seen in films and on television will be explored during the first-ever World Screen Tourism Summit – SET-JET25 –in Birmingham this week.
Neil Rami, Chief Executive of the West Midlands Growth Company, said: “From Shakespeare to Steven Knight, great storytelling starts in the West Midlands. The new Production Central office will build on the region’s celebrated legacy of world-class writing and creativity by becoming the natural home for inspiring, original content.”
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “We have the talent, the locations and a list of credits that ranges from classics like Crossroads to the cultural phenomenon that is Peaky Blinders. And there is much more to come with the rebirth of children’s favourite Bagpuss and a new beginning for MasterChef.
“Our dedicated production office will attract filmmakers and TV executives from all over the world by making it even easier to get their cameras rolling. We’re creating the opportunities aspiring writers, directors, actors, and crews need so they don’t have to leave home to chase their dreams and can build amazing creative careers right here in the West Midlands.”
Pippa Considine
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