Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders), Debbie Isitt (Nativity) and West Midlands Mayor Andy Street have launched Create Central – Home of Original Story Telling, a new body aimed to boost the region’s screen industry.t
Developed with the BFI, ScreenSkills, UKie, Creative England, the Creative Industries Federation and PACT, Create Central will focus on driving investment, growth and thousands of new jobs.
The Mayor said the West Midlands Combined Authority would work with Create Central to deliver a programme to train more people for jobs in the film, TV and games sectors, making up to £500,000 available to pilot a series of Create Central Bootcamps.
Create Central also hopes 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.
“The West Midlands will be the big new everything in European film and television production,” said Knight. “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.”
