Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight welcomes BFC’s production hub status for West Midlands and Birmingham

Steven Knight at Digbeth Loc. Studios

Kate Hollingsworth Photography

Steven Knight, the creator of hit drama Peaky Blinders, has welcomed the British Film Commission (BFC) confirming the West Midlands and the city of Birmingham as the UK’s eighth production hub for inward investment in film and high-end TV.

The region joins South West England (Bristol); North West England (Manchester and Liverpool); Yorkshire (Leeds); Northern Ireland (Belfast); Scotland (Glasgow and Edinburgh); Wales (Cardiff); and London & South East England as an official production hub.

The BFC credited the BBC’s Peaky Blinders franchise for helping shore up the region’s success as a growing production hub in recent years. The BFC said hub status is predicated on a region’s ability to accommodate scripted titles.

Having served as production base for Peaky Blinders, feature film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man and the as-yet-untitled Peaky Blinders spin-off series, the West Midlands now has official hub status.

This is determined by three key criteria: studio or stage space, and infrastructure, capable of supporting a film and scripted high-end TV show; access to a skilled local crew base; and evidence of successfully accommodating a major scripted title.

Analysis commissioned by the BBC forecasts that its recent investment in Digbeth and the West Midlands will generate £282m (US$379m) in economic benefit by 2031.

Digbeth Loc. Studios, which was founded by Knight, provides operational services to productions filming in the West Midlands.

Knight, writer, director and creator of Peaky Blinders, said: “I’m thrilled that the West Midlands has been recognised as a fantastic place to make film and TV. The opening of Digbeth Loc. Studios is an important part of that ambition, providing a home for world-class film and television production in the heart of Birmingham. We are at the beginning of a journey, and we’ve got off to a great start. The West Midlands is always ambitious, and we believe we will create a global content-making industry in our neighbourhood.”

Banijay-owned Kudos has a first-look deal with Knight for UK projects, to be made at Digbeth Loc. Studios, via creative partnership Kudos Knight.

With offices in the UK and the US, the BFC provides free tailored production support at the highest level, from the earliest stages of development through to post-production, including guidance on the UK’s lucrative film and television tax reliefs and assistance with sourcing key crew, talent, facilities and locations.

The BFC has industry sponsors that form the membership of the agency’s public/private partnership: Bray Film Studios, Harbottle & Lewis, HBO, Movie Makers, Netflix, NBCUniversal, Pinewood Studios, Saffery, Shadowbox Studios Shinfield, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros, 3 Mills Studios, The Bottle Yard Studios, BBC Studioworks, Elstree Studios, Framestore and Working Title.