Steven Knight
Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd & Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd
Work has begun on Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s Birmingham TV and film studio.
Digbeth Loc. Studios will complete in July and filming will begin in October, including on Knight’s upcoming BBC drama Two Tone.
The 80,000 sq ft Digbeth Loc. Studios will create 760 new jobs, according to its founders, contributing £30M ($36.6M) to the local economy as it acts as a regeneration project for the Digbeth area in the West Midlands.
Knight, who is also helming the BBC and FX’s upcoming Great Expectations adaptation, had a vision to create a long-term cultural legacy for Birmingham and he forged the idea for Digbeth Loc. with business partner Piers Read, the CEO of TIME+SPACE.
The studios are the first such project in Birmingham, which has been boosting its local TV and film industry in recent years. Knight is also involved with the Birmingham Create Central grouping of producers and creatives, which champions local talent.
Birmingham City Council has invested £1.3M ($1.6M) in the studios in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority and Homes England.
“Our plans are ambitious and we will be making TV and movies on an international scale,” said Knight.
“We are planting an industry in the fertile soil of Birmingham and we need local people to make it happen. We have structures in place to begin the business of training local people in the skills needed and we want people to know that this is a viable industry that is here to stay.”
Knight added that it is “fitting” to be bringing a studio to the city in which Peaky Blinders was filmed.
Digbeth Loc. will see disused, old Victorian era buildings converted into a modern, state-of-the-art studio complex, comprising three film studios, production offices and construction workshops.
Post a Comment