Comment A Hollywood star in the making... Birmingham
As well as being a truly cost-effective alternative to the capital, Birmingham is also perfectly situated at the heart of the country’s transport network.
Whether it be as a filming location, production offices, or a base for suppliers, we’re ideally positioned in the centre of the UK – blessed with motorways, rail stations and airports – and it’s only 80 minutes away from London. The BFI will be working with Flatpack – the acclaimed one-of-akind film festival organisers based at the Custard Factory – to develop a major new BFI Film Audience Network (FAN) hub in Birmingham to get people watching more British and independent film. Exciting! Birmingham-based The Space commissioned the superb BAFTA Guru website, featuring excellent tips and advice for all aspects of film and filmmaking: http://guru.bafta. org. The Space, a partnership between Arts Council England and the BBC, is a hugely influential organisation (located at Fazeley Studios) that is actively supporting the use of digital media and technology within the arts. Birmingham has three of the finest independent cinemas in the UK in Birmingham – The Mockingbird Cinema and Kitchen (based at the Custard Factory), The Electric (Station Street) and Mac Birmingham – which regularly host Birmingham-focused film festivals/events.
The Everyman Cinema (the Mailbox) also regularly screen British Independent Film Awardsapproved movies as a part of BIFA Independents. Think Jam is an entertainment marketing agency with offices in London, LA, New York – and of course Digbeth.
Their clients range from film studios to theatre producers, television companies to independent distributors, and book publishers to celebrities.
The Birmingham team has worked on local events for He Named Me Malala and The Divergent Series: Allegiant as well as notable films: Deadpool, Me Before You and The Revenant. Birmingham City University (BCU) has various film and TV courses with practical hands-on experience – the next Christopher Nolan, Steven Knight, or Keira Knightley are potentially learning the trade in our city right now. Influential TV companies are based in the city, providing fertile ground for fresh, talented media graduates to leap straight into employment in the region.
These include Maverick TV (CBBC’s Operation Ouch!, Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies), North One TV (Channel 5’s Gadget Show), and the BBC’s digital innovation unit in Digbeth. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Theory of Everything star Felicity Jones is from Birmingham. Felicity took acting classes at Class Act Drama Centre at the Custard Factory. Finally, we asked Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight, who has previously compared the Digbeth region to Tribeca in New York, for his thoughts on why Birmingham has emerged as a film and TV hotspot.
Steven said: “Birmingham is a film set as well as a city. It has modern urban environments, Victorian urban environments, canals, freeways and roads, which an enthusiastic council are prepared to make available.
“It’s a city surrounded by beautiful rolling countryside and has some of the best restaurants in the country. What’s not to love.
“And, it’s all an hour and a bit from central London.”
Watch out, Hollywood! Brum is coming.
If you would like to join Birmingham’s Creative Quarter, email at sales@custardfactory.co.uk to find out about their available spaces.