BUDDING theatre technicians, carpenters and screen hair and beauty artists can find out about life on set.
Up to 60 people from the West Midlands region will be given the chance to hone their skills on three courses in different aspects of TV production.
Kudos Knight, the creative partnership between multi-award-winning writer, director and executive producer, Steven Knight, and leading scripted label Kudos (part of Banijay UK), is partnering with Solihull College and University Centre, Create Central, and West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to deliver bespoke training courses for local talent aligned with the new series of Peaky Blinders.
The courses include one for those starting out in scripted production, one aimed at accelerating mid-level crew with two or more scripted production credits, and a third for those with skills which are transferable to high end TV production (such as carpenters, art dept, hair and makeup).
The schemes will be of a combination of talks, practical training and masterclasses delivered by a range of senior production roles. The ambition is to provide crew ready to take up roles in high end TV made in the West Midlands including Peaky Blinders.
Martin Haines, joint managing director at Kudos, said: “The West Midlands has huge potential to be a world-renowned centre of excellence for high end scripted television production. Kudos Knight’s pipeline of projects is coming to fruition, and I’m delighted that we are going to be making Peaky Blinders in the region.
“We must grow the number of skilled local talent to work on productions, so we are delighted to be partnering with Create Central, the WCMA and Solihull College and University Centre to deliver this important training for the region.”
Head of creative bootcamps at Solihull College and University Centre Sophie Jolly said: “This is a great opportunity for people to get into working on high end TV productions, made right here in the West Midlands.
“The three bootcamps we are offering will give local people the chance to step into a new industry or further their skills.
“Steven Knight and Kudos Knight have shown their commitment to the talent across the West Midlands. We will work very closely with Kudos Knight on the bootcamps which will involve guest speakers and workshops.
“We want to see local people in these jobs, closing the skills gap in the industry.”
Kudos Knight was established in April 2022 with the ambition of creating a thriving scripted pipeline in the West Midlands and growing a skilled local work force. These newly announced training courses follow the scripted production scheme which ran in Digbeth last year.
The full time four-week course was delivered by BAFTA winning MAMA Youth in partnership with BFA (Birmingham Film Academy).
Applications for the Kudos Knight Peaky Blinders Bootcamp schemes are open until October 23 on Solihull College’s website.
