Silicon Stoke: Levelling Up the Screen Industries

Following a seminar with the senior management of the BBC in the summer of 2021, it was identified that smaller economic regions face a significant disadvantage in fulfilling their potential as locations for producing film and TV content, as they do not have the critical mass of some of the bigger city regions. While recent levelling-up agendas have succeeded in shifting some of the production out of London and the South East, this has largely gravitated toward other metropolitan centres, leaving smaller urban centres removed from the opportunities that the levelling-up agenda claim to address. Stoke-on-Trent City Council is keen to address this problem and, as part of their Silicon Stoke initiative, has recently commissioned a report to identify potential areas for growth for the screen industries within the region. This report will build upon the findings of a 2009 report which contended that a virtual film office managing film production within the region would stimulate growth. This paper will provide an overview of the original report and will discuss the challenges and opportunities that now exist in this new digital landscape.