Peaky Blinders founder Steven Knight has held meetings with production giant Paramount about a studio in Birmingham.
With the city starved of production facilities, the Brummie writer has spent more than two years looking into establishing studios for large-scale productions here, called Mercian.
In an interview with The Guardian ahead of the return of BBC’s Peaky Blinders next week, Mr Knight said executives from Hollywood firm Paramount had taken part in talks with Birmingham City Council.
Since the closure of Pebble Mill in 2004, the city’s production sector has been decimated, and has fallen far behind other UK regions like Cardiff, Bristol, Salford and Glasgow.
Mr Knight said: “I’m working on a scheme to build a big film studio in Birmingham, called Mercian – from the Anglo-Saxon Midlands kingdom –, with the city council, where we can develop large-scale productions. “I was up there yesterday having a meeting, and some people from Paramount came over.
Below: Watch Peaky Blinders trailer for much anticipated new series
“Because there is a shortage of space in this country, and I want that to happen in Birmingham sooner rather than later.”
The screenwriter and director first revealed his hope of a Birmingham studio in 2014.
He believes the city has a strong story to tell.
His plans come as the Birmingham Post and Mail continue to campaign for more BBC investment in the region, with increased production key to that.
Only 1.7 per cent of BBC television was made in the Midlands in 2014 – despite a quarter of licence fee income coming from this region. By comparison, 23.1 per cent was made in the North.
More than 130 hours of network television drama was produced a year from Birmingham, with Doctors and Father Brown the feathers in the city’s cap.
