Shinfield studios have announced the introduction of a new £600,000 initiative to help train new and emerging TV talent.

Prior to it's completion, which has been confirmed for 12 months away, a search for local people and underrepresented groups has been released with the aim of increasing jobs in the film industry. 

The ‘Berkshire Skills Cluster’ is aimed at creating a boost to the emerging film scene and has been backed by Berkshire-born Oscar award winning producer Gareth Ellis.

The three-year scheme is introduced as the Shinfield development starts to see multiple production companies from across the world utilise it’s facilities prior to it's completion.

Nick Smith, Joint Managing Director, Shinfield Studios added: “When we were looking for a location to build Shinfield Studios we knew that Berkshire had so much to offer. Not least its proximity to London, but the area also has a strong local infrastructure to help meet the needs of producers.

“This includes access to local production talent. The goal is to build on this to help address the wider skills shortage in film production and offer a pathway for local people to a career in this industry.

“With Shinfield Studios less than 12 months away from being fully operational, there will be even more opportunity for employment in this rewarding sector.”

CEO of Bedlam Film Productions, which is supporting the Berkshire Skills Cluster is Bafta award-winning producer of ‘The King’s Speech’.

Gareth Ellis-Unwin view that skilled film crew are the ‘beating heart’ of the industry has helped boost the appeal to help the unrepresented workforce within the local community.

He said: “The screen industries are booming in the UK, but to stay fresh and continue to thrive we must nurture new talent and open up the industry.

As the local infrastructure such as the new studios come on stream, the “people part” is the next critical step.

“We have an opportunity to compete on both a national and international level here in Berkshire.

“Living locally, I know that Berkshire is already blessed with some incredible resources as a centre for film and TV production, but we need to make best use of our most important asset – our local workforce – whoever and wherever they are. I believe this new skills cluster will be a big boost to that goal.”

Sloug-based Resource Production CIC and Reading University were also involved in the successful bid for funding the scheme which is part of a £9.6m of National Lottery funding project to support skills and development.

Dominique Unsworth MBE, CEO of Resource Productions CIC said: “After more than two decades organically diversifying the talent supply chain from our not-for-profit in Slough, we are really excited to bring this skills investment into Berkshire. It will enable us to drive forward the great work of our partners across education, training, industry and government.

“We’ve all been talking about screen sector skills gaps for so long, now we actually have some resource to enable real action!”