The novelist and writer Michael Korda wrote: “One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.” It’s a theme that was highlighted as the West Midlands Combined Authority held its ­Creativity Week this autumn.

Frank conversations, moments of celebration and ambitious announcements were scattered across the festivities, with some events focused on television production. The regional screen body, Create Central, marked five years since its formation during Creativity Week, prompting a look forward to the following five years and setting the next “constantly greater goals”.

The recently elected Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, announced a new Royal Television Society Award for 2025 to celebrate sustainable production. From paperless productions to tablet-controlled eco-lighting, much innovative work is happening in the region. And suppliers are changing harmful practices in our industry – something the new RTS award hopes to highlight.

As we clinked glasses and acknowledged how far we had come, set installation and electrical rigging were under way at the Banana ­Warehouse in Digbeth. This disused Victorian industrial edifice has been converted into the stunning new home of Shine TV’s MasterChef suite of shows. Recruitment – from entry-level to senior roles –starts this ­winter. To find an example of a production genuinely committing to a region, you would be hard-pressed to look beyond MasterChef.

The teams behind BBC Studios’ primetime drama Silent Witness were also readying their spaces at The Bond, a neighbouring studio. Both begin filming in January, which is seen as a marker for the Midlands to build on the momentum.

By the time the Christmas markets pack up in Birmingham, the Garrison pub set and other interiors will have been struck at Digbeth Loc Studios as the Peaky Blinders film ends production. That – coupled with gaps left by the cancellation of BBC’s ­Doctors, while other scripted shows await their fates – will mean we have extra capacity in the Midlands. With that challenge in mind, Mayor Parker has also announced a new unit, which will sit with the West Midlands Combined Authority, to attract film and TV to the region.

It will be a place for productions to connect to suppliers, skills, crews and an IP Content Fund via Create Central. It’s a positive step, but it’s just a start. We in the Midlands must beware the fate of Sisyphus in Greek mythology. Momentum hard won can easily roll back. There is so much more to do, just to keep pace with other regions, let alone compete globally.

RTS members have told me they don’t want the Midlands to be used solely as a location for filming, but as a place where productions want to remain and build. With the regional screen schools supplying eager ­graduates, alongside established Midlands creatives looking to return from elsewhere to work closer to home, it’s important we create a place where careers can be built.

The to-do list is long: a much bigger production fund, lobbying for regional variations to tax relief, attracting more inward investment and using innovation to build sustainable solutions.

We need to do this while supporting Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight in spearheading Digbeth Loc Studios, alongside James Craig [founder of Oval Real Estate], who has ambitious plans to convert more Victorian warehouses in Digbeth into studios and creative spaces.

We need to embrace CreaTech to connect storytellers with the means to tell their stories, and to chase constantly greater goals that create opportunities. It’s relentless, but we must keep moving. Every action creates momentum.

Kully Khaila is Chair of RTS Midlands.