Radcliffe's Danny Boyle to play key role at new media school in Manchester

The Oscar winner, from Radcliffe, will be a key factor at the new International Screen School Manchester (ISSM), led by Manchester Metropolitan University, to help home grown talent break into the creative and digital industries.

It will work closely with key regional partners including HOME, Red Productions, BBC and ITV to teach 1,000 students each year, generating a predicted £13 million boost for the local economy annually.

The ISSM will provide courses in film, animation, applied games, special effects, sound design for screen, user experience design and immersive media content production.

Senior figures from film, media and commerce have already agreed to be part of the Screen School’s Industry Advisory Board, which will be co-chaired by Boyle.

He said: “This is just what Manchester needs and I am delighted to be part of the International Screen School Manchester.

“Manchester is a prolific centre of media production already and the Screen School will create the talent needed in the north to create even more success.

“I’m really keen to see young people from all backgrounds given the opportunity to learn to be the filmmakers and media producers of the future, and to have the opportunity to tell their own stories - but in ways that we’ve never experienced before.”

Greater Manchester leaders will be asked to give the green light to fund half of the costs towards the Screen School which will then be matched by an additional investment of £15 million from Manchester Metropolitan University.

If agreed at a meeting next week, work will begin to develop this innovative project on a site on Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor.

Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese said: “With more than 55,000 jobs generating around £3 billion a year, the creative and digital industries are one of the fastest growing sectors in Greater Manchester economy.

“Manchester is Europe’s second largest creative, digital and media hub and the sector is growing faster than anywhere else in the UK."

Professor Malcolm Press, vice-chancellor at MMU, said that the university was delighted to be helping to deliver a project of “real ambition and scale”, adding: “We are excited about this opportunity to jointly invest in the future success of our region.

“The Screen School will be part of MMU’s world-leading School of Art, ensuring that we form a strong bridge between creative media and digital production methods, informing critical thinking on how new media technologies can be expanded for other uses.”