Patrick Stewart: Our creative dreams have to be kindled here in Yorkshire

There is no doubt Yorkshire is a very different place now. Back in the '50s, hoping to work in theatre or the movies was barely seen as an option. These days many young people set out from school, college and university with that in mind and, while never easy, it is seen as a credible option.

From the '60s onwards, we had the regional powerhouses of ITV opening up many opportunities for people throughout England but as new technologies have arrived, viewer numbers have fallen and commercial channels have faced difficult times.

ITV has had to withdraw from many regions and the media industry continues to be overwhelmingly based in the South-East of England. This is something many of us have tried to address over the last 10 years.

Screen Yorkshire, of which I am Patron, has run a whole programme of activity over the last four years to support and develop the small media businesses in the region, attract more national and international productions to film in Yorkshire, train and develop new talent looking to build a career in Yorkshire and to grow a serious reputation as a region which can offer film and TV production everything it needs.

We have a stunning array of locations within easy travel distance, we have skilled and experienced crew and facilities and we have a long history of great drama production originating in Yorkshire. We've had an excellent few years in the region.

Just think about the dramas we've seen on our screens that filmed here – Lost in Austen, Red Riding, Unforgiven, Wuthering Heights, Married Single Other, Five Days – along with films such as This is England, The Damned United and Brideshead Revisited. We've had Baftas and Bollywood.

We've also become a region known for new industries such as digital media and games. Three of the world's top 100 games development studios are based here – global franchises such as adventure game, Broken Sword, and Grand Theft Auto (for handheld devices) were developed right here, in York and Leeds.

As Chancellor of Huddersfield University, I have seen how new courses in these areas have flourished and we now have an in-house games development studio – Canal Studios – based within the university where students get real life experience in commercial games development.

We have some great companies throughout the region which have put Yorkshire on the map – it is now seen as an exciting, creative and dynamic place in the industry. We have Warp Films in Sheffield – one of the UK's most cutting-edge independent film studios. This was a business started in a garden shed which now employs more than 50 crew on each production.

We have True North in Leeds – a business started by three people in a bedroom – now employing an average of 70 people. Creative businesses walk the fine line between commerce and art and don't often get that balance right. But with small amounts of support these industries can ensure this country continues to be one of the world's major creative hubs.

Across the world now, we are seeing nations, regions, states, counties all competing to attract film and TV production and build their home-grown creative industries. They do this by establishing film and television commissions to support and attract these industries. They offer tax breaks, production finance funds and subsidised studios.

We've seen this in film and TV for a while now as it is a mobile industry which needs different locations and studio sets. Film and TV productions bring many benefits to a region – jobs, inward investment, a training ground for new talent. To take a Yorkshire example, Screen Yorkshire invested 100,000 in each Red Riding film, which in return spent nearly a million pounds in the region per film on crew,

facilities, locations.

The success of the films also meant the investment was returned to

re-invest. It would have been great to have more support for regional production when I started my career.

However, we're also seeing more incentives offered now in the games industry as well, with Canada offering major tax breaks in some of its states to entice games development studios to set up there.

The UK continues to lead in these industries – it has the second largest film industry in the world by value and we are in the top five for games development.

The creative and digital industries are seen by all political parties and by many governments across the world as industries that could lead to growth. I hope this stays the case despite the difficult times ahead.

Our industries are going to have to face up to less publicly-funded support, as are all industries.

However, let us not lose the opportunity, we are a leader in this field, our culture and history supports our creative talents. Let's hope that between industry and government we can find new models of support that continue to keep the UK at the forefront of the creative industries.

With modern technologies, there are even more reason the benefits of these industries can be spread across the UK and why the talents of every region in the UK can be tapped into.

The BBC have realised this with their Media City Development in Salford – a major opportunity for Yorkshire's creative businesses right on our door step. So let's ensure that little boy in Mirfield can dream to work in the media without having to head down the M1.

Sir Patrick Stewart is an award-winning actor and patron of Screen Yorkshire.