Emmyland - Boutique Camera Rental House to the Film & TV Industry based in South East London

Meet Our Team

Welcome to Emmyland! We're a boutique rental house based in Brockley, South East London specialising in bespoke wet and dry equipment hire to the motion picture film and tv industries. We specialise in camera, lens and grip hire.

Emmyland was founded by Focus Puller and Camera Technician Emily-Jane Robinson who has over 10 years experience working within the film and tv industry within the Camera Department. We are proud to be the first rental house in the United Kingdom with a female Founder and Managing Director.

Emmyland is a truly independent rental house, with its roots and heart being birthed from within the Camera Assisting community. We are run by ACs, for ACs, so that Cinematographers will only have the very best equipment to work with with us as suppliers. Our kits are built by experts, for experts. We aim to be the superior and most simple solution for production as we have been founded on the principles of only sending out and stocking immaculately prepped and perfectly performing equipment. You will never see an Emmyland label on set and find that there are bits and bobs missing or that things are not working properly. If you choose to hire from us, we can guarantee that you will only be working with the very best.

Emmyland shooting kits are in immaculate condition and are rigorously specified and maintained in house. We stock only the very best industry standard equipment: from Arri camera systems, Cooke, Zeiss and Arri lenses, to Ronford Baker grip equipment. All of our equipment comes prepped and ready to shoot with every imaginable accessory always included. By going above and beyond to make sure that we are only supplying the best and by building up our camera packages with all of the additional essential accessories, we can ensure that you can always rely on our gear and it is always ready for anything when it gets on to set or location.

All of the equipment listed on our website is Emmyland in-house kit. We are happy to provide a one stop shop for all the equipment you might need on a shoot, and can cross-hire anything else that you might need if it is not listed here on our website through our collaborators and dedicated cross-hire partners in the industry.

We invite you to come and visit us and test our equipment at our 1,200 sq ft Headquarters in Brockley, South East London. We pride ourselves by offering an exceptionally personalised service to all of our clients, no matter the budget or size of the production. We can also offer package deals and are happy to facilitate testing at our kit rooms and to answer any technical questions you might have.

Our founder Emily-Jane is always available to accompany our equipment on set and come on board as Focus Puller and 1st AC, and so is Max, our dedicated Director of Operations and 2nd AC / Loader. Emily-Jane and Max have been working together almost exclusively for 5 years and work most efficiently as a team. We can offer exceptionally competitive discounts on projects where they are able to come on board to assist your Director of Photography and form the camera department. Check out What We Do to read more about our unique wet-hire one-stop-shop service and how we might be able to assist you on your next production.

To view Emily-Jane's Focus Pulling work please visit her portfolio website at www.emilyjanerobinson.com.

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Meet OUR Team

Emily-Jane “Emmy“ Robinson
Founder & Managing Director
Focus Puller

Emmy has fifteen years experience working within the camera department and over 12 years as Focus Puller on narrative feature films, music videos, commercials, fashion films, promos, documentary, short films and in television drama. 

Signed as a Focus Puller to the prestigious Loop Talent, she has extensive experience working in all working industry digital and film camera formats. She received her MA from The Slade School of Fine Art at UCL, her BA at UCLA in Los Angeles, her formal film familiarisation practical training at the National Film and Television School in 2016 and at the ASC Masterclass in Los Angeles after years of hands-on experience in the field and on the floor.

Her strong leadership and interpersonal skills, go-getter personality, comprehensive technical knowledge and wealth of experience working within the camera department over many years within different roles, combined with her unique background in fine art make her an invaluable asset to any production and to Emmyland!

She has built a strong reputation as a creative, methodical, technically competent, hardworking, charismatic and exceptionally quick and efficient camera assistant with an unmatched precision and attention to detail when it comes to Focus. Emmy is the only woman and Managing Director running a rental company in the film industry in the UK and has become a household name amongst cinematographers, producers and camera crew.

If Emmy isn’t shooting she’s probably pole dancing, long distance cycling across the country or spending time with her two dogs, Merlin and Moon.

Find Emmy on Instagram @emmyw0rld & @emmylegs

David Woodman
Client Contact

David joined our bookings team in 2022 having spent time working as a Kitroom Technician at a number of rental companies in London. With an MA in Cinematography from the prestigious NFTS and many years of shooting experience, David knows the industry well and understands the relationships between the key roles in productions. Before transitioning into motion picture he studied photography at art school before landing his dream job as a photographic darkroom technician and apprentice printmaker, getting the chance to meet an amazing roster of photographers including Simon Norfolk, Jane Bown, Philip Jones Griffiths, Peter Marlow, Olivia Arthur, Tim Hetherington, Mimi Mollica, Alex Sturrock, and John Reardon. David remains a strong advocate of analog photography to this day.

David is dedicated climber of 25+ years and a proud father of one.

Find David on Instagram @davidwdm_photo

Luke Hawdon
Senior Kitroom Technician

Luke joined Emmyland in 2022 after finishing his degree from the Bournemouth Film School where he first got to grips with camera equipment. Through working at Emmyland Luke's learnt the ins and outs of our gear through working in the kitroom and as a regular camera trainee on set from the wisdom of Emmy and Ada.

Beyond Emmyland, Luke has also directed his own documentary shorts and regularly attends Sheffield DocFest in his home-town.

A big fan of music, film and all things arty and pretentious. Luke's loves drinking over-brewed tea and hates changing Easyrig arms.

Find Luke on Instagram @lukehawdon

Freddie Howe
Senior Kitroom Technician

Freddie graduated with a degree in Film from Arts University Bournemouth in the Summer of 2021 and was super eager to get out into the industry as soon as he could. He very quickly discovered the challenges of entering the film industry, jumping from project to project with little consistency.

Freddie says, “Before joining Emmyland I was working at a cafe making terrible latte art but making up for it with my gorgeous smile. I’ve now been with Emmyland for a year and am looking forward to the future!”

In between working in the Kitroom and going out on jobs as a camera trainee Freddie says he is watching an obscene amount of films, getting gym strong and developing and shooting documentary projects alongside his partner.

Find Freddie on Instagram @freddie__howe

Iina Holopainen
Kitroom Technician

Iina is originally from Helsinki, Finland and previously worked as a visual journalist and coordinator in Feature Documentaries and Broadcast TV, until she decided to move to work in the Camera Department as a Camera Trainee. Passionate to learn everything that is possible to learn about the cinematic cameras and lenses, she joined Emmyland in April of 2023.

Iina has a BA in Social and Cultural Anthropology from University of Helsinki and an MA in Ethnographic and Documentary Film from University College London. She is interested in different cultures and intrigued to see the world through different lenses. As an anthropologist she is also keen to see how ethnographic data can be turned into visual narratives.

When Iina is not at Emmyland, she can be found in the climbing gym in Brixton, which is her second home.

Find Iina on Instagram @iinahholopainen

Max Openshaw
Director of Operations & Lens Technician
(Retired) Clapper Loader

“Loader Extraordinaire” - Max Openshaw has been working in the camera department exclusively as a Clapper Loader for 8 years on feature films, commercials, music videos and shorts alongside Emmy as her 2nd AC and business partner at Emmyland. 

Max came out of sixth form and went straight into work freelancing as a videographer, photographer, runner and camera trainee which very quickly progressed into his work as a Clapper Loader after falling in love with his job. 

He joined Emmyland in 2016 after meeting Emmy on set when he was working as a Camera Trainee and was made a director and business partner within just two years in 2018. Max has worked tirelessly and constantly to grow the business with Emmy and is her right hand man and the driving entrepreneurial force behind pushing the Emmyland brand into the stratosphere! 

It is never too late or too early for Emmy to call Max on the phone to plot their strategy of growing the company and getting pumped up on the next step of action. An entrepreneur to his core, Max is Emmyland’s biggest champion and much of the intelligent and forward thinking decision making is due to Max’s laser focus and entrepreneurial drive. 

Max and Emmy were a formidable camera assistant duo on the floor and are unlike any other, immediately recognisable when they showed up to any set. With his youth on his side and as a digital native, Max is an invaluable asset to Emmyland as the branding champion the business now he has taken a side step to run the dry hire enterprise.

In 2023, became a fully certified Lens Technician after various training throughout the world with Cooke, Zeiss and other lens manufacturers. We are proud to able to service most lens repairs and to maintain all of our lenses internally here at Emmyland under Max’s meticulous attention to detail.

Max recently became a Father… to a beautiful Australian Shepherd dog named Frank (after Ocean).

Find Max on Instagram @mgocinema

Ada Wesolowska
Kitroom Manager & Clapper Loader

Ada Wesolowska is a 2nd Assistant Camera with unparalleled fervor for all things film. (Nerd alert!).

Her journey into the film industry began in 2014 when she started her BA in Filmmaking at Kingston School of Art. It is there that she spent an unhealthy amount of hours in the darkroom and discovered one of her top passions - all things analogue film, including but not limited to obscure knowledge of Bolex cameras, finding joy in reading Arriflex SR3 manuals and just simply practicing loading any film mag she could get her hands on.

Since graduating in 2017, Ada tried to get her foot and other limbs through the door of the film industry in any way she could, undertaking a range of onset positions in low budget shorts and music videos. These varied from runner, Crowd 2nd AD on a WW2 feature (story for another time), spark and dolly grip. 

It wasn’t until 2018 when if finally daunted on her that camera is the only way forward. Everything about that department was endlessly appealing to Ada and she felt that she had a lot to learn. Therefore, she went on to pursue a Masters Degree at Goldsmiths University with focus on Cinematography, where she got hands-on experience with high end digital cameras and began to understand the roles and responsibilities within the camera department. 

Upon finishing her Masters, Ada started to crew on short films and music videos as a loader, this is when her film passion and knowledge of working with 16mm film came in handy and helped her discover all the other things she loves about being the 2nd AC. 

In 2022, via Equal Access Network managed to secure a position of a Camera Trainee on a Channel4 Pilot “The Odds” lensed by Ryan Eddleston where she had a fantastic opportunity to work with the brilliant Emmyland team, Emmy and Alfie, learn from the best in the business and massively step up her game. 

Soon after that production wrapped, Ada was lucky to be offered a position as a Kitroom Technician in-house at Emmyland where she could let loose all her love for camera gear by looking after, maintaining and most importantly scanning it (she loves scanning). She also began working as a Loader on the Wet Hire jobs with Emmy.

At the beginning of 2023, Ada moved into the new position within the Emmyland family as the Kitroom supervisor. She feels this role is extremely rewarding due to it’s interpersonal aspect. The idea of working together and looking after each other as a team, in order to achieve common goals and customer satisfaction with the camera  and grip gear we provide here at Emmyland, is the reason Ada thrives in the busy and dynamic environment of the kitroom.

Find Ada on Instagram @wesolowska_ada

Dante
Junior Kitroom Technician & Driver

Dante is the most recent addition to our team here at Emmyland and is driving and working within Kitroom. They studied Film and Media in Universidad Complutense in Madrid and during the 2020 pandemic, they found a huge thirst to get properly embedded into the film industry here in London. After being given their first opportunity to work on a small film project in 2021, they found the unpredictable and active nature of being on set irresistible and very addictive. They have been a working within the industry within a few different departments since august 2021, with a big ‘learn by doing’ mindset and wit but found their home working witihin the camera department and haven’t stopped since then.

Find Dante on Instagram @dante__ac

Alfie Brown
Operations Manager & Lead Client Contact
Clapper Loader

Alfie has been a integral part of Emmyland since he started with us in 2019 just after completing his degree in Cinematography at London’s South Bank University where he finished with a 1st and the award for “Best Cinematographer.” Alfie was the first employee at Emmyland beyond Emmy and Max and has been responsible for growing the company from an exclusively wet hire operation, into the rental house that we are today alongside Max and Emmy.

In the beginnings of his time with us, he was trained by Emmy and Max to work alongside them as Camera Trainee and eventually as 2nd Assistant Camera alongside Emmy on all of our wet hire jobs. With hundreds of camera assisting credits to his name over the years as both Camera Trainee and 2nd Assistant Camera, Alfie has a deep understanding of the inner workings of the camera department as well as the film set. He also acted as Emmy and Max’s right hand man from day one when it came to booking in all of our jobs and running the business and was responsible for expanding it from it being 3 people to 12 people in 2023. Stepping in to become our Operations Manager and Lead Client Contact was a more than natural progression.

Today, Alfie is Emmyland’s Operations Manager and is responsible for the daily logistical runnings of the business as well as acting as our Lead Client Contact, managing our Bookings Team. There is no better person to look after our clients than Alfie, with years of varied experience between working as a Client Contact as well as working within the department on the floor. He is incredibly hardworking and never stops or goes home before every aspect of the job is complete. He’s also extremely thorough with a deep reverence for his job and for making sure everything gets booked in perfectly so it can then perform perfectly on the floor, leaving both production and camera teams very very happy.

He deeply understands the needs of both production as well as the camera department and there is no one with truly the same level of experience A true and total Emmyland legend! His loyalty, passion, drive, communication and organisational skills accompanied with his unmatched professionalism makes him an invaluable asset to our company. Alfie is the guy!

Find Alfie on Instagram @alfiebrown3

Julia Bondarenko
Bookings & Office Administrative Assistant

Julia joined Emmyland after leaving Kiev, Ukraine for London in 2022. Julia worked in Ukraine prior to living in London as a TV director and producer and was shooting reality shows, talk shows and commercials and some of her own independent projects.

Julia learned to speak English last year upon moving to London and says she now sends about 40 emails in an ordinary day and in perfectly fluent English. She is responsible for all invoicing, lost, missing and damaged item collection as well as most office, bookings and accounting administration. Her responsibilities are endless and her competency unmatched in locking it all down!

Julia is also the champion and leader of our Booking Team’s 5 minute plank challenge which they partake in on most weekdays. No one is at 5 minutes yet… although Emmy has made it to 4:30!

Find Julia on Instagram @jublaut

Anastassia Anderson
Kitroom Technician

Anastassia "Stass" Anderson is an enthusiastic, sun-loving Camera Trainee and Kitroom Technician originally from Pennsylvania, USA.

In 2018, she received a BA in Film at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she started her freelance career as a runner and eventually a production coordinator for commercial and short film work. Whilst doing this, she worked on passion projects as a DoP and AC, which inspired her to pursue a career change as well as a significant change in scenery.

In 2022, she moved to London to attend University of the Arts for a Masters in Film, concentrating in Cinematography. Shortly after completing the course, she was thrilled to be offered a position at Emmyland as a Kitroom Technician and Camera Trainee.

As a filmmaker she seeks women-led narratives and looks forward to the opportunity to grow her career alongside the Emmyland team! When Stass isn't at Emmyland, you can find her at an art exhibit, trying a new recipe, or watching the sunset with a spritz in hand.

Find Stass on Instagram @anastassia_