The Thames Estuary is home to a fast-growing network of screen-sector businesses, from gaming, animation and post-production, groundbreaking immersive and virtual technology, through to feature film studios.

CAMA, based in Southend, offers a seamless solution for productions to manage their assets such as props and costumes. Their purpose-built facility provides over 27,000 square feet of secure storage, along with lifecycle asset management software, reuse services, and carbon footprint monitoring. CAMA has provided storage facilities for some of the most well-known films and TV shows in the UK.

Ella Nevill, Head of Strategic Growth for CAMA’s service AssetFlow, speaks with Creative Estuary, providing insights into the film and screen industries and the value of the Thames Estuary for this priority sector.

Tell us about CAMA:

CAMA was founded over 100 years ago as an export trading business. Over the past six years, it has evolved to focus specifically on the film and TV sector, offering three core services: AssetStore, AssetCycle, and AssetFlow.

• AssetStore provides state-of-the-art storage facilities in Southend, housing everything from sets and props to costumes.
• AssetCycle supports the circular economy, redistributing production assets to other productions or local community groups when no longer needed, helping reduce waste and track carbon savings from reuse.
• AssetFlow, launched in late 2024 as a separate technology scale-up, is an asset management platform. The software powers our storage facilities as well as supporting productions and studios during filming, wrap, and through their own archiving.

What are the benefits to being based in Southend?

We moved to Southend in August 2024, establishing our headquarters at the airport business park. The facility is powered by solar energy, reflecting our commitment to sustainability. Being based in Southend is highly beneficial to us because of the excellent links to London, and it positions us nicely for many studios who need to store items.

Southend has lots of incredible creative organisations and social enterprises, so when a production has assets they no longer need, there are always local community groups that take them. Being in Southend also unlocks many opportunities for us because it is accessible and more affordable for big productions compared to central London.

Southend Council has signposted us to many networking groups and business support programmes. For us, we are the only film and TV related business on the site we are based on, so we bring a new dimension to the area. We are keen to be a leader for film and TV in Southend.

How important is it to be part of a wider network like Creative Estuary?

Being part of a wider network like Creative Estuary is invaluable. We are already part of industry-wide groups like the Production Guild of Great Britain, and our next priority is establishing regional networks.

Networks like Creative Estuary validates the region’s role in the industry. Without a steering group like that, it is hard to be seen. Being part of a network when you’re a small business like us legitimises the work we do and creates a pocket for us to operate in. Having a regional name on something opens many doors for us.

What is next for CAMA?

For AssetStore, we aim to scale up the solutions we have for productions to store assets. With AssetFlow being launched in November 2024, we are applying for lots of exciting projects. This year, we are consolidating what we have done, and we are scaling it up to allow even more studios and productions to benefit from it.

A dream vision is to inspire a culture shift around how the film and TV industry manages its assets. The industry is both a major contributor to the UK economy, but also a significant polluter. My hope is that we can trigger or support innovation with our software and keep changing minds and culture around how they use the things they have on set, whether its props, sets and costumes or production materials.