New Jersey is on the rise.
For years, the state had let opportunity slip through its fingers when it came to film and TV production after Gov. Chris Christie suspended the state’s Film and Digital Media Tax Credit Program in 2010. But in 2018, his successor, Phil Murphy, reinstated the credit, offering up to 30% of eligible expenses and up to 35% in certain more remote areas; over time he expanded the money available, offered incentives for productions meeting diversity criteria and locked in the program through 2039 to provide stability for content producers.
Last year, the revitalization continued when the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission named Jon Crowley executive director. Crowley spent decades in the television industry and has been an elected official in his New Jersey hometown.
“People are taking notice of us,” Crowley says, adding that the state has been ranked around seventh or eighth in terms of domestic location production use but he predicts the state will soon be ranked third. “We’re going to be up at least another 9% over last year, which not a lot of states can say in terms of qualified spend, and the number of productions is greater as well so we’re putting more people to work.”
Molly Conners, COO of Phiphen Studios, a 10,000-square-foot facility that offers production space and fills an underserved niche in post-production services, says they were drawn by the tax credits in 2020, moving to New Jersey after their lease at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, N.Y., expired.
“New Jersey has been doing a good job and communicating well with the industry,” says Phiphen CEO Jane Sinisi, while Conners adds that it was “refreshing” to see Murphy representing the state internationally at last year’s Toronto Intl. Film Festival.
Scott Levy, who founded Eastern Effects in Brooklyn, decided to expand to New Jersey in 2021, opening 10 Basin Studios in Kearny. “Jon and his staff have been doing a bang-up job,” Levy says “They’re 24-7 and live and breathe this; they’re a real part of why New Jersey is excelling.”
He notes that the state’s recently added benefits for unscripted reality-based shows is “driving an influx of production inquires.” (10 Basin, which recently expanded by about 25% to about 60,000 square feet, recently hosted Jimmy Fallon’s new unscripted series, “On Brand.”)
Callina Liang stars in “Presence,” Steven Soderbergh’s horror film that shot in New Jersey.
And now three major new players are joining in. “There’s a shortage of quality infrastructure in the northeast,” says Robert Halmi Jr., CEO of Great Point Studios, which has a massive footprint in Westchester and now is planning a foray into Newark opening next year. “There’s not a lot of infrastructure and no true purpose-built stages. We’re opening the first true modern facility here and Netflix will follow a year later and then [1888 Studios].”
Halmi says he was courted by the governor, who sought advice about legislation, which led to, among other things, an extra incentive for building large facilities and signing 10- year leases.
Netflix is spending a reported $900 million to turn an empty military base into 12 soundstages on 500,000 square feet of new development. They are still awaiting some local approvals in Monmouth County. 1888 Studios is the first New Jersey Economic Development Authority Film-Lease Partner Facility, which allows enhanced tax credits. 1888 Studios is building nearly two dozen soundstages in Bayonne as well as other facilities (plus a waterfront park and promenade open to the public).
Flynn Busson, founder of 1888 (named for the year a New Jersey inventor named Thomas Edison filed the patent for the first-ever movie camera), says his company started building because of a shortage of soundstage space everywhere, especially in the New York area. He doesn’t view the other two newcomers as competition. “We’ll all help grow the ecosystem and the infrastructure and there’s plenty of production to go around,” he says.
Busson praises the state and Gov. Murphy for the “multiple major upgrades” to their tax incentive program over the last five years, adding, “the state has been incredibly patient and incredibly supportive while trying to build a long lasting legacy and industry.”
Levy isn’t worried about getting bigfooted by the new major sites. “If there’s more infrastructure people will take New Jersey more seriously,” he says, adding that his company hasn’t spent hundreds of millions so they can be “more competitive on rates,” knowing that even if many productions will go to the giant soundstages because they need, say, 50-foot ceilings, there’ll be enough to go around.
While many states have been struggling in the aftermath of the 2023 Hollywood strikes, Crowley says, the Garden State is blossoming in part because of the “aggressive outreach” of his staff, enlightening studios and producers about tax incentives, the workforce (and training programs to build for the future), the expanding infrastructure and a variety of locations that offers “one-stop shopping.”
(Indeed, Conners says “the state has everything from horse country to inner cities to lakes and ocean beach fronts.”)
Mason Gooding and Rachel Zegler in New Jersey-shot “Y2K.”
To further raise its profile the state hosted a New Jersey Film Expo in early May. “They’re pulling out all the stops to make sure everybody is aware of what’s going on in New Jersey,” says Aldey Sanchez, managing director of Phiphen Studios.
“It’s refreshing to see how the film commission and the various state departments have been trying to make an efficient system for filmmakers,” he adds, pointing to the state’s Film Ready program, where the commission “essentially trains all the different towns within the state to become film ready so producers can go into a town and have the police and fire department and everyone else on board.”
Crowley says the Film Ready program encourages shooting in towns that previously hadn’t benefited from production dollars — like the spend on groceries and dry cleaners and hardware stores. He says he encourages these towns to keep permit costs to a minimum. “You’re never going to balance your budget on permits but if you attract productions, you can make your local businesses incredibly profitable,” he says, adding that his commission staff is “way more hands-on” then commissions in most states. “We’re there to help, to facilitate filmmaking, interacting with municipalities and other state agencies.”
New Jersey has 564 municipalities, he notes, so the commission has been working with the state’s attorney general about permitting and other requirements to build more consistency throughout the state. “We’re trying to take that issue off the table,” he says.
Meanwhile, New Jersey’s executives say the relationship with New York is less competitive and more symbiotic. “You can’t replicate a New York City backdrop but sometimes you need a country scene nearby,” Levy says, adding that his operating costs are lower in New Jersey, so he now keeps all his equipment there. “Talent lives on both sides of the Hudson and about 40% of the area’s crews live in New Jersey and appreciate working closer to home.”
There are, of course, issues beyond the state’s control. The strikes led to some productions moving overseas, Levy says, and now the Trump tariffs will have a “significant impact” on the industry, hiking costs for lighting equipment repairs or upgrades (with parts manufactured in China) and lumber for building sets, among other items.
While President Trump’s policies may well cause a recession, both Levy and Halmi say their industry is virtually recession-proof. “Content remains vitally important and our business does well in recessions when there’s nothing to do but watch television,” Halmi says. “Everyone is expecting a boom in production toward the end of this year and that starts with the major markets like New York, which includes New Jersey.”
