“A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet (left) and Elle Fanning, filmed in 17 New Jersey municipalities in 2024, including Hoboken. — Searchlight Pictures Press Photo
By Patricia Alex
Filming took place in 20 towns in North Jersey for the hit summer comedy “Happy Gilmore 2,” which generated a record-breaking 46.7 million views on Netflix during its premiere weekend.
Paterson and Cape May both featured prominently in the recent Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” and the second season of the popular “Severance” series returned to film at the iconic Bell Works in Holmdel.
If those backdrops seemed familiar to New Jerseyans, that’s because the state is increasingly popular for location shoots. Look no further than a growing state program that has helped streamline filming in many towns and cities to make them more attractive to TV and movie productions, while several major studio projects also are planned with the help of robust tax incentives.
“The film industry is starting to see that New Jersey is a large back lot,” said Elizabeth Parchment, team leader for marketing and strategic initiatives for the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, which estimates that the industry generated nearly $800 million in economic activity in the state last year.
Much of the traffic appears to be driven by Netflix, which is scouting New Jersey locations in advance of its 1.1 million-square-foot studio project that’s coming to Fort Monmouth by 2028.
To speed the process, the commission in 2022 launched Film Ready New Jersey — a multistep program that educates and certifies municipalities and counties to attract and support film and television production. It provides training on the basics of location shooting and legal and logistical issues like permitting fees and marketing.
There are now 43 “film-ready communities,” including 19 municipalities and two counties that were added in early August, while another 50 are in the pipeline for certification later this year, Parchment said. Film Ready towns adhere to a uniform and transparent fee schedule and a set of rules that make it easier to film over multiple locations in more than one town. It also requires that towns have a designated liaison for filming and upload pictures of potential locations to a local Film Ready website.
The program is designed to streamline the process in a state with 564 municipalities and 21 counties — each with its own governance — and make it easier for production companies to do business. It appears to be working.
“It’s a net positive because it brings a lot of filming to New Jersey. No other state is doing what we’re doing,” said Moshe Gross, principal of Reset Locations of Lakewood, which brokers deals between property owners and production companies and manages site logistics.
“I’m talking to ten different films right now. I’ve never had this many before,” said Gross, whose business started with commercial locations but has expanded into residential spots, recently brokering a shoot at a high-end beachfront home in Long Branch.
Film Ready New Jersey “provides clarity and consistency for the benefit of the towns and the productions that come here,” Parchment said. “We tell towns this is not a revenue raiser — you’re not going to plug your budget, but you’ll see an economic boon for smaller businesses in your town that support the film and television ecosystem.”
That boost extends from local caterers and restaurants to hardware stores and the police officers and firefighters making overtime as streets are blocked and transformed into sets.
“The commission has really opened doors for us — we gathered photos and images showcasing what Perth Amboy has to offer,” said Noelia Colon, the city’s film liaison and deputy director of economic development. In the movie “Tow,” Perth Amboy’s Madison Avenue served as a stand-in for Seattle. And a Netflix production scouting for filming this fall aims to use the downtown to represent Queens.
“With a little ‘movie magic’ they can make it into what they need,” Colon said.
Town officials report minimal complaints from residents and businesses where traffic may be disrupted. Instead, locals tend to take pride in the filming, said Joe Skillender, director of planning, zoning and economic development for Bayonne. The city’s streets have served as a backdrop for the upcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic and episodes of Queen Latifah’s “The Equalizer.” Kevin James recently filmed “Guns Up” at the 8th Street Broadway Diner.
Bayonne also has plans to host a massive studio complex on the former Texaco site on the waterfront. The so-called 1888 Studios project, named for year the motion-picture camera was invented, would feature 23 soundstages in 17 buildings. Netflix, meantime, broke ground on its studio project in Monmouth County in the spring. Those two projects combined could bring as much as $2 billion in investment into production in the state. Both rely on the state’s robust tax credits for the film industry, adopted in 2018 and now extended through 2049.
The studio projects combined with the relative ease (as compared to New York) of location shooting bodes well for the state becoming a filming hub. New Jersey’s varied landscape — seashore, mountains, casinos, small towns and big cities — makes it attractive to location scouts.
“It used to be that productions were based in New York and ventured to New Jersey — now it’s the other way around,” said Angus Ledgerwood, first vice president of Location Managers Guild International, based in Los Angeles. “As filming has grown, the counties and the cities have adapted and grown. The doors are opened, and it’s made extremely easy for us. It’s refreshing how welcoming the towns can be.”
The commission touted the diversity of locations found in “A Complete Unknown.” Cape May was transformed into Rhode Island, the area around City Hall in Paterson stood in for 1960s Greenwich Village, The Ritz Theatre in Elizabeth was made into Carnegie Hall and Newark Symphony Hall doubled as a San Francisco concert venue.
At Newport, a mixed-use community on the Jersey City waterfront, owner and developer LeFrak has created a 30-second “sizzle reel” featuring “300 acres of film-friendly locations,” with gleaming high-rises and stunning views of the Manhattan skyline.
“At Newport we’re hearing from major film studios, television networks and streaming services,” said Charles Burton, head of government and community relations for LeFrak. He said one production recently spent $120,000 for three days of filming at Newport, including space rental, parking and catering.
“The state and city both have film commissions that are well staffed,” he said. “In other states, like New York, it’s a longer process. New Jersey moves a lot more quickly so, right off the bat, that’s attractive to location scouts … We’re responsive and nimble.”
A former newspaper reporter and editor, Patricia Alex writes about development and other issues in New Jersey.
Demand for studio space still growing in New Jersey, as officials move to expand opportunities
