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The New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission (NJMPTVC) officially launched its Film Ready New Jersey Program during a kickoff event April 14 at Kean University.

The program is designed to support municipalities and counties as they work to attract productions to their communities and market themselves as filming destinations, especially amid the state’s rapidly growing film industry.

Friday’s event focused on municipalities in Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Passaic and Union counties, with speeches, panels and workshops held for county and municipal employees. It included information about marketing communities for filmmaking; creating film-related municipal ordinances; safe film set protocols with police, fire and first responders; and more.

Film Ready New Jersey is a five-step certification and marketing program that sets basic standards for attracting filmmaking, aimed at building the production ecosystem throughout the state so that all communities can participate in this booming sector.

In February, NJBIZ reported on the inaugural class of Film Ready New Jersey, which took place as a pilot program in four Somerset County towns – Franklin, Hillsborough, South Bound Brook and Watchung. All four completed the certification process to be designated as Film Ready Communities, setting the stage for this wider expansion of the program.

“We are excited to roll out the Film Ready New Jersey Program to additional municipalities. The State of New Jersey offers many advantages to the film and television industry, and the cooperation of our communities is foremost among them,” said NJMPTVC Executive Steven Gorelick. “We are encouraging our cities and towns to welcome filmmakers with open arms, and the Film Ready New Jersey Program is designed to facilitate that. Partnerships with our municipal and county governments are vital to the state’s success.”

Friday’s event also featured remarks from Secretary of State Tahesha Way, whose office oversees the NJMPTVC, and First Lady Tammy Murphy.

“We are thrilled that film production is booming here,” said Way. “Film Ready New Jersey will help ensure that our communities are prepared and benefit as this industry continues to grow.”

“New Jersey’s range of landscapes – from bustling cities like Newark and Jersey City, to idyllic and pristine beaches, to farmland, wetlands, and forests – makes our state a uniquely diverse destination for film and television production,” said Murphy. “As the film industry in our state grows, so will our tourism industry and economy. The Film Ready New Jersey Program will not only ensure municipalities are prepared to accommodate on-location filming, but it will also educate municipal leaders on how to market their communities as ideal filming destinations, helping us to show the world all that there is to love about our state.”

Stay tuned: We’ll take a closer look at what the Film Ready New Jersey program entails and the potential benefits it offers participating communities in the upcoming April 24 issue of NJBIZ.