The basics:

• New Jersey’s film and TV industry is booming, fueled by generous tax credits
• Over $600M in production spending expected in 2025, surpassing previous years
• Film Ready NJ is streamlining permits and boosting local business involvement
• Industry leaders like Netflix and Lionsgate are establishing roots in the state

Filming and production are booming in New Jersey buoyed by several elements, particularly the state’s Film and Digital Media Tax Credit Program. That initiative incentivizes the industry with a 30% base credit of qualified production expenses incurred here, with bonus credits available.

Last March, the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, which is overseen by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, hired Jon Crowley as its new executive director. Crowley, who brings decades of experience in the television industry, succeeded long-time leader Steve Gorelick.

The boom is being felt all over the state – both in terms of economic impact and culture, with high-profile productions such as “A Complete Unknown,” “Severance,” and the upcoming “Happy Gilmore 2” featuring Jersey-filmed shots and landmarks.

This year, the state is on pace to surpass the total production volume of 2023 and 2024 combined. Last year, 35 productions qualified for the tax credit program, with a projected spend expected to exceed $600 million.

NJBIZ recently caught up with Crowley, who serves as a councilman and police commissioner in Atlantic Highlands, where he resides, to discuss his first year on the job, upcoming initiatives and areas of focus, and how much potential this sector still has to grow.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Crowley told NJBIZ about the first year in this role. “It’s a lot of work – but it’s the sort of work I enjoy doing. I started in this business 30 years ago. I came up as a writer and director. One of my very first jobs was an editor on the Academy Awards – and then over to a show called ‘Cops.’ A couple of other things – and then more writing and a lot of directing for many, many years.

“And then about 16, 17 years ago, I became a showrunner. So, I was running a lot of shows – and then I worked at the network for about seven or eight years. I was VP-level over at TruTV, with Time Warner – and then the Food Network and also SYFY over at NBC Comcast.”

He said that when the pandemic hit, he started developing and selling shows.

“I optioned or sold probably about 11 different shows, including one that premiered just about two years ago called – ‘Breaking the Ice’ about an all-female, all-diverse competitive ice staking team. And then I was the executive producer and developed ‘Impractical Jokers.’ So, when this came up, I thought – well, I’m a councilman and a police commissioner and I got production work. I was like – this is a really good combination of all the things that I’ve done up to this point.

“It felt like a really good fit.”

‘New Jersey’s got it’

Crowley noted that now instead of pitching a show – and its characters and premise – he is helping to pitch an entire state.

“Instead of the faces on the posters – it’s our great tax incentives; our super, large and experienced workforce; our variety of locations; the film commission itself; our infrastructure,” he explained. “In some ways, it’s even easier than pitching and developing a show. Because at the end of the day, when you talk about all of these great assets that you have – why would you say no about filming in New Jersey?”

As he spoke about the tax incentive program, which was expanded under Gov. Phil Murphy, Crowley described it as the “door-opener” for productions.

“To turn and say – wait 30% or 35%, plus 2% to 4% for diversity, plus there is a post-production digital tax incentive. That obviously generates a lot of interest,” he said. “For a studio or network, that piques their interest. And then once they come through the door – they start seeing all these other things, the experienced workforce, the variety of locations. And they are like – this is one-stop-shopping. Anything I need – they’ve got.”

[Once a studio or network sees NJ’s] experienced workforce, the variety of locations … they are like – this is one-stop-shopping. Anything I need – they’ve got.
– Jon Crowley, executive director, NJ Motion Picture and Television Commission

From there, Crowley mentioned an event that took place at the Meadowlands May 1 – the inaugural NJ Film Expo.

“That’s an idea that comes from the film commission and we handed it off to the Screen Alliance of New Jersey. They’re actually producing it – and the EDA is sponsoring it. But that comes from our conversations with studios and networks. Where they say – if I come to New Jersey, can you do volume work? Do you have effects artists? Do you have enough grip and electric rental? And it’s like – yes, yes, yes, yes. We are not some backwater stop. We have everything you need.

“That’s sort of the tagline for this event – whatever your production needs, New Jersey’s got it.”

The event featured more than 70 different exhibitors under one roof – along with key leaders, stakeholders, towns that participate in the Film Ready NJ program and more.

“Anybody coming in as a guest – they walk in and they’re going to see this entire infrastructure,” said Crowley. “It’s pieces of the puzzle that you need to be able to stand up in support of production beyond like a soundstage or beyond the incentives. But together, that’s why we’re dragging more business away from like Georgia, Louisiana, Texas or Illinois – which are some of our bigger competitors.

“Because people are saying – and again, I’m repeating myself – but why would you say no?”

What to expect

Referencing the book about having a baby – “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” – Crowley described the Film Ready NJ program as what to expect when you’re expecting a film production.

“It’s a great one-stop-shop kickoff for a municipality to be able to come to and understand some of the things that they’re going to need to be aware of when a production is coming into town,” said Crowley about the program.

He also noted an effort to close some of the inconsistencies of the film permit process between towns.

“In terms of how long it took to get your film permit or how much a film permit was,” said Crowley, pointing to a review last summer. “Decided to sort of stop things down. And we worked really closely with the Attorney General’s Office – with the notion of any town that gets certified to become Film Ready; now we’re building consistency throughout the state.

“So, if you’re a studio or network – and you see that there’s a town that certified as Film Ready, you automatically know exactly how many days it’s going to take to get a permit,” he continued. “You automatically know what the cost is for that permit. What we’re trying to do – in addition to building consistency through the state, is there’s a lot of unit production managers and line producers that live in New York and they’ve been working in New York for 20, 30 years.”

That means that there is consistency when working within any of the five boroughs.

“There’s a consistency that they’ve [been] dealing with for years and years. And when they traditionally would think of New Jersey, their head would explode because they know there’s 564 different municipalities. And that means there’s 564 different sets of rules. With Film Ready, now we’ve got consistency between more and more towns – so they know what they are getting into.”

Shop local

And then of course, when those productions come into town, dollars are being spent at local businesses — everything from food to dry cleaning to fuel to hotels and more.

“It’s about two things – spreading the qualified spend all around the state,” said Crowley. “And helping businesses and communities that way. But also, providing more work. The more production we get in here – and we’ve already got over 45 different productions that are committed to the state for this year, which is great. We’re ahead of last year’s schedule.

“You do the math – 150-, 200-, 300-person crew on that number of productions – we’re putting a lot of people to work,” said Crowley.

He noted two other components of Film Ready – including a location library and NJ-411, which is a production services listing.

“It’s free for businesses to register on the NJ-411 and we just sort of juiced it up over the last month here. [B]usinesses can now put a link to their website and they can put some photographs up,” said Crowley. “And productions when they come into the state – they can go on the NJ-411. And they can see where they are filming and then compare immediately to where a business exists.

“That makes it really easy for production to see what sort of support businesses exist in their area where they’re filming,” Crowley explained. “And our location library’s got well over 40,000 different stills of houses, office space, industrial space – everything from the Battleship New Jersey to the former Bell Labs where ‘Severance’ films. We’ve got all kinds of great architecture and it’s a super easy way for a municipality or business or homeowner to put themselves out there and whet the appetite of a location scout.”

‘Filmed in New Jersey’

The discussion then shifted to the cultural impact of having such widely seen and loved television shows and movies showcasing the sights, sounds and people of the great Garden State.

“Every film or TV series that films here – if they go through the tax incentive program, they’re putting up a logo at the end of their project that says, ‘Filmed in New Jersey.’ And the local press has been really good about picking up stories – like, we spotted Adam Sandler.”

Crowley believes that the boom will lead to a growing film tourism segment in the state.

“With things like ‘Severance’ and ‘Happy Gilmore’ and ‘A Complete Unknown,’” said Crowley, those could draw visitors from around the area. “Come over here and you can start looking at locations from ‘Sopranos.’ DeNiro is here right now. JLo is here right now. Julianne Moore is here right now with Jesse Eisenberg. Spielberg is here.”

“We’re sending out the invites to people. Because if you don’t send out the invites, you don’t know to come – and you don’t know what you’re missing,” said Crowley. “And then they get here and then word spreads, also, how easy it is to film in New Jersey versus – if I went into the city, parking and traffic, and all of that stuff. We don’t have those issues here.

“It’s a very easy place to shoot – on top of all the other stuff we just talked about.”

The arrival of Netflix and Lionsgate raises the question of what the next frontier is with major production soundstages and hubs coming to the state.

“We’re moving from, historically, number seven or eight in terms of domestic filming – into number four on a regular basis. And I think that once the walls are up for the soundstages, we’ll turn into a top three domestic filming location, right behind LA and New York,” said Crowley. “Because right now, the bulk of our business is exterior, location filming. But we have three purpose-built stages that exist right now – Cinelease. We have over 70 stages throughout New Jersey right now that are warehouse conversions, which are getting busier and busier all the time as more and more production is coming here.

“There’s a rise – we were $590 million two years ago in qualified spend. We’re going to blow past $600 million. I can’t tell you the exact number because we’re still adding things up. But we’re going to blow past $600 [million]. And as the word spreads, more production comes here.”

He said that the train is already headed down the track.

“And we’re going to be full speed when the purpose-built stages arrive online,” said Crowley. “Because, again, it really comes down to – why would you say no to filming here? We literally, at that point, will have everything you need.”