New Jersey, Birthplace of Movies, Reclaims Hollywood's Business

New Jersey's film and television spending reached $1.2 billion in 2025, a figure exceeded only by California, New York and Georgia, according to production data firm ProdPro. Ten years ago, that number was $67 million. California, meanwhile, watched its film spending fall 37% to $5.2 billion between 2021 and 2025. The industry that Edison invented in West Orange has come home, and it brought its wallet.

The historical irony is not lost on anyone. Thomas A. Edison began developing a motion picture camera at his West Orange laboratory in 1888, and his crew built the first soundstage. The industry then fled west, partly to avoid steep licensing fees from Edison's Motion Picture Patents Co. Jon Crowley, former director of New Jersey's Motion Picture & Television Commission, put it bluntly: "Taxes drove the filmmakers away and now, tax incentives are bringing them back again."

Who is filming there now?

Nearly three dozen major films and TV projects shot in New Jersey in 2025, double the count of five years ago. The roster is not made up of leftovers. Adam Sandler and Chris Rock are shooting "Grown Ups 3" for Netflix. George Clooney and Annette Bening filmed scenes at Baron's Drug Store in Westfield. Steven Spielberg's thriller "Disclosure Day" and the Stallone biopic "I Play Rocky" both shot there. Fox's "The Masked Singer" abandoned Los Angeles after 14 seasons for the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford.

Showrunners Robert and Michelle King shoot their new CBS legal drama, "Cupertino," in a converted Kearny warehouse — a stand-in for Silicon Valley. "We are welcome here. ... The governor of New Jersey came to our set," Robert King said. "They really want the talent coming in and all of the infrastructure that gets built up around it." Michelle King added that it was, "weirdly," easier to find Northern California look-alikes in New Jersey than in New York.

What changed the state's fortunes?

The turnaround began under former Gov. Phil Murphy, elected in 2017. "We felt, you know what, we've got as much talent as anybody," Murphy told The Times. "We've got the best location that money could buy." New Jersey sits within striking distance of New York's Thirty-Mile Zone (the radius beyond which producers pay extra travel costs), and an estimated 20% of New York-area crews already live there. In 2018 the state adopted transferable tax credits (credits sellable to other firms) of up to 35%, later extended through 2049. Unlike California, New Jersey lets a portion of star salaries count toward the credit; unlike New York, no certified stage is required.

Producer Robert Halmi of Great Point Studios explained the logic with a producer's economy: "Shows follow the money, and the money in this instance is tax incentives." New Jersey, he said, delivered crew base, government support and incentives "basically on a silver platter." Netflix, Paramount and Lionsgate hold "studio partner" status, earning a 40% base credit in exchange for 10-year commitments plus access to an extra $150 million annual incentive pool.

What is being built?

Netflix is the biggest bet: up to $387 million in state support for a roughly $850 million campus on 292 acres of the former Ft. Monmouth Army base, with 12 soundstages and 500,000 square feet of studio space. The first phase should finish by next fall. Great Point Studios is building a $200 million, 270,000-square-foot complex in Newark with Lionsgate as anchor tenant, its first phase due by June.

The most speculative project sits at the foot of the Bayonne Bridge: 1888 Studios, a $1.2 billion, 58-acre complex designed by Gensler with Art Deco flair, backed by investor Arpad "Arki" Busson and anchored by Paramount, which committed to lease nearly 300,000 square feet under a 10-year deal. The family seeks financing to start construction next spring and open in 2029. The name honors the year Edison patented the first movie camera. "This was the place of birth of the industry, and clearly, the idea is to bring it back to Jersey," Busson said.

Can it last?

Officials insist this is not a sugar rush. "It's not just dump-trucking money to create something out of nothing and then, as soon as the incentives dry up, it's bye-bye," said Evan Weiss, chief executive of the state's Economic Development Authority. The state gained nearly 2,000 film jobs last year, and studio owner Scott Levy of Eastern Effects is already scouting more stage space — warily, given lenders' nerves after defaults like Hackman Capital Partners'. "Nobody wants to over-commit and then get stuck," Levy said. The governor's office, local mayors and unions, Netflix's Will Castleberry noted, are all rowing the same direction. For now, the money says Jersey.