New Jersey Rolls Out Tax Breaks to Lure Film, TV Productions

Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. Happy Saturday. I'm Janae Pierre. New Jersey is making moves to become a major player in film and television production. Governor Phil Murphy signed new legislation this week that he hopes will entice more studios and production companies to choose the Garden State over Hollywood by making it less costly to film in Jersey. WNYC's Mike Hayes is here to break it all down. Welcome to the show, Mike.

Mike Hayes: Thanks for having me, Janae. Janae, let me ask you this. What's your favorite movie or TV show filmed in New Jersey?

Janae Pierre: Off the top of my head, Mike, I gotta say, American Gangster with Denzel Washington. Are you familiar with that one?

Mike Hayes: Oh, that's a great pick. Shout out to Denzel, my fellow Fordham University alumni. Let me give you a few more notables. These were all filmed in the last couple of years. We've got the Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet. I thought he did a pretty good job there. Fans of the Apple TV show Severance will recognize the site of Lumen Industries, the beautiful cavernous atrium that they have there, as well as some of the exterior shots. That was all filmed at the former Bell Lab site in Central Jersey. Coming up this summer, we have Happy Gilmore 2. I'm holding out hopes that that movie might be okay. It was that the original was a childhood favorite of mine. Robert De Niro's next movie was filmed in New Jersey. Of course, the Bruce Springsteen movie, unsurprisingly, also filmed in New Jersey.

Janae Pierre: Oh, yes, can't forget about that Bruce Springsteen movie. That's interesting. Mike, why are all these movies and shows picking the Garden State?

Mike Hayes: A big answer to that question is a financial one. The short answer there is two words: tax credits. New Jersey gives production companies lucrative tax breaks. That hasn't always been the case, by the way. Back when Chris Christie was governor, he actually killed this program, but Governor Murphy brought it back in 2018, and since then, the state has allowed companies to claim tax breaks that equal between 30 and 40% of their budgets. We're talking millions and millions of dollars.

This bill that Governor Murphy signed this week, it expands the program and the amount that the state is willing to commit from 150 million to 250 million, which is actually on top of 400 million in what's called discretionary spending, which is all outlined in the state's budget for the coming fiscal year. Now, a lot of other states have these programs as well. New York is one of them. I spoke with the lawmaker who wrote this bill. His name is Senator Raj Mukherji. He's out of Jersey City, and he says New Jersey is really trying to be competitive with places like New York and Hollywood.

So far, the state has gotten some pretty big wins from this program. Most notably, was able to convince Netflix to come to New Jersey.

Janae Pierre: Wow. What exactly are Netflix's plans in New Jersey?

Mike Hayes: Yes, so they signed a deal to turn an old army base, Fort Monmouth, it's not far from the Jersey Shore. Actually, they just broke ground in May on a massive soundstage operation. It's going to be close to a million square feet. We're not just talking about a major entertainment company choosing to come to New Jersey and film something. They're actually setting up what officials hope will be a long-term operation. Going back to this week's bill, Janae, the legislation that Murphy signed also included a provision for an even bigger project to get the same deal that Netflix got.

They got a 40% tax break on that project to transform that old army base, but the project is being finalized right now, and it's with a company called 1888 Productions. That 1888 is actually a nod to Thomas Edison, who invented the motion picture camera in, you guessed it, New Jersey in 1888. This project is going to be in Bayonne, New Jersey. It's going to be about 1.5 million square feet. Senator Mukherji told me about this. He said he couldn't say who the tenants are going to be, but he said it's going to be major global brands, and he's hoping to talk about that more soon.

Janae Pierre: We can all assume that not everybody in New Jersey is happy about giving all this money to film companies, right? Can you talk a bit more about that, Mike?

Mike Hayes: Sure. Some progressives say this is to borrow the title of the 1980s Tom Cruise classic Risky Business, given the state's fiscal situation. This added spending on corporate tax credits comes as the state is running a structural deficit. The budget that Murphy signed this week has a $0.1 billion structural deficit. That means the state is taking in less money in revenue than what it's spending. Murphy himself has said throughout the budget process that New Jersey really needs to be tightening its belt, especially with expected cuts to federal funding from the Trump administration.

The state is expecting Washington to cut $3 billion alone in Medicaid funding. I talked to the New Jersey Policy Perspective about this. They're a progressive think tank, and they pointed out that programs like child tax credits, earned income tax credits, and direct cash assistance remain the same for next year's budget, while the film tax credits were increased.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Mike Hayes. Thanks a lot, Mike.

Mike Hayes: Sure. Thanks for having me.

Janae Pierre: Thank you for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend. We'll be back on Monday.

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