More NJ towns becoming ‘film ready’
It’s no secret that New Jersey is becoming a hotbed for television and film production. Competitive tax breaks are drawing producers and the diversity of locations that New Jersey offers means a creative crew can find almost any backdrop look they need.
Film production has already brought in well over $2 billion to our state, which some have called Hollywood East. It’s good for local businesses, it creates jobs, and it gets us noticed more.
The New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission has a program to increase a town or county’s chances of landing a film project, and thus bring dollars and jobs into communities. It’s called the Film Ready program.
It’s a workshop for a community to learn more aspects of what television and film production is all about and how they can better accommodate a project. Advice on permitting and ordinances, opportunities for small local business to benefit, how to market their town to producers and much more. It’s a five-step certification process.
A town or county getting certified as "film ready" lets the industry know a project can hit the ground running from day one and they’ll be dealing with people that are more savvy about their needs.
So far four counties are certified and 14 towns. The counties are Bergen, Passaic, Somerset and Union. The towns are Jersey City, Berkeley Heights, Manville, Cranford. Fair Lawn, Newark, Plainfield, Pompton Lakes, West Orange, Ringwood, Westwood, Ridgefieid Park, Roseland, and one town I’m particularly fond of, Rahway.
That’s where I was born and raised. It should surprise no one that my hometown of Rahway had the foresight to earn Film Ready certification with all the great movies that have been shot there over the years.
Sylvester Stallone chose East Jersey State Prison in Rahway/Avenel to film “Lock Up” and even used actual prisoners as extras in the film. At the time he said they were the easiest extras he’d ever worked with.
There was Mickey Roarke’s Oscar-nominated film “The Wrestler” that saw extensive filming in Rahway and throughout Union County.
“Rounders,” “Malcom X,” “The Hurricane,” “School of Rock” and “Ocean’s Eleven” are just some of the movies made at least in part here.
The Film Ready New Jersey program is helping the state’s film industry grow by giving municipalities and counties the tools needed to welcome top-tier productions to their communities,” said Tim Sullivan with the NJ Motion Picture and Television Commission told northjersey.com . “As more productions choose New Jersey as their backdrop, the training provided by the Film Ready program will generate an economic boost for communities across the state by creating jobs, supporting small businesses and attracting tourism.
That is what it’s all about, and New Jersey is more than ready for its close-up.
LOOK: Which movies were filmed in New Jersey?
Gallery Credit: Stacker
LOOK: Which movies were filmed in Pennsylvania?
Gallery Credit: Stacker
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