New Jersey is a step closer to becoming Hollywood East, attracting a third major movie studio and helping to advance the Garden State's goal of becoming a global hub for film-and-TV production.
Paramount, part of a combined company with Skydance since August, is set to become an anchor tenant at 1888 Studios, a state-of-the-art, 1.6 million-square-foot soundstage campus under construction in Bayonne. Paramount signed a minimum 10-year lease to occupy more than 285,000 square feet at the facility, establishing a major production center in New Jersey, the company and 1888 Studios said.
The deal marks another success for a state tax incentive program that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and lawmakers reinstated and expanded in an effort to attract film and TV producers. New Jersey's goal was to be competitive with other states — such as Georgia, California, New York and Texas — that were offering attractive tax breaks for companies to shoot films and TV programs within their borders. And there has been a surge of such production in New Jersey already.
The economic development strategy has helped spur construction of at least four major New Jersey production facilities, including the one in Bayonne, throughout the state.
And two big film-and-TV companies in addition to Paramount — streaming giant Netflix and Lionsgate — are expected to create content in local studios. In fact, Netflix is investing about $1 billion to build a large production campus at Fort Monmouth.
Togus Urban Renewal is the developer of 1888 Studios, touted as the largest campus-style production facility in the Northeast and one of the largest in the nation. The 58-acre facility — designed by architect Gensler — is set to have over 1.1 million square feet of production space spanning 23 sound stages with a minimum of 40-foot clear ceilings; production support space; flexible post-production space; offices; mills; a base camp and backlot; and lighting and grip facilities to accommodate every phase of production.
State support
The Bayonne studio project has gotten several assists from the state. In June last year 1888 Studios, named after the year Thomas Edison patented the motion film camera he invented in New Jersey, was awarded up to $400 million in tax credits by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The facility was designated to be a transformative project under the incentive program.
Through New Jersey’s revised Film and Digital Media Tax Credit legislation, 1888 Studios said it can offer tenants competitive incentives comparable to other leading production hubs worldwide.
Expanded this year, the program empowers the NJEDA to designate three studio partners and three film-lease partner facilities, each linked to large-scale infrastructure commitments.
In May of last year, 1888 Studios, which will have multiple tenants, was designated New Jersey’s first film-lease partner facility. Paramount has submitted its studio partner application, under NJEDA review, to be brought to its board Thursday for consideration.
Companies that commit to occupy a New Jersey film production facility for at least 10 years are potentially eligible for a 40% base tax credit for qualified production expenses on future New Jersey film projects.
“Scaling our production and expanding our slate of world-class entertainment is central to our long-term strategy," Andy Gordon, Paramount chief strategy officer and chief operating officer, said in a statement. "Thanks to highly competitive tax credit programs like New Jersey’s, the tri-state area is more attractive than ever before for production as we work together to create new jobs and empower more domestic production for America’s creative workforce.”
Other major New Jersey projects
New Jersey has a trio of other major movie-and-TV production facilities in the works, all in the wake of New Jersey's revived tax incentive program. Netflix has started construction of Netflix Studio and has been awarded up to $387 million in tax credits for what will be its flagship studio complex on the East Coast.
The studio campus will be over 1 million square feet and include 12 soundstages, backlot areas, an office building and other production support facilities.
In Newark, Great Point Studios will be built on the former site of a public housing complex. The $125 million development is a partnership between TV and film producer Robert Halmi, the Santa Monica, California-based studio Lionsgate and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. It will be 300,000 square feet and have five sound stages.
And in Carteret, a TV-and-film studio is slated to anchor a 1.2 million-square-foot development. Carteret Stages was slated to have a dozen 20,000-square-foot soundstages.
In 2018, Murphy signed a bill that restored tax credits for film and TV producers who set up shop in the Garden State. In 2015, then-Gov. Chris Christie suspended that state’s film-and-TV tax incentive program, prompting TV shows such as "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" to leave its studio in North Bergen, New Jersey, and shoot in New York City.
“By attracting world-class studios and productions, we are not only creating high-quality jobs, promoting infrastructure, and driving economic growth, but are also investing in our communities and elevating New Jersey as a national leader in entertainment,” Murphy said in a statement on Paramount's lease at 1888 Studios.
Spending sets state record
The new incentive program appears to have reaped rewards for the state.
Last week, the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, part of the NJEDA, said that overall in-state production spending from filmmaking hit $833 million in 2024, surpassing the previous record of $701 million in 2022. And 556 productions were filmed in New Jersey last year, hiring a total of more than 30,000 crew members, nearly doubling the number of crew hires from 2023, according to the film commission.
New Jersey was the backdrop for major productions in 2024, including the Oscar-nominated "A Complete Unknown," starring Timothée Chalamet, and "Happy Gilmore 2," featuring Adam Sandler. The latter movie spent a record-breaking $152 million during its 64 days of filming in the state.
Other movies shot in New Jersey last year included "Deliver Me from Nowhere," the biopic of state native rocker Bruce Springsteen; "The Housemaid," featuring Sydney Sweeney and Amada Seyfried; "The Beast in Me," starring Claire Danes: and "A House of Dynamite" directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
As for 1888 Studios, Arpad “Arki” Busson, chairman of Togus Urban Renewal and a French hedge fund manager, said in a statement he "set out to build a cutting-edge facility that would attract the world’s most ambitious storytellers — giving New Jersey true scale and a home for every facet of film and television production under one roof."
And he added, "By keeping American productions at home, the project, which will be constructed by union workers, will generate thousands of jobs and additional opportunities for New Jersey’s small businesses.”