July 17, 2025
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Deep Dive into the New Jersey Film Office

Loring Weisenberger
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About the author
Loring Weisenberger

Loring is a Los Angeles-based writer, director, and creative producer. His work has been commissioned by a diverse range of clients- from Havas Worldwide to Wisecrack, inc.- and has been screened around the world. Through a background that blends project development with physical production across multiple formats, Loring has developed a uniquely eclectic skillset as a visual storyteller.

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At Wrapbook, we pride ourselves on providing outstanding free resources to producers and their crews, but this post is for informational purposes only as of the date above. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice.  You should consult with your own legal, accounting, or tax advisors to determine how this general information may apply to your specific circumstances.

Last Updated 
July 17, 2025
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NJ-411 Production Services Directory

The NJ-411 Production Services Directory is a digital tool that quickly connects visiting productions with local resources, personnel, and production service companies. It’s a comprehensive database that enables filmmakers to search for whatever they might need from the comfort of their nearest keyboard.

NJ-411 provides a vital tool that can significantly streamline pre-production. If you’re looking for the right photo studio, rental house, or someone to fill a specific crew position, the NJ-411 Production Services Directory can jumpstart your search with just a few clicks.  

Film Ready New Jersey

Film Ready New Jersey is a unique educational program that prepares municipalities to accommodate film productions and market their communities as filmmaking destinations. The program follows a five-step certification process that establishes basic standards for attracting filmmakers to the area and creates an elevated platform that municipalities can use to connect to professional productions more easily. 

Film Ready New Jersey demonstrates the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission’s commitment to fostering an environment that advantages all stakeholders. The program empowers municipalities to better benefit from the economic stimulus of professional productions, while simultaneously enabling productions to better benefit from improved filming conditions within those municipalities. 

In other words, Film Ready New Jersey is designed to create win-win scenarios for local communities and the production industry statewide.

How to connect with the New Jersey Film Office

To contact the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission, you can reach out by phone at (973)-648-6279 or by email at NJFilm@njeda.gov. 

Filmmakers can also keep tabs on the latest and greatest from the New Jersey Film Office by following on Facebook, visiting its website, or subscribing to its official newsletter, The Garden Slate.  

Regional film offices in New Jersey

While the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission provides support to the production industry statewide, several regional film offices have emerged to assist filmmakers with localized expertise. 

Below, we’ll introduce three regional film offices that might be able to streamline your next shoot. 

Newark Office of Film & Television

The Newark Office of Film & Television fosters a supportive environment for filmmakers within the City of Newark. As a major transportation hub with close proximity to New York City and a unique collection of metropolitan locations all its own, Newark has become a popular destination for productions of all shapes and sizes, including major releases like The Plot Against America and The Dark Knight Rises

The Newark Office of Film & Television is a central partner for any professional production looking to shoot within city limits. It can provide assistance and direct support with many essential administrative tasks, such as securing permits or coordinating with local government agencies. 

South Jersey Film Office Cooperative

The South Jersey Film Office Cooperative promotes film and television production throughout New Jersey’s southern counties. The region “offers a vast landscape of urban areas, suburbs, rural farmland, waterways, and historical sites and settings.” Check out its interactive location map to explore the area’s diverse mix of filming locations in more detail.

Union County Motion Picture & Television Advisory Board

The Union County Motion Picture & Television Advisory Board promotes film and television production specifically within Union County, New Jersey. A short distance from all five boroughs of New York City, Union County is home to 21 municipalities ready and willing to support your next project. The Advisory Board acts as “a resource hub and facilitating body” to make sure productions are equipped with everything they need, including the right local permits

Wrapping up

The state of New Jersey offers a unique combination of established infrastructure, accessible locations, and close proximity to one of the nation’s largest media hubs. The New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission is an essential partner for visiting and local filmmakers alike, adding real value to your shoot and optimizing your production experience in the Garden State. 

For more information on filmmaking in New Jersey, don’t miss our comprehensive guide to securing New Jersey film tax credits. Wrapbook’s Production Incentive Center is also available to filmmakers everywhere for free. You can use our Production Incentives Finder and Incentive Comparison Tool to zero in on the perfect location for your next production with increased speed, ease, and efficiency.

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Between its strategic location, competitive incentives, and a collection of surprisingly diverse landscapes, the State of New Jersey might be one of the best kept secrets in American film production. Fortunately for filmmakers everywhere, the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission provides a direct line to all the information and resources you’ll need to optimize your next shoot in the state. 

In this post, we’ll explore the incentives, tools, and other resources that the New Jersey Film Office has to offer and what makes the Garden State an increasingly popular destination for productions of every size and shape. 

Get to know the New Jersey Film Office

Officially known as the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission, the New Jersey Film Office has nurtured the state’s local production industry for more than 45 years. From The Sopranos to A Beautiful Mind and beyond, the work of the New Jersey Film Office has made the state a regular staple on the big and small screens alike. 

With the expansion of the state’s tax credit program throughout the 2010s, New Jersey’s production resume seems to be growing faster than ever. In just the past few years, the New Jersey Film Office has shepherded a long list of projects that includes heavyweights such as Severance, A Complete Unknown, Oppenheimer, and more.

As part of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), the goal of the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission is to both attract and promote the growth of the production industry in the Garden State. If the state’s recent filmography is any indication, the New Jersey Film Office is more than up to the task.

Ways the New Jersey Film Office supports filmmakers

The New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission offers full support to productions within the state’s borders. As its official website makes clear, the New Jersey Film Office’s “knowledgeable and experienced staff assists filmmakers with all their needs—financial incentives, permits, regulations, production services, site selection, and clearance.”

Let’s take a closer look at three key ways that the New Jersey Film Office can upgrade your next shoot. 

Incentive guidance

The importance of production incentives in modern film finance cannot be understated. New Jersey maintains a competitive, flexible incentive program with unique features for savvy producers to leverage. 

In collaboration with the NJEDA, the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission administers the state’s production incentive program. For filmmakers, that makes the New Jersey Film Office an invaluable resource for all incentive matters within the state. They provide a direct link to the critical information and guidance that a production needs to make the most of its budget.

Permit and location assistance

The New Jersey Film Office acts as a central hub for filmmaking guidelines and procedures throughout the state. While permits are often managed by individual municipalities and local offices, the state film office can assist productions in acquiring any permissions required as efficiently as possible.

In fact, that same philosophy of direct assistance extends to nearly every facet of securing a filming location within the state. Whether it’s an extensive photo library to help with your location scout or an overview of local regulations for filming with drones, you can bet that the New Jersey Film Office has exactly the information you need for a successful shoot. 

Production support

For visiting filmmakers, one of the most significant challenges of shooting in an unfamiliar place is simply identifying the right resources and personnel. As a focal point of the local production industry, the New Jersey Film Office is perfectly suited to connect productions to the exact local expertise they need.

New Jersey has nurtured a robust industry with a strong community and well-developed infrastructure. Whether it’s as straightforward as hiring the best local crew or as complex as creating special weather effects, the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission can point the way to anything a production requires. 

Programs and funding offered by the New Jersey Film Office

The New Jersey Film Office provides a variety of tools, services, and programs to support both visiting and local filmmakers. 

Let’s take a look at three specific resources that could benefit your next production. 

New Jersey tax incentives

Production incentives are an increasingly critical factor for choosing an ideal filming location. It is now virtually a requirement that states offer an attractive incentive program to maintain a competitive position, and the state of New Jersey is no exception to that rule

As a baseline, the New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program offers a fully transferable tax credit of 30% to 35% on qualified expenditures. By meeting select diversity criteria, productions can increase their total tax credit all the way up to 39%. The program is rounded out by a sales tax exemption on limited categories of eligible items. 

In addition, to complement the state’s Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority greenlit an initiative that offers enhanced incentives and a separate annual funding pool for large, long-term studio and production facility investments. As of this writing, Netflix, Lionsgate, and 1888 Studios have already secured designations and are building large‑scale facilities through the Studio Partners Program.

To learn more about production incentives in the state, check out our detailed guides on how to get New Jersey film tax credits and its Studio Partners Program.

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