April 29, 2025 • 32 mins
Ever wondered what it takes to transport stars, crew, and equipment for major film productions? In this fun and educational conversation with Nick Day, co-CEO of Edge Auto, we learn how New Jersey has transformed into a filmmaking powerhouse that rivals any location worldwide.
The Garden State is experiencing a cinematic renaissance, fueled by Governor Murphy's film tax credit program that has attracted Netflix, Lionsgate, and countless productions to set up permanent operations. When these companies film on location, they need everything from luxury SUVs for stars to box trucks for equipment—all of which Edge Auto provides with their employee-owned business model that ensures exceptional service.
Listen up as Nick shares fascinating insights about the logistics that make productions possible, from partnering with Teamsters Local 817 for professional drivers to expanding their fleet with electric vehicles. He explains why New Jersey has become so attractive to filmmakers: its incredible geographical diversity allows productions to shoot beach scenes one day and mountain sequences the next, all within short driving distances.
2025 NJ Film Expo - The Screen Alliance of New Jersey is having its first huge event at the Meadowlands this Thursday, May 1st. It's open to the public, so check it out and register.
New Jersey prepares to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup!
Nick recommends heading to Monmouth Park to watch horse racing!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey Jeanette.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hi Rachel.
So we just got off a goodinterview?
Yes, we did, and we're feelinglike celebrities, or almost we
will be celebrities.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We will be one day if we can ride in Edge Auto
Transportation.
Who is who we spoke with.
Tell them about, tell everybodyabout who we talked to.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
So we spoke with Nick Day.
He is the co-chief executiveofficer of Edge Auto Rental.
You probably have seen theirtrucks around.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I know I have For sure.
You have seen them.
They're everywhere.
If you've lived in New YorkCity, if you've lived in New
Jersey, you've seen their cars.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
They're moving film equipment, recording equipment
for commercials, TV, streamingmovies, everything.
They move people, they moveequipment.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
They move lots of things, so he's part of the
board of the Screen Alliance ofNew Jersey.
And they are a group ofdifferent types of industry
players within the entertainmentindustry in New Jersey and they
are putting together theirfirst ever film expo and it's
(01:06):
going to be at the Meadowlandsin Rutherford and it's going to
be on May 1st from 11 am to 7 pmand I'm going to go.
I'm going to be there, you know, wandering around seeing what's
going on.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
He said that you could see people's like fancy
trailers.
You could see what a makeuptrailer looks like.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You could really see a lot like behind the scenes and
talking about all the bigstudios are coming, like
Lionsgate and Newark, or Netflixor Nork Nork, as we learned in
Nork.
Okay, so all these differentstudios that are popping up or
have been here in New Jersey aregoing to be there.
There's going to be panels,there's going to be a lot of
(01:45):
interesting things.
But we also talked to Nickabout his company.
That is part of theentertainment industry, where
they shuttle around.
You know people like peoplethat are coming from the World
Cup.
You know that need to get toand fro.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I can't believe we're having the World Cup.
It's pretty extraordinary, Ihave to say.
You know our governor, philMurphy.
He really has done a lot forour state.
But also these tax credits andFilm Commission is really
enticing so many more productioncompanies to happen here and
Nick will explain why on so manylevels this works for New
(02:21):
Jersey.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
It's a great episode and if you can make it to the
expo, it will be the first ofits kind.
And it's big, it's bigThousands.
It's going to show you that NewJersey is a player.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yes, new Jersey is where it's at that's right, okay
, enjoy.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Thank you for coming on.
Lost in Jersey, we were veryhappy to get you on and we know
that you're busy.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Oh, I appreciate that , and I was on your webpage
checking out all of your otherpodcasts and all the other
information.
It looks like I'm in a verygood company, so I'm very
honored to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Oh great, I'm glad.
So thank you for checking outour website.
We're New Jerseyans.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Well, we're not long-term Jerseyans, we're faux
Jerseyans in that we're new hereas of like less than 20 years.
We didn't grow up here butwe've been raising our families
here and that's sort of thepremise of why we started the
podcast was to get to know ourneighbors and people doing work
or some sort of have a tie toJersey.
We were excited to just look atthe background of your
(03:29):
companies and figure out like weobviously love the Montclair
Film Festival and we work withthem and we go to the festival
and we also consume a lot ofentertainment just on a regular
basis.
So we're excited to have youcome on and share sort of the
behind the scenes, how all ofthat can be made to happen and
(03:50):
how New Jersey is supporting thearts in that way for production
.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Right.
Like you, I've lived in NewJersey about 10 years, so I
think I've been here long enoughthat I can no longer get
labeled as a Taurus.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
We love it.
We live in Secaucus in NorthJersey, we have our family here,
we love the schools, we lovethe area.
So we're very happy.
And anything I can do topromote my new home state I'm
happy to do.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
That's great.
So we like to know before weget started on the work stuff
and the Jersey stuff before weget started on the work stuff
and the Jersey stuff.
But so a little bit of yourbackground, of where you grew up
and how you ended up in thisindustry and in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Sure, sure.
Well, I grew up in DelawareBeach.
Delaware is my hometown, nice,definitely consider myself a
beach person.
Ultimately became a lawyer 30plus years ago.
I was in Philadelphia.
I had a corporate law practicethere and then moved up to
(04:53):
Manhattan.
When we were married, I marriedmy first wife, who lived in
Manhattan.
That kind of got me up here.
And then my second wife and Istarted our home in New Jersey
because we just liked the factthat we could have our kids with
a little more green and alittle closer to all of the
things that we love, whetherit's the mountains or the beach
(05:13):
or parks.
So that brought us back to NewJersey.
So I got into the industry.
Probably about 10 years ago Ihooked up with my current
company, edge Auto.
So Edge is a big rental car andtruck company into the film and
television production industry.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
We see your trucks in Montclair a lot and then also
in Manhattan.
Obviously we see them all over.
So I'm familiar with the brand.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Great to hear, so happy that you recognize the
brand.
The brand has been around since2006.
So our two co-founders, williamHarris and Rudy Caligari,
started the business a long timeago, kind of from their kitchen
table.
William had the big autoindustry background and was a
race car driver and he knows allabout the vehicles.
(06:02):
Rudy is from the productionworld, so he's got the film and
television background.
So when they came together theykind of linked the two
industries the automotive andthe film and television
industries.
And you know, people don'treally think about the
transportation needs of thisindustry.
You kind of think about asoundstage or something that's
(06:22):
very much kind of a confinedspace.
But the truth is, pick a TVshow, pick a movie, they go on
location all the time.
And when they go on locationthey need to get their stars to
the location and luxury SUVs,they need to get their cast and
their crew and the rest of theteam there, potentially transit
vans or buses.
(06:42):
They need to get the lightingand the equipment and the
catering supplies and they needcamera trucks and box trucks and
everything else.
So very few companies offer allof that with one phone call.
So that's really where Edgecomes to play.
You're going on location, youneed to get all of your stuff to
that location that crazy hoursand weekends and everything else
that crazy hours and weekendsand everything else and we're
(07:04):
24-7 and we can really supply,you know, all of the vehicle
needs that you might have whenyou go on to a production,
wherever it may be.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Now is Edge.
Is it primarily in New Jerseyand New York?
Are those the two states itworks in?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah, it's a great question.
So we are really kind of NewYork Metro and New Jersey.
Our headquarters is in Brooklyn.
That's where we started thecompany.
We expanded into Queens many,many, many years ago.
We moved to New Jersey I'd sayrecently, three years ago now
Because we saw all of the filmand television production
starting to really happen thereand we really followed our
(07:39):
clients in New Jersey.
Because when we saw all the bigproduction companies begin to
open new locations in New Jersey, because when we saw all the
big production companies beginto open new locations in New
Jersey, you know we got to getout there so we can be next to
the clients, right.
Well, yeah, this is really thegenesis of this whole explosion
of film and televisionproduction in New Jersey is the
film and digital media taxcredit that Governor Murphy has
(08:01):
really kind of kicked into gear.
So once that happened and allof the studios started to open
up and you've heard of theNetflix new space in Monmouth,
Lionsgate, all of the new bigproduction spaces that are now
being opened in New Jersey andall of the other ancillary
businesses that are now in NewJersey to support these major
(08:22):
major productions that's allhappened over the past.
You know, three to five yearsand now that it's here, we felt,
like you know, we needed to benext to our clients.
We could provide, you know,even better service.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And how has that been going?
I mean, are you seeing just anupward trajectory?
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It's a great question .
So it has not been all sunshineand roses, because in 2023,
there was two big strikes thatimpacted the industry the
actor's strike, becauseproduction is basically shut
down for a fairly extensiveperiod of time.
So you know, we had kind ofscaled back our business.
(09:12):
Now, 2024 and now 2025, we'reseeing the rebound from those
strikes and the productions arecoming back in a bigger and
bigger way.
So it hasn't been just a hockeystick of growth right, but
certainly right now, veryexciting times in New Jersey.
There's a lot happening and2025 will be bigger than 2024,
which is bigger than 2023.
(09:33):
So we're on that growthtrajectory now.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I wanted to ask some questions about the
opportunities that the changinglandscape of all the production
is creating for companies likeyours.
Now, you know, like you weresaying, it's not just all on a
soundstage and a lot of even TVshows that seem to have the same
sets do do a lot of things onlocation and you know Georgia,
(09:59):
we know, had a big tax creditfor a long time and had a lot of
productions, and I love thatour governor has been helping
spur that creativity and thatbusiness and those jobs to come
to New Jersey.
It does seem like intuitivethat when you're like creating a
streaming show and if you'renot just a huge Netflix but
(10:19):
you're wanting to get it boughtby a Netflix, it's much more
convenient to have Edge or othercompanies like that provide you
with those logistics ratherthan source it all yourself,
because that seems like it wouldbe very difficult if you're a
smaller production.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah, whether you're small or large, there are too
many components to a productionto try to do it all yourself.
It's just too, there's too manycomponents to it.
Even a small, you know, 30second shoot for a television
show or for a movie, there arehundreds of people on that set,
probably between all of thelights, camera in action and all
(10:59):
the activities and all thedifferent transportation needs
and the caterers and the makeupand the wardrobe.
So you know it's impossible tosource all that in one place,
particularly on the road, rightwhen you're on location.
So you have to rely on theinfrastructure to support you
and hopefully you have peopleexperienced in the industry that
(11:20):
can kind of understand thedifferent demands of the
industry, and I'm not justsaying that on behalf of Edge,
but all of the differentinfrastructure support
organizations.
Even if you're a cateringcompany, you need to understand
the unique needs, the timingrequirements, because if it
shoots at dawn, breakfast mightnot need to be two hours before
dawn, right, it's not need to betwo hours before dawn.
(11:44):
It's not going to be 9 am everymorning, Right.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So you need to, whatever part of the industry
you're touching, very uniqueneeds and they're small, whether
it's a small production or alarge one, they all have the
need to kind of go outside oftheir internal resources.
As co-CEO, do you still feellike you're utilizing your legal
background a lot, or how areyou feeling that that morphed
(12:09):
into this new type of business?
Sure?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Listen, it's a great question.
So I look at it like every timethat we're not sending something
outside to a law firm to lookat, because I can look at that,
that's money that we can save toput into operations and sales
and customer support, right.
So certainly try to keep thelegal budget down from that
perspective and frankly, I thinkit helps to be able to
(12:33):
understand all the differentelements of the business.
When you can look at contractsand the insurance and some of
the taxes, and when people arerunning a business they'd like
to talk about all the funelements of it.
And when people are running abusiness they'd like to talk
about all the fun elements of it.
And I'm sure you guys with yourbusiness know just as well as I
do that HR, insurance, tax,there's some parts of the
business that might not be quiteas like sizzly, but if you can
(12:57):
get into the weeds on that stuffand understand it, you can
certainly save some money forthe company.
And that's part of I think mylegal background can come to
bear with some of those otherelements of the business as well
.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
That makes sense.
Well, I would like to ask acouple of questions about the
actual vehicles and the laborinvolved.
Sure, specifically about twothings.
One, I saw that you had posteda little bit about the World Cup
coming up, and you also postedabout the electric vehicles that
you're now offering for certainrequests, because I'm sure that
(13:31):
people are trying to be moreclimate friendly and have the
sustainability.
So those are two things thatI'd like to know.
And then the drivers and crewthat are involved.
What do you provide?
Like, let's just say thatsomebody calls you and says you
know, we have, we need topre-order for all the you know,
world Cup team players, a luxury15 seat, you know thing, and
(13:54):
they're going to have baggageand they're going to have crew,
they're going to have all thisstuff.
Is that how it works?
They're like pre and then andthey also want the EV one.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, there are a lot ofquestions in there.
Yeah, I'll start with, maybewith the World Cup piece, right,
because we are certainly sohappy that the World Cup is
coming to the Meadowlands, whichis, you know, a few minutes
from our house.
Yeah, we hope we get toactually see some games.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
For sure, I hope we get to actually see some games.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
But there are going to be millions of people, you
know, coming in to our regionfor the first time, visitors
from all over the world.
And I've been to a few of thekind of World Cup planning
events where they talk about allthe different kind of
activities that are going to besurrounding the World Cup Watch
parties and parks with bigscreens and a celebration of all
(14:45):
the different cultures of theworld.
And one of the reasons thatwe're hosting the World Cup is
because we have a lot of thosecultures are right here in our
area.
And it's celebrating really thediversity of our area, which is
a wonderful thing to celebrate.
So we can't wait to be part ofthat excitement.
So we can't wait to be part ofthat excitement and when all
these teams and all the supportcast and all the media and the
(15:06):
corporate sponsors and the fans,they come into the region, we
would certainly love to be ableto, you know, rent them, our
transit vans primarily.
That's really the solutionwe're trying to provide to the
World Cup planning committee.
We have got 15 passenger vans,11 passenger vans committee.
We have got 15 passenger vans,11 passenger vans.
(15:26):
If you're bringing yourcorporate team into the region,
you can get three or four Ubers.
You can rent three or fourvehicles for your team.
But if you could put everybodyin a one person, one vehicle,
and you've taken four or fivevehicles off of the streets and
you do that in a large scale way, you're really helping with the
congestion because it's goingto be a big problem and it do
that in a large scale way,you're really helping with the
congestion because it's going tobe a big problem and it's going
to be an issue that the area isgoing to have to deal with.
(15:50):
I mean when we talk aboutsustainability, maybe this is a
good transition into thatconversation.
If you're bringing a team inand you can put your 12 people
into one vehicle as opposed tofour vehicles.
If you think about the carbonimpact of that visit, right, and
companies are really beginningto start to measure their impact
(16:11):
from travel.
If you continue down that lineof thinking and you try to
reduce the impact of thevehicles that you're renting now
you also want to make thatmaybe an electric vehicle that
you're renting to further reducethe impact and if you're doing
that for all of your businesstrips and you're really trying
to think about how your businessimpacts the environment, it
really can make a difference,and some of the public companies
(16:34):
out there are really measuringthat in excruciating detail to
try to really get it.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, it's difficult, yeah, it's difficult
(17:03):
no-transcript Right.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
So it's a great question on the drivers.
So, particularly in the studioand television business, we
partner with Teamsters, local817.
They provide the drivers.
So when the clients come andthey rent vehicles from us to go
on their productions, wepartner with 817.
They provide top notch,professional, safe drivers.
(17:27):
So we couldn't be more pleasedto be partnering with them and
we don't have to hire our owninternal drivers, which is, you
know, unless you're reallycareful about who you hire and
the training and the safety Imean driving in this area.
I'm not sure if it's one of themost challenging areas in the
world.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
But I think it is.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I know there's a lot of crazy places to drive I've
heard of.
You know India has some prettybad cities.
For I think it is VIPs, highprofile passengers, and they
know how to handle thatsituation.
It's not a time to becomplimenting them on their last
movie or asking for a selfie ortelling them you know that's
not what the passengers expect.
They just want a professionalride from where they're going to
(18:21):
where they're, you know, totheir destination.
Teamsters are excellent at thatas well.
So I'm glad you asked aboutthat, because it's an important
partnership for us for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Well, I think that I definitely.
I know we both have morequestions about this.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, you know, if you let me respond to one other
thing you mentioned, which Iprobably didn't really fully
address why is it fun to workfor Edge?
And because we certainly haveplenty of employees right, we're
an employee-owned company and Ithink that's a really important
part of our culture.
So when you pick up or return avehicle, you're talking to the
(18:57):
lot attendant.
If it's a maintenance person ora salesperson, I mean, you're
talking to an owner of thecompany.
So that mentality is somethingand that culture is really
something we try to reallyemphasize here, because you have
a little bit of a differentkind of frame of mind if you're
not just an employee but you owna part of the company and
you're a little bit connected tothe long-term success of the
(19:19):
company.
And if there is an accident,maybe you care a little bit more
because that's partly yourvehicle.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
That was just damaged right.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So that's an important and it's also an
important important benefitbecause the employees now, when
they retire and they have apiece of the company, if we can
continue to do well with thebusiness, that could be
significant impact on theiroverall kind of wealth building
and their retirement plan.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, yeah, I know that one of the things that we
do have to get to is the StreenAlliance of New Jersey, because
they're having a big eventcoming up, and we'd just like to
learn a little bit more aboutthis.
I think it's the first one ofits kind.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Couldn't be more excited about this event.
You're right, it's the firstone we've ever put together.
So we are certainly workinghard these last couple of days
before the event to try to makeit the best possible experience
for everyone.
It looks like we'll have morethan 3,000 people At least
they've RSVP that they'll beattending.
So it'll be a pretty sizableevent and really designed to
(20:13):
showcase how New Jersey hasarrived as really a powerhouse
for the production space rightnow and we can compete really
with any state or country aroundthe world in terms of the
resources that we can provide tothe filmmakers, the television
producers that are looking for alocation.
So when they're looking,they're looking at a lot of
(20:40):
different areas to determinelike where am I going to shoot
my next movie, my nexttelevision show?
Obviously the tax credit ishigh on the list because they
have to be concerned about theirbudget and that's always a
factor.
Then they're looking at whattalent is available for the
shoot, not just the actors andactresses, but for the entire
team.
What kind of talent is available, top-notch talent in this area.
(21:00):
The New York talent isavailable, but there's plenty of
talent right in New Jersey thatis tip-tip, world-class,
top-notch.
What kind of infrastructure isavailable to support operations.
And you look at companies likeEdge Auto, emerald Green
Trailers another sister companyof Edge where it provides the
talent trailers, the hair andmakeup trailers, the wardrobe
(21:22):
trailers that go on to location.
So those type of companies thatare readily available in New
Jersey that can support yourproduction.
And then the locationsthemselves right, I mean New
Jersey.
I think you guys are from here,so you understand this.
It is the Garden State, really,for a reason.
You've got beaches, you've gotparks, you've got mountains,
(21:44):
beautiful cities, beautifulrivers, beautiful lakes, so
really you could be at anylocation you might need within a
reasonable amount of time aswell, right?
So if you're putting thisproduction together, you need to
be on the beach one day and themountains the next day.
That's a trip you can do in NewJersey very easily.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
So all those factors, together with a very welcoming
cultural environment as well, sothat if you're going into a
town or a city in New Jersey,you have the benefit of a
welcoming response in most cases, because we want you here.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
And the support of the New Jersey Film and
Television Commission can't beunderstated either.
They want these productionshere.
The team there is excellent athelping the productions overcome
any obstacles they might have.
So you've got a welcomingenvironment, a lot of support,
infrastructure, talent,beautiful locations.
(22:43):
So it's all of those things wewant to highlight at this show
on Thursday to really make itclear to the world that New, you
know, new Jersey is the place,really the premier place, to
come in and execute on your, onyour project.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
So, if you're a person that goes to this, what
are you hoping that someonetakes away with it?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
If you're in the industry, we certainly want you
to leave knowing about the depthof the level of support that
you get here.
Right, and it's really kind ofworld-class support.
So we're hoping to open someeyes to all the visitors Like,
wow, I didn't realize New Jerseywas this advanced in terms of
what they could offer.
And there'll be townships therepresenting to showcase their
(23:25):
town as a location.
There'll be a lot of politicalrepresentatives there that want
to hear from the businessesabout why this tax credit is so
positive for the industry andfor the state.
There'll be other businessesthere that want to showcase what
they can do, maybe do somenetworking and get some business
that way.
The lieutenant governor is goingto be speaking at the event.
(23:46):
There'll be other panels aboutthe state of the industry, the
talent in New Jersey, thetechnology advances in the
industry and why New Jersey ison the cutting edge of the
technology world as well.
So I think those panels couldbe very relevant.
Depending on and you can seeonline the agenda for the
(24:08):
different panels, certainly somewords from the lieutenant
governor will be meaningful foreveryone.
We just hope people will havesome fun too, because there'll
be a lot of different businessesrepresented and maybe you learn
a little something.
The Emerald Green trailers, forexample, will be on site.
So if you want to see what doesthe star, what does their world
(24:32):
look like when?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
they go into their star trailer.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
What does the hair and makeup trailer really look
like?
I mean, those are fun things todo.
I think people will beintrigued to go and see kind of
the level of detail and whatbeing an actor really looks like
when you have to do it on adaily basis on location.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, that would be fun.
Really looks like when you haveto do it on a daily basis on
location.
Yeah, that would be fun.
I'll do that.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I'm going to be there and I'll definitely take a
video inside of that trailer.
Rachel, come with me.
Yeah, yeah.
You'd be the star.
No napping on the beds, please.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
All right fine, all right, fine, or driving it out
of the lot, I'll be like thisone's great, I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I think they'll stop us.
Yes, I know that recently wealways get like these posts or
like Jennifer Lopez is here orAdam Sandler's doing something
in whatever restaurant andTimothee Chalamet is all over
Newark, and you know, we've gotthe whole Bruce Springsteen film
being filmed in differentlocations.
You know, is there, are youaware of films that we're going
(25:29):
to possibly shoot in otherlocations, that move to New
Jersey for particular reasons?
Because of this, because it'sbecoming so robust?
Speaker 3 (25:37):
I certainly know that a lot of, a lot of outstanding
films have have selected NewJersey, a Complete Unknown.
The Bob Dylan film was was shot, you know, all across the state
.
I think that's one that weshould highlight because of its
success.
Yeah, I don't know if you guyshave seen that movie.
It's also if you're a Bob Dylanfan.
For sure it's an awesome movieto watch.
(25:57):
But there is an endless list offantastic shows, from the
Sopranos to Succession to youknow.
The list could go on and on.
And the Bruce Springsteen one Imean we're going to the
Meadowlands, who I've seen inprobably like 10 times in my
life, so couldn't be a biggerBruce Springsteen fan.
But in terms of ones that havekind of made the decision from
(26:18):
another location to make, Ican't give you a specific answer
for that one, but I'm sure alot of these, I'm sure all of
them, have considered otherlocations.
Nobody goes in thinkingnecessarily I'm going to make
this shoot in New Jersey, exceptmaybe Bruce Springsteen,
because I love the state so much, but you know, I'm sure they're
looking at all the alternativesthat they have available and
(26:40):
they're deciding on New Jerseybecause of all the benefits we
talked about earlier.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Montclair has always had a bunch of things you know
shoot here.
We're pretty used to it as atown, so I think we're pretty
good at respecting the privacyof the people who come that are
celebrities and just feel proudthat they think our town is
worth shooting in.
I think it is nice when we seethat people will come and do a
shoot, that not only do theyhave the trucks and everything,
(27:05):
but the people will go to theboutiques, they'll start going
to the stores, they'll go tosome restaurants if they're
there for a multi-day shoot, andthen a lot of those businesses
in this town and there's so manytowns in New Jersey, obviously
it's a huge state can reap thebenefits too, not just from
seeing a celebrity but also fromgetting some business.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yes, you raise an excellent point.
I mean just the coffee shopsalone.
Yeah, you know a couple ofweeks of shooting.
I've heard some stories fromcoffee shop owners to say they
make more revenue in those fewweeks than they do for the whole
year, I'm sure.
So you know dry cleaning andhotels and restaurants and
printing and all the things thathappen with.
(27:46):
You know hundreds of people comekind of, you know, pouring into
town.
It's always good for theeconomy.
Of course it comes with maybe alittle bit of inconvenience,
some parking or a closed streetet cetera, and sometimes you
hear about the naysayers, youknow, raising a flag about that.
But you know the overall forthe businesses of the community
is very positive.
They typically hire some localpeople to also help, which is
(28:10):
also fantastic.
And then you know it's a way toshowcase that town too, because
if there are some, you knowportions of that film or
television production thathighlight that town, that town
now has that.
You know that can be used for along, long time to bring
tourists to the area, tohighlight the town for other
reasons.
So it's very important on a lotof different levels.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yeah, I agree.
Well, one of the things aboutNew Jersey that I remember early
on when I was looking up allthese different trivia facts
about New Jersey, is that thefirst movie studio was in New
Jersey.
It was in 1893 in Orange, newJersey.
It was called the Black Mariaand Thomas Edison had created it
, and so I love that.
(28:53):
We are kind of and I rememberreading about this stuff it kind
of went on for a while here inNew Jersey and then it kind of
shifted away, but so I love thatit's coming back.
This industry is like reallystarting.
I mean, it's not that it everwent completely away, but I know
that there's been thousands ofproductions here of all
different sorts, and so it'sreally I love that the Screen
(29:14):
Alliance of New Jersey is reallyputting on this event, really
trying to showcase how great itis to make movies or whatever
production you're doing here.
Now my last question is leadinginto the usual question that we
have, but I'd like to put alittle twist on it.
We usually ask people to give ashout out to something that
they absolutely love in NewJersey, and we do point that to
(29:36):
you.
But is there something youabsolutely are so excited about
that's happening in the filmindustry, that when you're
touting what's happening, isthere something that you love
that's happening specifically.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I guess what I love the most is that the image of
New Jersey is changing sodynamically and so rapidly.
That's pretty meaningful to mebecause I think people's image
of New Jersey is unfortunatelyscarred by the New Jersey
turnpike experience, which isn'talways beautiful, and then
Jersey Shore and some of themore kind of stereotypical
(30:10):
things that people have seen.
That's really not New Jersey.
New Jersey is so much deeperthan that culturally, and
there's another level ofsophistication and depth of
beauty to this state that I'mexcited is now going to be
highlighted for the world to see.
Then the World Cup will be partof that because the eyes of the
(30:31):
world will be once again on NewJersey for that experience as
well.
So the diversity, the beautyand the kind of the
wonderfulness of the state nowgets to kind of come to the
forefront the historic.
You know stereotypes are goingto be put behind us.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
We agree.
We say the same thing all thetime.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
We're excited.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
The rest of the world can see what's here.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
I love that answer, right?
I mean, that's such the perfectanswer.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
What is your favorite part of New Jersey?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
I was going to actually say Monmouth Park, the
racetrack, because I don't thinkeveryone understands how much
of a horse country New Jersey is.
So New Jersey has more horsesper capita than any state in the
union.
There are over 40,000 horses inNew Jersey.
There's 4,500 horse farms.
(31:18):
I'm a big horse racing fan.
I love horses and Monmouth Parkhas a lot of history.
It's a beautiful place to visitand I think it's an
under-celebrated part of NewJersey.
It's horse country and it'sunder celebrated part of New
Jersey is that it's really it'shorse country and it's a it's a
beautiful part of the state.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Oh my gosh, and I want to go there.
I've never even heard of it.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
I mean they have the racetrack over here at the
Meadowlands, but that's totallydifferent, right.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Yeah, totally different experience and I'm
going to stay positive on theMonmouth Park experience.
The Meadowlands is harnessracing typically.
And you know that's not yourthing.
Yeah, it's not my thing, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Yeah, well, I'm excited, I want to do that.
I'll go with you, jeanette, Iwant to experience that, because
you weren't the only personthat mentioned that.
They were surprised how manyracing courses there are in new
jersey kentucky derby.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
You know, coming up on saturday I figured it was uh.
It was important to highlightthat it is smart.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I'm so glad you said that and you, we got it in
thanks guys, thank you now we'lllet you go.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I'll see you at the thing I'll see you, it's been a
lot of fun guys.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Yeah, definitely catch up with me on thursday.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
This podcast was produced by rachel martens and
jeanette afsharian.
You can find us on spotify,itunes and buzzsprout.
Thanks for listening.
See you next week.
Hey Jeanette.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hi Rachel.
So we just got off a goodinterview?
Yes, we did, and we're feelinglike celebrities, or almost we
will be celebrities.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We will be one day if we can ride in Edge Auto
Transportation.
Who is who we spoke with.
Tell them about, tell everybodyabout who we talked to.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
So we spoke with Nick Day.
He is the co-chief executiveofficer of Edge Auto Rental.
You probably have seen theirtrucks around.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I know I have For sure.
You have seen them.
They're everywhere.
If you've lived in New YorkCity, if you've lived in New
Jersey, you've seen their cars.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
They're moving film equipment, recording equipment
for commercials, TV, streamingmovies, everything.
They move people, they moveequipment.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
They move lots of things, so he's part of the
board of the Screen Alliance ofNew Jersey.
And they are a group ofdifferent types of industry
players within the entertainmentindustry in New Jersey and they
are putting together theirfirst ever film expo and it's
(01:06):
going to be at the Meadowlandsin Rutherford and it's going to
be on May 1st from 11 am to 7 pmand I'm going to go.
I'm going to be there, you know, wandering around seeing what's
going on.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
He said that you could see people's like fancy
trailers.
You could see what a makeuptrailer looks like.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You could really see a lot like behind the scenes and
talking about all the bigstudios are coming, like
Lionsgate and Newark, or Netflixor Nork Nork, as we learned in
Nork.
Okay, so all these differentstudios that are popping up or
have been here in New Jersey aregoing to be there.
There's going to be panels,there's going to be a lot of
(01:45):
interesting things.
But we also talked to Nickabout his company.
That is part of theentertainment industry, where
they shuttle around.
You know people like peoplethat are coming from the World
Cup.
You know that need to get toand fro.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I can't believe we're having the World Cup.
It's pretty extraordinary, Ihave to say.
You know our governor, philMurphy.
He really has done a lot forour state.
But also these tax credits andFilm Commission is really
enticing so many more productioncompanies to happen here and
Nick will explain why on so manylevels this works for New
(02:21):
Jersey.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
It's a great episode and if you can make it to the
expo, it will be the first ofits kind.
And it's big, it's bigThousands.
It's going to show you that NewJersey is a player.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yes, new Jersey is where it's at that's right, okay
, enjoy.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Thank you for coming on.
Lost in Jersey, we were veryhappy to get you on and we know
that you're busy.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Oh, I appreciate that , and I was on your webpage
checking out all of your otherpodcasts and all the other
information.
It looks like I'm in a verygood company, so I'm very
honored to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Oh great, I'm glad.
So thank you for checking outour website.
We're New Jerseyans.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Well, we're not long-term Jerseyans, we're faux
Jerseyans in that we're new hereas of like less than 20 years.
We didn't grow up here butwe've been raising our families
here and that's sort of thepremise of why we started the
podcast was to get to know ourneighbors and people doing work
or some sort of have a tie toJersey.
We were excited to just look atthe background of your
(03:29):
companies and figure out like weobviously love the Montclair
Film Festival and we work withthem and we go to the festival
and we also consume a lot ofentertainment just on a regular
basis.
So we're excited to have youcome on and share sort of the
behind the scenes, how all ofthat can be made to happen and
(03:50):
how New Jersey is supporting thearts in that way for production
.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Right.
Like you, I've lived in NewJersey about 10 years, so I
think I've been here long enoughthat I can no longer get
labeled as a Taurus.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
We love it.
We live in Secaucus in NorthJersey, we have our family here,
we love the schools, we lovethe area.
So we're very happy.
And anything I can do topromote my new home state I'm
happy to do.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
That's great.
So we like to know before weget started on the work stuff
and the Jersey stuff before weget started on the work stuff
and the Jersey stuff.
But so a little bit of yourbackground, of where you grew up
and how you ended up in thisindustry and in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Sure, sure.
Well, I grew up in DelawareBeach.
Delaware is my hometown, nice,definitely consider myself a
beach person.
Ultimately became a lawyer 30plus years ago.
I was in Philadelphia.
I had a corporate law practicethere and then moved up to
(04:53):
Manhattan.
When we were married, I marriedmy first wife, who lived in
Manhattan.
That kind of got me up here.
And then my second wife and Istarted our home in New Jersey
because we just liked the factthat we could have our kids with
a little more green and alittle closer to all of the
things that we love, whetherit's the mountains or the beach
(05:13):
or parks.
So that brought us back to NewJersey.
So I got into the industry.
Probably about 10 years ago Ihooked up with my current
company, edge Auto.
So Edge is a big rental car andtruck company into the film and
television production industry.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
We see your trucks in Montclair a lot and then also
in Manhattan.
Obviously we see them all over.
So I'm familiar with the brand.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Great to hear, so happy that you recognize the
brand.
The brand has been around since2006.
So our two co-founders, williamHarris and Rudy Caligari,
started the business a long timeago, kind of from their kitchen
table.
William had the big autoindustry background and was a
race car driver and he knows allabout the vehicles.
(06:02):
Rudy is from the productionworld, so he's got the film and
television background.
So when they came together theykind of linked the two
industries the automotive andthe film and television
industries.
And you know, people don'treally think about the
transportation needs of thisindustry.
You kind of think about asoundstage or something that's
(06:22):
very much kind of a confinedspace.
But the truth is, pick a TVshow, pick a movie, they go on
location all the time.
And when they go on locationthey need to get their stars to
the location and luxury SUVs,they need to get their cast and
their crew and the rest of theteam there, potentially transit
vans or buses.
(06:42):
They need to get the lightingand the equipment and the
catering supplies and they needcamera trucks and box trucks and
everything else.
So very few companies offer allof that with one phone call.
So that's really where Edgecomes to play.
You're going on location, youneed to get all of your stuff to
that location that crazy hoursand weekends and everything else
that crazy hours and weekendsand everything else and we're
(07:04):
24-7 and we can really supply,you know, all of the vehicle
needs that you might have whenyou go on to a production,
wherever it may be.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Now is Edge.
Is it primarily in New Jerseyand New York?
Are those the two states itworks in?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah, it's a great question.
So we are really kind of NewYork Metro and New Jersey.
Our headquarters is in Brooklyn.
That's where we started thecompany.
We expanded into Queens many,many, many years ago.
We moved to New Jersey I'd sayrecently, three years ago now
Because we saw all of the filmand television production
starting to really happen thereand we really followed our
(07:39):
clients in New Jersey.
Because when we saw all the bigproduction companies begin to
open new locations in New Jersey, because when we saw all the
big production companies beginto open new locations in New
Jersey, you know we got to getout there so we can be next to
the clients, right.
Well, yeah, this is really thegenesis of this whole explosion
of film and televisionproduction in New Jersey is the
film and digital media taxcredit that Governor Murphy has
(08:01):
really kind of kicked into gear.
So once that happened and allof the studios started to open
up and you've heard of theNetflix new space in Monmouth,
Lionsgate, all of the new bigproduction spaces that are now
being opened in New Jersey andall of the other ancillary
businesses that are now in NewJersey to support these major
(08:22):
major productions that's allhappened over the past.
You know, three to five yearsand now that it's here, we felt,
like you know, we needed to benext to our clients.
We could provide, you know,even better service.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And how has that been going?
I mean, are you seeing just anupward trajectory?
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It's a great question .
So it has not been all sunshineand roses, because in 2023,
there was two big strikes thatimpacted the industry the
actor's strike, becauseproduction is basically shut
down for a fairly extensiveperiod of time.
So you know, we had kind ofscaled back our business.
(09:12):
Now, 2024 and now 2025, we'reseeing the rebound from those
strikes and the productions arecoming back in a bigger and
bigger way.
So it hasn't been just a hockeystick of growth right, but
certainly right now, veryexciting times in New Jersey.
There's a lot happening and2025 will be bigger than 2024,
which is bigger than 2023.
(09:33):
So we're on that growthtrajectory now.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I wanted to ask some questions about the
opportunities that the changinglandscape of all the production
is creating for companies likeyours.
Now, you know, like you weresaying, it's not just all on a
soundstage and a lot of even TVshows that seem to have the same
sets do do a lot of things onlocation and you know Georgia,
(09:59):
we know, had a big tax creditfor a long time and had a lot of
productions, and I love thatour governor has been helping
spur that creativity and thatbusiness and those jobs to come
to New Jersey.
It does seem like intuitivethat when you're like creating a
streaming show and if you'renot just a huge Netflix but
(10:19):
you're wanting to get it boughtby a Netflix, it's much more
convenient to have Edge or othercompanies like that provide you
with those logistics ratherthan source it all yourself,
because that seems like it wouldbe very difficult if you're a
smaller production.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah, whether you're small or large, there are too
many components to a productionto try to do it all yourself.
It's just too, there's too manycomponents to it.
Even a small, you know, 30second shoot for a television
show or for a movie, there arehundreds of people on that set,
probably between all of thelights, camera in action and all
(10:59):
the activities and all thedifferent transportation needs
and the caterers and the makeupand the wardrobe.
So you know it's impossible tosource all that in one place,
particularly on the road, rightwhen you're on location.
So you have to rely on theinfrastructure to support you
and hopefully you have peopleexperienced in the industry that
(11:20):
can kind of understand thedifferent demands of the
industry, and I'm not justsaying that on behalf of Edge,
but all of the differentinfrastructure support
organizations.
Even if you're a cateringcompany, you need to understand
the unique needs, the timingrequirements, because if it
shoots at dawn, breakfast mightnot need to be two hours before
dawn, right, it's not need to betwo hours before dawn.
(11:44):
It's not going to be 9 am everymorning, Right.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So you need to, whatever part of the industry
you're touching, very uniqueneeds and they're small, whether
it's a small production or alarge one, they all have the
need to kind of go outside oftheir internal resources.
As co-CEO, do you still feellike you're utilizing your legal
background a lot, or how areyou feeling that that morphed
(12:09):
into this new type of business?
Sure?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Listen, it's a great question.
So I look at it like every timethat we're not sending something
outside to a law firm to lookat, because I can look at that,
that's money that we can save toput into operations and sales
and customer support, right.
So certainly try to keep thelegal budget down from that
perspective and frankly, I thinkit helps to be able to
(12:33):
understand all the differentelements of the business.
When you can look at contractsand the insurance and some of
the taxes, and when people arerunning a business they'd like
to talk about all the funelements of it.
And when people are running abusiness they'd like to talk
about all the fun elements of it.
And I'm sure you guys with yourbusiness know just as well as I
do that HR, insurance, tax,there's some parts of the
business that might not be quiteas like sizzly, but if you can
(12:57):
get into the weeds on that stuffand understand it, you can
certainly save some money forthe company.
And that's part of I think mylegal background can come to
bear with some of those otherelements of the business as well
.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
That makes sense.
Well, I would like to ask acouple of questions about the
actual vehicles and the laborinvolved.
Sure, specifically about twothings.
One, I saw that you had posteda little bit about the World Cup
coming up, and you also postedabout the electric vehicles that
you're now offering for certainrequests, because I'm sure that
(13:31):
people are trying to be moreclimate friendly and have the
sustainability.
So those are two things thatI'd like to know.
And then the drivers and crewthat are involved.
What do you provide?
Like, let's just say thatsomebody calls you and says you
know, we have, we need topre-order for all the you know,
world Cup team players, a luxury15 seat, you know thing, and
(13:54):
they're going to have baggageand they're going to have crew,
they're going to have all thisstuff.
Is that how it works?
They're like pre and then andthey also want the EV one.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, there are a lot ofquestions in there.
Yeah, I'll start with, maybewith the World Cup piece, right,
because we are certainly sohappy that the World Cup is
coming to the Meadowlands, whichis, you know, a few minutes
from our house.
Yeah, we hope we get toactually see some games.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
For sure, I hope we get to actually see some games.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
But there are going to be millions of people, you
know, coming in to our regionfor the first time, visitors
from all over the world.
And I've been to a few of thekind of World Cup planning
events where they talk about allthe different kind of
activities that are going to besurrounding the World Cup Watch
parties and parks with bigscreens and a celebration of all
(14:45):
the different cultures of theworld.
And one of the reasons thatwe're hosting the World Cup is
because we have a lot of thosecultures are right here in our
area.
And it's celebrating really thediversity of our area, which is
a wonderful thing to celebrate.
So we can't wait to be part ofthat excitement.
So we can't wait to be part ofthat excitement and when all
these teams and all the supportcast and all the media and the
(15:06):
corporate sponsors and the fans,they come into the region, we
would certainly love to be ableto, you know, rent them, our
transit vans primarily.
That's really the solutionwe're trying to provide to the
World Cup planning committee.
We have got 15 passenger vans,11 passenger vans committee.
We have got 15 passenger vans,11 passenger vans.
(15:26):
If you're bringing yourcorporate team into the region,
you can get three or four Ubers.
You can rent three or fourvehicles for your team.
But if you could put everybodyin a one person, one vehicle,
and you've taken four or fivevehicles off of the streets and
you do that in a large scale way, you're really helping with the
congestion because it's goingto be a big problem and it do
that in a large scale way,you're really helping with the
congestion because it's going tobe a big problem and it's going
to be an issue that the area isgoing to have to deal with.
(15:50):
I mean when we talk aboutsustainability, maybe this is a
good transition into thatconversation.
If you're bringing a team inand you can put your 12 people
into one vehicle as opposed tofour vehicles.
If you think about the carbonimpact of that visit, right, and
companies are really beginningto start to measure their impact
(16:11):
from travel.
If you continue down that lineof thinking and you try to
reduce the impact of thevehicles that you're renting now
you also want to make thatmaybe an electric vehicle that
you're renting to further reducethe impact and if you're doing
that for all of your businesstrips and you're really trying
to think about how your businessimpacts the environment, it
really can make a difference,and some of the public companies
(16:34):
out there are really measuringthat in excruciating detail to
try to really get it.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, it's difficult, yeah, it's difficult
(17:03):
no-transcript Right.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
So it's a great question on the drivers.
So, particularly in the studioand television business, we
partner with Teamsters, local817.
They provide the drivers.
So when the clients come andthey rent vehicles from us to go
on their productions, wepartner with 817.
They provide top notch,professional, safe drivers.
(17:27):
So we couldn't be more pleasedto be partnering with them and
we don't have to hire our owninternal drivers, which is, you
know, unless you're reallycareful about who you hire and
the training and the safety Imean driving in this area.
I'm not sure if it's one of themost challenging areas in the
world.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
But I think it is.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I know there's a lot of crazy places to drive I've
heard of.
You know India has some prettybad cities.
For I think it is VIPs, highprofile passengers, and they
know how to handle thatsituation.
It's not a time to becomplimenting them on their last
movie or asking for a selfie ortelling them you know that's
not what the passengers expect.
They just want a professionalride from where they're going to
(18:21):
where they're, you know, totheir destination.
Teamsters are excellent at thatas well.
So I'm glad you asked aboutthat, because it's an important
partnership for us for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Well, I think that I definitely.
I know we both have morequestions about this.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, you know, if you let me respond to one other
thing you mentioned, which Iprobably didn't really fully
address why is it fun to workfor Edge?
And because we certainly haveplenty of employees right, we're
an employee-owned company and Ithink that's a really important
part of our culture.
So when you pick up or return avehicle, you're talking to the
(18:57):
lot attendant.
If it's a maintenance person ora salesperson, I mean, you're
talking to an owner of thecompany.
So that mentality is somethingand that culture is really
something we try to reallyemphasize here, because you have
a little bit of a differentkind of frame of mind if you're
not just an employee but you owna part of the company and
you're a little bit connected tothe long-term success of the
(19:19):
company.
And if there is an accident,maybe you care a little bit more
because that's partly yourvehicle.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
That was just damaged right.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So that's an important and it's also an
important important benefitbecause the employees now, when
they retire and they have apiece of the company, if we can
continue to do well with thebusiness, that could be
significant impact on theiroverall kind of wealth building
and their retirement plan.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, yeah, I know that one of the things that we
do have to get to is the StreenAlliance of New Jersey, because
they're having a big eventcoming up, and we'd just like to
learn a little bit more aboutthis.
I think it's the first one ofits kind.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Couldn't be more excited about this event.
You're right, it's the firstone we've ever put together.
So we are certainly workinghard these last couple of days
before the event to try to makeit the best possible experience
for everyone.
It looks like we'll have morethan 3,000 people At least
they've RSVP that they'll beattending.
So it'll be a pretty sizableevent and really designed to
(20:13):
showcase how New Jersey hasarrived as really a powerhouse
for the production space rightnow and we can compete really
with any state or country aroundthe world in terms of the
resources that we can provide tothe filmmakers, the television
producers that are looking for alocation.
So when they're looking,they're looking at a lot of
(20:40):
different areas to determinelike where am I going to shoot
my next movie, my nexttelevision show?
Obviously the tax credit ishigh on the list because they
have to be concerned about theirbudget and that's always a
factor.
Then they're looking at whattalent is available for the
shoot, not just the actors andactresses, but for the entire
team.
What kind of talent is available, top-notch talent in this area.
(21:00):
The New York talent isavailable, but there's plenty of
talent right in New Jersey thatis tip-tip, world-class,
top-notch.
What kind of infrastructure isavailable to support operations.
And you look at companies likeEdge Auto, emerald Green
Trailers another sister companyof Edge where it provides the
talent trailers, the hair andmakeup trailers, the wardrobe
(21:22):
trailers that go on to location.
So those type of companies thatare readily available in New
Jersey that can support yourproduction.
And then the locationsthemselves right, I mean New
Jersey.
I think you guys are from here,so you understand this.
It is the Garden State, really,for a reason.
You've got beaches, you've gotparks, you've got mountains,
(21:44):
beautiful cities, beautifulrivers, beautiful lakes, so
really you could be at anylocation you might need within a
reasonable amount of time aswell, right?
So if you're putting thisproduction together, you need to
be on the beach one day and themountains the next day.
That's a trip you can do in NewJersey very easily.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
So all those factors, together with a very welcoming
cultural environment as well, sothat if you're going into a
town or a city in New Jersey,you have the benefit of a
welcoming response in most cases, because we want you here.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
And the support of the New Jersey Film and
Television Commission can't beunderstated either.
They want these productionshere.
The team there is excellent athelping the productions overcome
any obstacles they might have.
So you've got a welcomingenvironment, a lot of support,
infrastructure, talent,beautiful locations.
(22:43):
So it's all of those things wewant to highlight at this show
on Thursday to really make itclear to the world that New, you
know, new Jersey is the place,really the premier place, to
come in and execute on your, onyour project.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
So, if you're a person that goes to this, what
are you hoping that someonetakes away with it?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
If you're in the industry, we certainly want you
to leave knowing about the depthof the level of support that
you get here.
Right, and it's really kind ofworld-class support.
So we're hoping to open someeyes to all the visitors Like,
wow, I didn't realize New Jerseywas this advanced in terms of
what they could offer.
And there'll be townships therepresenting to showcase their
(23:25):
town as a location.
There'll be a lot of politicalrepresentatives there that want
to hear from the businessesabout why this tax credit is so
positive for the industry andfor the state.
There'll be other businessesthere that want to showcase what
they can do, maybe do somenetworking and get some business
that way.
The lieutenant governor is goingto be speaking at the event.
(23:46):
There'll be other panels aboutthe state of the industry, the
talent in New Jersey, thetechnology advances in the
industry and why New Jersey ison the cutting edge of the
technology world as well.
So I think those panels couldbe very relevant.
Depending on and you can seeonline the agenda for the
(24:08):
different panels, certainly somewords from the lieutenant
governor will be meaningful foreveryone.
We just hope people will havesome fun too, because there'll
be a lot of different businessesrepresented and maybe you learn
a little something.
The Emerald Green trailers, forexample, will be on site.
So if you want to see what doesthe star, what does their world
(24:32):
look like when?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
they go into their star trailer.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
What does the hair and makeup trailer really look
like?
I mean, those are fun things todo.
I think people will beintrigued to go and see kind of
the level of detail and whatbeing an actor really looks like
when you have to do it on adaily basis on location.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, that would be fun.
Really looks like when you haveto do it on a daily basis on
location.
Yeah, that would be fun.
I'll do that.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I'm going to be there and I'll definitely take a
video inside of that trailer.
Rachel, come with me.
Yeah, yeah.
You'd be the star.
No napping on the beds, please.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
All right fine, all right, fine, or driving it out
of the lot, I'll be like thisone's great, I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I think they'll stop us.
Yes, I know that recently wealways get like these posts or
like Jennifer Lopez is here orAdam Sandler's doing something
in whatever restaurant andTimothee Chalamet is all over
Newark, and you know, we've gotthe whole Bruce Springsteen film
being filmed in differentlocations.
You know, is there, are youaware of films that we're going
(25:29):
to possibly shoot in otherlocations, that move to New
Jersey for particular reasons?
Because of this, because it'sbecoming so robust?
Speaker 3 (25:37):
I certainly know that a lot of, a lot of outstanding
films have have selected NewJersey, a Complete Unknown.
The Bob Dylan film was was shot, you know, all across the state
.
I think that's one that weshould highlight because of its
success.
Yeah, I don't know if you guyshave seen that movie.
It's also if you're a Bob Dylanfan.
For sure it's an awesome movieto watch.
(25:57):
But there is an endless list offantastic shows, from the
Sopranos to Succession to youknow.
The list could go on and on.
And the Bruce Springsteen one Imean we're going to the
Meadowlands, who I've seen inprobably like 10 times in my
life, so couldn't be a biggerBruce Springsteen fan.
But in terms of ones that havekind of made the decision from
(26:18):
another location to make, Ican't give you a specific answer
for that one, but I'm sure alot of these, I'm sure all of
them, have considered otherlocations.
Nobody goes in thinkingnecessarily I'm going to make
this shoot in New Jersey, exceptmaybe Bruce Springsteen,
because I love the state so much, but you know, I'm sure they're
looking at all the alternativesthat they have available and
(26:40):
they're deciding on New Jerseybecause of all the benefits we
talked about earlier.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Montclair has always had a bunch of things you know
shoot here.
We're pretty used to it as atown, so I think we're pretty
good at respecting the privacyof the people who come that are
celebrities and just feel proudthat they think our town is
worth shooting in.
I think it is nice when we seethat people will come and do a
shoot, that not only do theyhave the trucks and everything,
(27:05):
but the people will go to theboutiques, they'll start going
to the stores, they'll go tosome restaurants if they're
there for a multi-day shoot, andthen a lot of those businesses
in this town and there's so manytowns in New Jersey, obviously
it's a huge state can reap thebenefits too, not just from
seeing a celebrity but also fromgetting some business.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yes, you raise an excellent point.
I mean just the coffee shopsalone.
Yeah, you know a couple ofweeks of shooting.
I've heard some stories fromcoffee shop owners to say they
make more revenue in those fewweeks than they do for the whole
year, I'm sure.
So you know dry cleaning andhotels and restaurants and
printing and all the things thathappen with.
(27:46):
You know hundreds of people comekind of, you know, pouring into
town.
It's always good for theeconomy.
Of course it comes with maybe alittle bit of inconvenience,
some parking or a closed streetet cetera, and sometimes you
hear about the naysayers, youknow, raising a flag about that.
But you know the overall forthe businesses of the community
is very positive.
They typically hire some localpeople to also help, which is
(28:10):
also fantastic.
And then you know it's a way toshowcase that town too, because
if there are some, you knowportions of that film or
television production thathighlight that town, that town
now has that.
You know that can be used for along, long time to bring
tourists to the area, tohighlight the town for other
reasons.
So it's very important on a lotof different levels.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yeah, I agree.
Well, one of the things aboutNew Jersey that I remember early
on when I was looking up allthese different trivia facts
about New Jersey, is that thefirst movie studio was in New
Jersey.
It was in 1893 in Orange, newJersey.
It was called the Black Mariaand Thomas Edison had created it
, and so I love that.
(28:53):
We are kind of and I rememberreading about this stuff it kind
of went on for a while here inNew Jersey and then it kind of
shifted away, but so I love thatit's coming back.
This industry is like reallystarting.
I mean, it's not that it everwent completely away, but I know
that there's been thousands ofproductions here of all
different sorts, and so it'sreally I love that the Screen
(29:14):
Alliance of New Jersey is reallyputting on this event, really
trying to showcase how great itis to make movies or whatever
production you're doing here.
Now my last question is leadinginto the usual question that we
have, but I'd like to put alittle twist on it.
We usually ask people to give ashout out to something that
they absolutely love in NewJersey, and we do point that to
(29:36):
you.
But is there something youabsolutely are so excited about
that's happening in the filmindustry, that when you're
touting what's happening, isthere something that you love
that's happening specifically.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I guess what I love the most is that the image of
New Jersey is changing sodynamically and so rapidly.
That's pretty meaningful to mebecause I think people's image
of New Jersey is unfortunatelyscarred by the New Jersey
turnpike experience, which isn'talways beautiful, and then
Jersey Shore and some of themore kind of stereotypical
(30:10):
things that people have seen.
That's really not New Jersey.
New Jersey is so much deeperthan that culturally, and
there's another level ofsophistication and depth of
beauty to this state that I'mexcited is now going to be
highlighted for the world to see.
Then the World Cup will be partof that because the eyes of the
(30:31):
world will be once again on NewJersey for that experience as
well.
So the diversity, the beautyand the kind of the
wonderfulness of the state nowgets to kind of come to the
forefront the historic.
You know stereotypes are goingto be put behind us.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
We agree.
We say the same thing all thetime.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
We're excited.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
The rest of the world can see what's here.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
I love that answer, right?
I mean, that's such the perfectanswer.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
What is your favorite part of New Jersey?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
I was going to actually say Monmouth Park, the
racetrack, because I don't thinkeveryone understands how much
of a horse country New Jersey is.
So New Jersey has more horsesper capita than any state in the
union.
There are over 40,000 horses inNew Jersey.
There's 4,500 horse farms.
(31:18):
I'm a big horse racing fan.
I love horses and Monmouth Parkhas a lot of history.
It's a beautiful place to visitand I think it's an
under-celebrated part of NewJersey.
It's horse country and it'sunder celebrated part of New
Jersey is that it's really it'shorse country and it's a it's a
beautiful part of the state.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Oh my gosh, and I want to go there.
I've never even heard of it.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
I mean they have the racetrack over here at the
Meadowlands, but that's totallydifferent, right.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Yeah, totally different experience and I'm
going to stay positive on theMonmouth Park experience.
The Meadowlands is harnessracing typically.
And you know that's not yourthing.
Yeah, it's not my thing, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Yeah, well, I'm excited, I want to do that.
I'll go with you, jeanette, Iwant to experience that, because
you weren't the only personthat mentioned that.
They were surprised how manyracing courses there are in new
jersey kentucky derby.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
You know, coming up on saturday I figured it was uh.
It was important to highlightthat it is smart.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I'm so glad you said that and you, we got it in
thanks guys, thank you now we'lllet you go.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I'll see you at the thing I'll see you, it's been a
lot of fun guys.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Yeah, definitely catch up with me on thursday.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
This podcast was produced by rachel martens and
jeanette afsharian.
You can find us on spotify,itunes and buzzsprout.
Thanks for listening.
See you next week.
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