July 20, 2025 • 15 mins
Original Air Date: July 20, 2025
Jon Crowley is the executive director of the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission. With the Netflix Studio now being built at what was Fort Monmouth and other studios on the way in Newark & Bayonne, Crowley predicts we are less than 5 years away from NJ being #3 in the nation, only behind California & NYS in film and tv production, which means lots of jobs in the entertainment biz!
Jon Crowley is the executive director of the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission. With the Netflix Studio now being built at what was Fort Monmouth and other studios on the way in Newark & Bayonne, Crowley predicts we are less than 5 years away from NJ being #3 in the nation, only behind California & NYS in film and tv production, which means lots of jobs in the entertainment biz!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I want to introduce you to John Crowley. He's the
executive director of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission. Now,
maybe thirty years ago you would have thought, what in
New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
No, that's Hollywood, that's La No no no, no, no,
no no no.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Everything is like out the window these days when it
comes to TV and movie production.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
So welome, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Right by the way, should we call ourselves Nollywood?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Nollywood?
Speaker 5 (00:48):
Well, Shelley, first, I just want to say thank you
for having me. I listen to the station and I'm
honored that you have me here Nollywood for like the
new Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Is that what you mean? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
You're New Jersey, New Jersey?
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Ah?
Speaker 5 (01:03):
Okay, Well look we're the original, We're the original film capital.
That's what a lot of people tend to forget, is
that we've come full circle, Shelley. Like when Thomas Edison
invented all the mechanisms you know, to make motion pictures,
he was charging a tax to use his gear, right
and so a lot of the filmmakers the first Hollywood,
(01:25):
if you will, was in Fort Lee, and a lot
of them said, we don't want to pay this guy
his tax, his licensing fee to use his equipment. So
they all ran as far away as they possibly could
to Hollywood to Los Angeles because the weather is good
three hundred and thirty days out of the year, and
there was mountains and there was beach and all that stuff.
(01:45):
So they moved to get away from the tax. And
what's funny, here's the irony, is that we're bringing them
all back with tax incentives to open the doors, right,
to get them interested. So we've really come full circle.
So I'm just going to join hands with you right now.
Let's sing the song Circle of Life from Lion King.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Right.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
We'll do that together, you and your audience and myself.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
A great movie and a great show.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So one of the things I'm so excited about, John
is Netflix, which is building a whole studio complex at
what was Fort Mamoth. So what's the situation with that,
What can we expect and when will it be ready
to actually function?
Speaker 5 (02:31):
I'm you and I are talking right now, and I'm
in Fort Momoth as we as we speak, so I'm
right there. Our offices are here for the time being.
Very exciting because Netflix, as you said, has already started
the process of doing some of the demolition work that
they'll need to do with some of the older buildings
to start putting up their.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Stages and what have you.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
They will take ownership of this property in December and
they'll start doing construction and beginning of twenty twenty six,
probably about two two and a half years to get
all the walls up. But eventually the plan is to
do is to construct twelve stages and some mills and
parking and all the other sort of support buildings that
(03:14):
you need. So that is you know, that's like nine
hundred and se million dollar investment. And then there's another
studio that is on the slate to go before construction
I think the end of this year, and that's called
eighteen eighty eight, and that's in bayone, and that's going
to be another twelve stages, twelve stages here at Netflix,
(03:35):
twelve stages in bayone. Eighteen eighty eight, by the way,
bring it back to Thomas Edison is the year when
all that started. And then there's another studio that's slated
for construction by Lionsgate in Newark, and I think they're
all sort of roughly on the same timeline. So we're
going to go from just having three purpose built stages
(03:56):
to over thirty in about two two and a half year.
But the state already has a lot of warehouse conversions
that have been converted to sound stages. There's about seventy
of them throughout the state. So most studios and networks
come here for the location work. They like our architecture,
our streets, our neighborhoods, our towns, our cities. But we're
(04:18):
going to get a bigger piece of the pie once
all those new stages are up and running, well, we
will be Shelley, I'm giving it to you first.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Right here.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
We're going to go from historically number seven or eight
on the you know, in terms of the busyness here
in the United States as a production hub, We're gonna
we're gonna land in the top three. It's going to
be La New York and New Jersey, I think within
the next four years. And we're already on a path
to do that. Do you want do you want some
(04:48):
other numbers, Shelley, Do you want some other I.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Do, I do, but but but before we get to
the other numbers.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Yes, So who drops the.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Ball in Hollywood? I mean, what is going going on?
Why is TV and movie production leaving? Are they not
giving the tax breaks that we're giving? Like, how does
that compare? And who is to blame? Is this Governor
Newsom's issue?
Speaker 5 (05:15):
No? I mean, look, before I came to New Jersey,
I was born in California, and I came to New
Jersey because I helped create and develop a show called
Impractical Jokers, which is going on.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I love them, we love them, thank you on our
show all the time.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Oh you love They're good guys. They're all good guys.
They're good eggs.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
So I came out here roughly around the same time,
and I felt like I was sort of on an
island that there wasn't a whole lot of production going
on the on the.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
East Coast, especially New Jersey.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
But over time I've seen more and more of it
roll this way, in part because of Governor Murphy and
the legislators in Trenton put together a great tax and
centate program. But also Shelley, why are we a draw?
It's that opens the door we've got great locations. Like
I said a moment ago, we've got a huge experienced workforce.
(06:10):
Forty percent of all the New York crews actually live
in New Jersey. And they'd much rather just get on
the Parkway to go to work than they would get
across a bridge or a tunnel to go to work.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Right, So we've got all that.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
It's the biggest experience workforce outside LA New York is
right here in New Jersey. And then we've got this infrastructure.
We've got these not only the stages that are coming in,
but as I said, our warehouse conversions that already exist.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
We've got a lot of visual.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Effects artists that frankly it's too expensive to live on
the other side of the river that come to New Jersey.
We've got gripped and electric rental lighting firms that are here.
So anyway, when you put all these things together, and
a film commissioner that's top notch, you add all these
pieces of the puzzle together, and we're a draw now
(06:56):
growing up in LA. To answer your original question, I saw,
you know, twenty five years ago that there were places
like Toronto that were attracting business because of the conversion
rate right, and then New York was always a draw
because filmmakers really wanted that New York feel, and so
New York got a piece of the business.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
And I think in la the thought.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Was like, hey, look, we've got all of our stars,
the executives, the studios are all here, all the equipment
that I just mentioned, all the infrastructure is here.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Nobody's going to catch up to us.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
And I think that there was just sort of a
belief that it was never really going to leave Los Angeles.
Now here we are twenty five, thirty years ago, and
you know, thirty five states have tax incentives, which again
entered the draw.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
But why is New Jersey moving up the list.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Yes, it's the incentives that Trenton put together, but it's
all those other things that you can't get an experienced
crew in Texas or Louisiana like you can here in
New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
You just can't.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
And they don't have the same sort of mature infrastructure
that we have. Too doesn't mean they can't catch up.
So we can't rest on our laurels. So we have
to work hard. And that's what we do with the
Film Commission, is we have a very aggressive outreach program
to make people aware of everything that we have because
for a lot of people, Shelley New Jersey to them
is just a rusty bridge that they saw in the
(08:20):
opening of Sopranos, right exactly, And we're a lot more
than that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Okay, So looking ahead, because I'm thinking of jobs. So
if people are going to like young people trying to
figure out what they want to do, and TV and
film and radio so much fun, the entertainment business so
much fun, where should young people be getting training now
(08:45):
for these opportunities that are just going to be around
the corner. What are the good schools to go to,
what are the good majors? What should they be doing
to prepare for what's going to be a surge in jobs.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
There is going to be a surge in jobs. There
is the surgeon jobs, and there are there are a
lot of fine schools in the Tri State area. You know,
I was accepted to film school. The film school I
wound up going to is on the West Coast. But
the reason I chose that school was because in order
(09:22):
to teach there, your primary source of income had to
be the area in which you were instructing. So it
means that my writing teacher was the head writer on
a really popular show at the time. My cinematography teacher
was somebody that was a working director of photography in
the business. So you were getting best practice, best job practice,
(09:44):
current job practice from these people because they were all
working in the industry. And those teachers wound up being
my very first foray into the business. So you know,
I was a PA on the Academy Awards for two weeks,
but I had an editor's reel and I made friends
with all the editors because I thought that might be
(10:04):
my first big break into the business was as an editor,
and I showed it to the editors.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Long story sort of short.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
One night, one of the editors came in and said,
I'm sick, I'm going home try editing this piece. I
did it, and I came back and he said I
like it, and he said I'm going to show it
to the big boss. And within two weeks of being
hired as a PA, I was now an editor and
my career was off to the start, off to the races.
So why am I telling you that is for a
student today. Look at any school and see are the
(10:36):
teachers working in the industry. Are you getting current job
technique best practice right that you can take forward with
you for your first job, because once you get onto
your first job, be early, leave late, and be prepared
with an example reel or a link to your work
so that when opportunity presents itself and you're doing the
(10:58):
best job you can is maybe be a production assistant
or whatever it might be, you can move up because
you're ready, you're prepared. So you want to make sure that, yeah,
that your teachers are going to be able to help
you maybe make it entree for that very first job.
That's the thing to look for. And in New Jersey,
we're blessed with a lot of working professionals. Like I said,
(11:19):
forty percent of AATSI and the teamsters live in New Jersey,
so some of them do this and they're off time,
they mentor and they teach, and just be prepared, be
prepared and do the best that you can in the
job in what you're hired. And that's the surest way
to getting moved on of the ladder.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Even before these big studios open at Fort Mamuth and
Newark and Bayone and more, there are a lot of
movies that are being shot in New Jersey and I
always hear about background actors that are needed. So people listening, now,
how do they find out about these background actor jobs
(12:02):
that they can get right now?
Speaker 5 (12:06):
You know, on the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television
Commission website, we put up listings all the time. You know,
I think Happy Gilmour too, which was in here last year.
Last summer, I think they paid out five or six
million dollars to background actors, so they had a considerable
chunk of their budget was for background actors and those
(12:28):
were I think largely New Jersey residents, and they were
all over the state filming and also spending money. That's
the important reason why do we do this is is
you know, to get them to spend their money while
they're here in state. And I'll get into that in
a second. And also for jobs.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
We have two and a half minutes left.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
First of all, give out the website for the New
Jersey Motion Just look up New.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission and then we'll take
you right to the site and then you'll see casting notices.
You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Were there same thing?
Speaker 5 (13:03):
New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission and you'll see
all sorts of postings that come up for a lot
of the films. I think they're looking right now for
extras for Mama's Boy, which is the prequel to Friday
the thirteenth. So A twenty four is in the state
we last year Here's here's the big number, Shelley that
(13:24):
I promised you is last year we had about forty
four projects come through the state, thirty two. The year
before twenty twenty three, the spend, that's the amount of
money that these productions spend in the state was five
hundred and ninety two million dollars. In twenty twenty four,
we're going past eight hundred million dollars that they spent
(13:47):
while they were in state, and literally tens of thousands
of people crew that they're putting to work. So that
spend is our local businesses, dry cleaners, hardware stores, gas stations,
grocery stores, hotels. When Spielberg was in here in May
down in Cape May, three hundred and fifty crew members
were staying at eight different hotels and the average cost
(14:09):
of two hundred and eighty five dollars per night. And
when we mentioned that to some of the local electeds
down there, they said, and in the in the off season,
these people are all staying down there in the off season.
The hotel owners were ecstatic. And then at night when
they get off work, they all get a per diem.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
You know what.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
They're going around and they're having dinner at different restaurants
every single night, trying out everything and spending that per diem.
So you know, that's that's at the end of the day,
it's that qualified spend because they don't come to New
Jersey with all these things. They don't come with hotel rooms,
they don't come with food. They're all buying it while
they're here. So and then putting our people to work,
which is a great thing. That's why we do it.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Okay, we are out of time, but I want anyone
who is listening who is interested in getting involved in
the New Jersey motion picture and television industry which is
blowing up. Just google Njay Motion Picture and Television Commission.
John Crowley, thank you so much. I'm going to have
(15:09):
you on in the not too distant future for updates
because this is one of the most exciting things I've
heard in quite a while about the state.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
I am so proud of and that is New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You've been listening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one four point three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I want to introduce you to John Crowley. He's the
executive director of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission. Now,
maybe thirty years ago you would have thought, what in
New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
No, that's Hollywood, that's La No no no, no, no,
no no no.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Everything is like out the window these days when it
comes to TV and movie production.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
So welome, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Right by the way, should we call ourselves Nollywood?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Nollywood?
Speaker 5 (00:48):
Well, Shelley, first, I just want to say thank you
for having me. I listen to the station and I'm
honored that you have me here Nollywood for like the
new Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Is that what you mean? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
You're New Jersey, New Jersey?
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Ah?
Speaker 5 (01:03):
Okay, Well look we're the original, We're the original film capital.
That's what a lot of people tend to forget, is
that we've come full circle, Shelley. Like when Thomas Edison
invented all the mechanisms you know, to make motion pictures,
he was charging a tax to use his gear, right
and so a lot of the filmmakers the first Hollywood,
(01:25):
if you will, was in Fort Lee, and a lot
of them said, we don't want to pay this guy
his tax, his licensing fee to use his equipment. So
they all ran as far away as they possibly could
to Hollywood to Los Angeles because the weather is good
three hundred and thirty days out of the year, and
there was mountains and there was beach and all that stuff.
(01:45):
So they moved to get away from the tax. And
what's funny, here's the irony, is that we're bringing them
all back with tax incentives to open the doors, right,
to get them interested. So we've really come full circle.
So I'm just going to join hands with you right now.
Let's sing the song Circle of Life from Lion King.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Right.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
We'll do that together, you and your audience and myself.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
A great movie and a great show.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So one of the things I'm so excited about, John
is Netflix, which is building a whole studio complex at
what was Fort Mamoth. So what's the situation with that,
What can we expect and when will it be ready
to actually function?
Speaker 5 (02:31):
I'm you and I are talking right now, and I'm
in Fort Momoth as we as we speak, so I'm
right there. Our offices are here for the time being.
Very exciting because Netflix, as you said, has already started
the process of doing some of the demolition work that
they'll need to do with some of the older buildings
to start putting up their.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Stages and what have you.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
They will take ownership of this property in December and
they'll start doing construction and beginning of twenty twenty six,
probably about two two and a half years to get
all the walls up. But eventually the plan is to
do is to construct twelve stages and some mills and
parking and all the other sort of support buildings that
(03:14):
you need. So that is you know, that's like nine
hundred and se million dollar investment. And then there's another
studio that is on the slate to go before construction
I think the end of this year, and that's called
eighteen eighty eight, and that's in bayone, and that's going
to be another twelve stages, twelve stages here at Netflix,
(03:35):
twelve stages in bayone. Eighteen eighty eight, by the way,
bring it back to Thomas Edison is the year when
all that started. And then there's another studio that's slated
for construction by Lionsgate in Newark, and I think they're
all sort of roughly on the same timeline. So we're
going to go from just having three purpose built stages
(03:56):
to over thirty in about two two and a half year.
But the state already has a lot of warehouse conversions
that have been converted to sound stages. There's about seventy
of them throughout the state. So most studios and networks
come here for the location work. They like our architecture,
our streets, our neighborhoods, our towns, our cities. But we're
(04:18):
going to get a bigger piece of the pie once
all those new stages are up and running, well, we
will be Shelley, I'm giving it to you first.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Right here.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
We're going to go from historically number seven or eight
on the you know, in terms of the busyness here
in the United States as a production hub, We're gonna
we're gonna land in the top three. It's going to
be La New York and New Jersey, I think within
the next four years. And we're already on a path
to do that. Do you want do you want some
(04:48):
other numbers, Shelley, Do you want some other I.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Do, I do, but but but before we get to
the other numbers.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Yes, So who drops the.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Ball in Hollywood? I mean, what is going going on?
Why is TV and movie production leaving? Are they not
giving the tax breaks that we're giving? Like, how does
that compare? And who is to blame? Is this Governor
Newsom's issue?
Speaker 5 (05:15):
No? I mean, look, before I came to New Jersey,
I was born in California, and I came to New
Jersey because I helped create and develop a show called
Impractical Jokers, which is going on.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I love them, we love them, thank you on our
show all the time.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Oh you love They're good guys. They're all good guys.
They're good eggs.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
So I came out here roughly around the same time,
and I felt like I was sort of on an
island that there wasn't a whole lot of production going
on the on the.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
East Coast, especially New Jersey.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
But over time I've seen more and more of it
roll this way, in part because of Governor Murphy and
the legislators in Trenton put together a great tax and
centate program. But also Shelley, why are we a draw?
It's that opens the door we've got great locations. Like
I said a moment ago, we've got a huge experienced workforce.
(06:10):
Forty percent of all the New York crews actually live
in New Jersey. And they'd much rather just get on
the Parkway to go to work than they would get
across a bridge or a tunnel to go to work.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Right, So we've got all that.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
It's the biggest experience workforce outside LA New York is
right here in New Jersey. And then we've got this infrastructure.
We've got these not only the stages that are coming in,
but as I said, our warehouse conversions that already exist.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
We've got a lot of visual.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Effects artists that frankly it's too expensive to live on
the other side of the river that come to New Jersey.
We've got gripped and electric rental lighting firms that are here.
So anyway, when you put all these things together, and
a film commissioner that's top notch, you add all these
pieces of the puzzle together, and we're a draw now
(06:56):
growing up in LA. To answer your original question, I saw,
you know, twenty five years ago that there were places
like Toronto that were attracting business because of the conversion
rate right, and then New York was always a draw
because filmmakers really wanted that New York feel, and so
New York got a piece of the business.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
And I think in la the thought.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Was like, hey, look, we've got all of our stars,
the executives, the studios are all here, all the equipment
that I just mentioned, all the infrastructure is here.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Nobody's going to catch up to us.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
And I think that there was just sort of a
belief that it was never really going to leave Los Angeles.
Now here we are twenty five, thirty years ago, and
you know, thirty five states have tax incentives, which again
entered the draw.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
But why is New Jersey moving up the list.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Yes, it's the incentives that Trenton put together, but it's
all those other things that you can't get an experienced
crew in Texas or Louisiana like you can here in
New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
You just can't.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
And they don't have the same sort of mature infrastructure
that we have. Too doesn't mean they can't catch up.
So we can't rest on our laurels. So we have
to work hard. And that's what we do with the
Film Commission, is we have a very aggressive outreach program
to make people aware of everything that we have because
for a lot of people, Shelley New Jersey to them
is just a rusty bridge that they saw in the
(08:20):
opening of Sopranos, right exactly, And we're a lot more
than that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Okay, So looking ahead, because I'm thinking of jobs. So
if people are going to like young people trying to
figure out what they want to do, and TV and
film and radio so much fun, the entertainment business so
much fun, where should young people be getting training now
(08:45):
for these opportunities that are just going to be around
the corner. What are the good schools to go to,
what are the good majors? What should they be doing
to prepare for what's going to be a surge in jobs.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
There is going to be a surge in jobs. There
is the surgeon jobs, and there are there are a
lot of fine schools in the Tri State area. You know,
I was accepted to film school. The film school I
wound up going to is on the West Coast. But
the reason I chose that school was because in order
(09:22):
to teach there, your primary source of income had to
be the area in which you were instructing. So it
means that my writing teacher was the head writer on
a really popular show at the time. My cinematography teacher
was somebody that was a working director of photography in
the business. So you were getting best practice, best job practice,
(09:44):
current job practice from these people because they were all
working in the industry. And those teachers wound up being
my very first foray into the business. So you know,
I was a PA on the Academy Awards for two weeks,
but I had an editor's reel and I made friends
with all the editors because I thought that might be
(10:04):
my first big break into the business was as an editor,
and I showed it to the editors.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Long story sort of short.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
One night, one of the editors came in and said,
I'm sick, I'm going home try editing this piece. I
did it, and I came back and he said I
like it, and he said I'm going to show it
to the big boss. And within two weeks of being
hired as a PA, I was now an editor and
my career was off to the start, off to the races.
So why am I telling you that is for a
student today. Look at any school and see are the
(10:36):
teachers working in the industry. Are you getting current job
technique best practice right that you can take forward with
you for your first job, because once you get onto
your first job, be early, leave late, and be prepared
with an example reel or a link to your work
so that when opportunity presents itself and you're doing the
(10:58):
best job you can is maybe be a production assistant
or whatever it might be, you can move up because
you're ready, you're prepared. So you want to make sure that, yeah,
that your teachers are going to be able to help
you maybe make it entree for that very first job.
That's the thing to look for. And in New Jersey,
we're blessed with a lot of working professionals. Like I said,
(11:19):
forty percent of AATSI and the teamsters live in New Jersey,
so some of them do this and they're off time,
they mentor and they teach, and just be prepared, be
prepared and do the best that you can in the
job in what you're hired. And that's the surest way
to getting moved on of the ladder.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Even before these big studios open at Fort Mamuth and
Newark and Bayone and more, there are a lot of
movies that are being shot in New Jersey and I
always hear about background actors that are needed. So people listening, now,
how do they find out about these background actor jobs
(12:02):
that they can get right now?
Speaker 5 (12:06):
You know, on the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television
Commission website, we put up listings all the time. You know,
I think Happy Gilmour too, which was in here last year.
Last summer, I think they paid out five or six
million dollars to background actors, so they had a considerable
chunk of their budget was for background actors and those
(12:28):
were I think largely New Jersey residents, and they were
all over the state filming and also spending money. That's
the important reason why do we do this is is
you know, to get them to spend their money while
they're here in state. And I'll get into that in
a second. And also for jobs.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
We have two and a half minutes left.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
First of all, give out the website for the New
Jersey Motion Just look up New.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission and then we'll take
you right to the site and then you'll see casting notices.
You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Were there same thing?
Speaker 5 (13:03):
New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission and you'll see
all sorts of postings that come up for a lot
of the films. I think they're looking right now for
extras for Mama's Boy, which is the prequel to Friday
the thirteenth. So A twenty four is in the state
we last year Here's here's the big number, Shelley that
(13:24):
I promised you is last year we had about forty
four projects come through the state, thirty two. The year
before twenty twenty three, the spend, that's the amount of
money that these productions spend in the state was five
hundred and ninety two million dollars. In twenty twenty four,
we're going past eight hundred million dollars that they spent
(13:47):
while they were in state, and literally tens of thousands
of people crew that they're putting to work. So that
spend is our local businesses, dry cleaners, hardware stores, gas stations,
grocery stores, hotels. When Spielberg was in here in May
down in Cape May, three hundred and fifty crew members
were staying at eight different hotels and the average cost
(14:09):
of two hundred and eighty five dollars per night. And
when we mentioned that to some of the local electeds
down there, they said, and in the in the off season,
these people are all staying down there in the off season.
The hotel owners were ecstatic. And then at night when
they get off work, they all get a per diem.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
You know what.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
They're going around and they're having dinner at different restaurants
every single night, trying out everything and spending that per diem.
So you know, that's that's at the end of the day,
it's that qualified spend because they don't come to New
Jersey with all these things. They don't come with hotel rooms,
they don't come with food. They're all buying it while
they're here. So and then putting our people to work,
which is a great thing. That's why we do it.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Okay, we are out of time, but I want anyone
who is listening who is interested in getting involved in
the New Jersey motion picture and television industry which is
blowing up. Just google Njay Motion Picture and Television Commission.
John Crowley, thank you so much. I'm going to have
(15:09):
you on in the not too distant future for updates
because this is one of the most exciting things I've
heard in quite a while about the state.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
I am so proud of and that is New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You've been listening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one four point three
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