Some 4,500 people flocked to the Meadowlands Arena yesterday to be part of New Jersey’s vision of turning the Garden State into Hollywood East.
The second annual NJ Film Expo, sponsored by the Screen Alliance of New Jersey (SANJ), which entailed some 90 exhibitors, various panel discussions, and a keynote speech by Gov. Mikie Sherrill, was a red-carpet walk showing the national and global film industry that New Jersey is fast becoming an industry star.
New Jersey gave birth to the film industry, thanks to Thomas Edison and his invention of the motion picture camera. Silent films were made here, such as the Great Train Robbery and the Perils of Pauline, which introduced the “cliffhanger” suspense concept, where actress Pearl White – on occasion – would literally dangle off the Palisades in Fort Lee, with the drama being resolved in the following episode of the series.
However, filmmakers left New Jersey for California beginning in 1915 primarily to escape what were considered “heavy-handed” patent and copyright restrictions enforced by Thomas Edison’s Motion Picture Patent Company, thus spawning the Hollywood film industry in California.
Fast forward to today, and the film industry is making a strong comeback in New Jersey thanks to the state’s Film and Digital Media Tax Credit Program, which was reinstated in 2018 by former Gov. Phil Murphy and later extended to 2049. In fact, according to data from production intelligence platform ProdPro, film production in New Jersey experienced a 45% increase in film count and a 37% rise in production spending in the first quarter of 2026, while production across the nation saw an overall decline – even California saw a 14% drop in film count.
According to Jon Crowley, executive director of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, the increase in production and related dollars coming into the state are not only due to the Film and Digital Media Tax Credit program, which offers tax credits of up to 40% for expenses incurred, but because of the film-related workforce here and the state’s diverse locations.