Look what’s growing in the Garden State.
The Hollywood Reporter was on-site Tuesday morning when Netflix broke ground on its new east coast home, Netflix Studios Fort Monmouth in central New Jersey. (Yes, there is a central New Jersey.) The gigantic renovation project, in which Netflix will turn a long-abandoned U.S. Army base into a dozen soundstages, a backlot, state-of-the-art post-production facilities, general office space and basically 500,000 square feet of all things Netflix, was brought to you by one thing: tax credits.
You might want to take some notes here, California.
Before a wrecking ball even thrice ceremoniously slammed into some random, already-crumbling decommissioned military building (we were provided with hard hats, thank you for your concern), and before the pork roll, egg and cheese sandwiches were handed out to guests in attendance, including The Sopranos creator David Chase, Netflix had seven productions currently filming in New Jersey. In the coming years, that number is about to be a whole lot more.
Why did the world’s leading streaming service bet its future on not-New York? Governor Phil Murphy may be a bit biased, but he believes New Jersey has “the single best film-incentive program in the entire country,” as he announced between the groundbreaking and the building-breaking. From his Netflix-branded director’s chair on the same stage, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos applauded that line vigorously — and maybe a bit early. Perhaps someone peaked at the teleprompter.
Sarandos’ enthusiasm for the project is evident. It’s also just good business. Sarandos runs a near-$500 billion publicly-traded company; he didn’t choose New Jersey as Netflix’s home away from home just because he was born here — though he was — Sarandos chose it as a fiduciary responsibility.
New Jersey’s tax credits for film and TV production are indeed very good. The state offers a credit for up to 35 percent of qualified film production expenses, and up to 40 percent for digital media (like Netflix) post-production, which Sarandos singled out as a major piece to Netflix Studios Fort Monmouth.
Generous incentives have helped to make New Jersey the sixth-largest state for film and TV productions, according to an April 8 study by ProdPro. With $536 million in trailing 12-month spend, New Jersey ranks just behind Illinois ($725 million), New Mexico ($805 million), Georgia ($2.23 billion), New York ($4.07 billion) and California ($6.34 billion).
Murphy told THR that the best thing about New Jersey’s film tax incentive program isn’t even about how much money they’re willing to allocate, but rather for how long they’re willing to allocate it. The New Jersey Film and Digital Media Tax Credit Program has already been extended through June 30, 2039. It’s an “explicit statement that this is not about us,” Murphy said, “this is about generations to come.”
“And that to me is the strongest statement you could make,” he told us.
During his turn at the lectern, Sarandos recalled being “in love with this idea” of Netflix Studios Fort Monmouth from “the very first conversation” he had with Murphy, New Jersey’s outgoing two-term governor.
Though Murphy’s presence was certainly felt at Fort Monmouth, he is not the only New Jersey politician who wooed Netflix to Monmouth County. And thank goodness, they all got a turn to make a speech on this rainy Tuesday in Eatontown, NJ. The tax credits were touted at every turn. (State Senator Vin Gopal took a moment to point out the other good reasons to come to New Jersey, like the shore and the schools.)
“Boy, what a difference film credits can make,” Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly Craig Coughlin said.
Senator Declan O’Scanlon admitted it took him “a while” to be in favor of the program that birthed Netflix Studios Fort Monmouth. And then O’Scanlon said the rarest words you will ever hear out of a politician’s mouth: ”I was wrong.”
They also each carved out a moment to let their Jersey shine through. For Coughlin, that moment was to take a shot at HBO, Netflix’s chief rival in premium TV programming. “To hell with” seeing another Boardwalk Empire, which was set in classic Atlantic City, skip New Jersey for New York.
As for O’Scanlon, it was this declaration: “We’re kicking California’s ass.”
Welcome to New Jersey.
Though we clearly aren’t (and probably never will) in terms of overall spend and production, there is some truth to O’Scanlon’s point. California’s hubris over Los Angeles’ positioning in the entertainment industry has resulted in so much production flight. Only now is its own governor, Gavin Newsom, playing catchup on film incentives.
Local governments also didn’t do Hollywoodland any favors in terms of their permitting processes, which often created giant backlogs. The same problems won’t exist here, Monmouth County Commissioner Director Thomas Arnone promised.
“We will make this easy for you,” he said to Sarandos.
#Jersey #Landed #Netflix
