Hollywood is coming to the Garden State, bringing thousands of opportunities for New Jerseyans to get their big break. From Paterson to Long Branch, the entertainment industry boom is well underway across the state, bringing entry-level opportunities alongside senior and managerial roles.
Netflix’s $1 billion bet on the Jersey Shore, at the former site of the Fort Monmouth army base, has already begun bringing hundreds of construction jobs to the state. Demolition at the former base began early last year, but the streaming giant is already assembling a team for its studio operations, which is projected to create up to 1,500 permanent jobs.
The company recently posted two job listings for a director of studio operations and a manager of studio site and services for its upcoming studio, which will be located in both Oceanport and Eatontown. The job listings are available on the Jersey Digs Job Board.
As reported by Jersey Digs at the end of 2024, Netflix’s project will include 12 soundstages totaling about 500,000 square feet. When completed, the Fort Monmouth facility will be Netflix’s second-largest production building behind the company’s ABQ Studios in New Mexico.
A January press release from Netflix said that the streaming company’s CEO, Ted Sarandos, met with former Governor Phil Murphy, former First Lady Tammy Murphy, and then-governor-elect Mikie Sherrill to celebrate the closing of the purchase of the property within Fort Monmouth. At the time, Sarandos said that Netflix was shooting two movies in the Garden State, including Here Comes the Flood starring Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson, and employing over 500 workers on and off-screen.
A report in NJBIZ said the streaming giant paid $55 million for the project site, including a $5 million utility contribution and a $3 million relocation fee. The release added that Netflix had filmed 20 other titles in the state, including Happy Gilmore 2, The Rip, and The Whisper Man.
While Netflix has been working on the redevelopment at Fort Monmouth since 2020, the project is far from the only production facility being built in New Jersey.
Just north in Newark, California-based studio Lionsgate and Great Point Studios broke ground last year at the Former Seth Boyden site in Brick City’s South Ward. That project will consist of soundstages, production offices, set-building facilities, and full on-site production services, bringing hundreds of jobs to the state.
Jersey Digs reported in December that Lionsgate will create approximately 600 long-term jobs and that its new studio is projected to generate an annual economic impact of over $800 million. The lion’s share of the studio’s full-time employment opportunities will be reserved for Newark residents, who will also have priority consideration when applying for all studio jobs. The project in Newark is Lionsgate’s second production facility in the New York City metro area, after Yonkers, where it is also building a new 1-million-square-foot studio.
A few miles east of the Newark site, down I-78, public officials and executives recently broke ground on another 1-million-square-foot movie and television facility anchored by Paramount. That project, known as 1888 Studios, will be located along Avenue A in Bayonne, next to the Bayonne Bridge, and will repurpose a 58-acre former Texaco refinery site that closed in the 1980’s.
Jersey Digs reported in December that the project will span 23 soundstages and more than 1 million square feet of new construction. The project is expected to yield 2,000 union jobs when the facility is fully operational and 2,300 construction jobs. The entire project is expected to include four underground parking structures with over 2,100 parking spaces, a lighting and grip building, a central utility plant, a utility yard, and facilities to support the studios.
Remarkably, there is still another studio rising in one of the most unexpected communities in the Garden State.
At the former Reinhardt Mill complex in Paterson, just two blocks from I-80, the co-creator of E! Entertainment, Alan Mruvka, is making a $250 million bet that mobile-first productions can succeed in New Jersey and in the U.S.
Mruvka is spearheading the redevelopment of the complex in Paterson, which will yield a 250,000-square-foot studio at 61 State Street. The project is known as ‘Filmology Labs’ and unlike the Netflix, Paramount, and Lionsgate studios, it is built for speed and scale.
Unlike traditional movie and television studios, the project in Paterson is intended to focus on mobile-first productions and AI-driven media. The project will feature 21 production sound stages with permanent standing sets, a green-screen stage, creative office space, a commissary for up to 200 people, and fitness facilities, to name a few. Mruvka’s own mobile-first platform, Verza TV, will be based out of the new studio.
While the films and television shows being produced in the state reflect that New Jersey has the talent pool and workforce necessary to consistently produce blockbuster films, they also show that the surge in new productions is being driven by tax breaks from Trenton and local municipalities.
A meeting agenda from the NJ Motion Picture and Television Commission from January said that Trenton has supported 33 films since January 2025, providing $126 million in Film Tax Credits. That same release said that there are still $238 million in tax credits available. That figure, according to a report from NJBIZ, reflects a slowdown in new Film Tax Credits, which amounted to $833 million in 2024 and $701 million in 2022. That same commission agenda also noted that the state is working with Amazon, Apple, and Warner Bros., among others.
Former governor Murphy said during the groundbreaking for the studio in Bayonne that for every dollar New Jersey invests in the film industry, it receives $7 back, suggesting that as long as Trenton continues to support television and movie productions, the industry is here to stay.
For individuals keeping track of these opportunities as they post — from entry-level gigs to six-figure management roles — the Jersey Digs Job Board is updating regularly.
