Lights, camera, Perth Amboy? How NJ town is courting movie biz

Hollywood East strikes again.

While more and more television and film production keeps happening in New Jersey it seems that the sky is still the limit. The New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission some time ago set up a special program for towns to become certified as “film ready.”

To be certified as a New Jersey Film Ready Community a municipality must go through a multi-step training process and learn how to prepare and market themselves as a viable choice for a filming destination.

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“The Film Ready New Jersey program is helping the state’s film industry grow by giving municipalities and counties the tools needed to welcome top-tier productions to their communities,” said Tim Sullivan, the commission's CEO. “As more productions choose New Jersey as their backdrop, the training provided by the Film Ready program will generate an economic boost for communities across the state by creating jobs, supporting small businesses, and attracting tourism.”

The film commission basically coaches towns on how to be turnkey in accommodating a production crew. It certainly draws a lot of money into a township’s businesses when cameras roll within their borders.

(Canva)

The latest town interested in doing this is Perth Amboy. They already had a Film Ordinance passed in 2013 but the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission wanted changes to it made. And Perth Amboy is working with the commission to make it all happen.

Perth Amboy could have a lot of things that would catch the eye of a location scout like the Victory Bridge, its historic buildings, and the city’s views of Raritan Bay.

With all the talent that was homegrown right here in the Garden State, I think it’s great that we have so much television and film production happening. I’m sure people like Joe Pesci, Paul Rudd, Meryl Streep, Danny DeVito, Anne Hathaway, and more have spread the word about the ample opportunities for location scouts to find anything they could possibly need here.

Perth Amboy (Google Maps)

We’ve got the cities, we’ve got the suburbs, we’ve got the mountains, we’ve got the lakes, we’ve got the ocean. Nearly anything you want a landscape to look like New Jersey can be the chameleon to make it happen for you.