New Jersey’s Hollywood allure grows as Springsteen biopic spends eye-popping sums around state

🎬 Bruce Springsteen biopic part of NJ’s booming film economy, generating $42M statewide
🚚 Businesses like Edge Auto Rental and Eastern Effects Inc thrive on ‘Hollywood’ demand
🌆 NJ’s unique locations— Hoboken to Asbury Park —draw productions, jobs, and stars

As another filmed-in-New Jersey movie hits theaters this month, the Garden State is reaping the rewards of its film industry boom.

About 500 cast and crew members worked for 31 days around the state, spending nearly $42 million while making the Bruce Springsteen biopic "Deliver Me From Nowhere,” New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission Executive Director Jon Crowley said.

🎥 A-list biopic delivers big for NJ towns and businesses

New Jersey has been building its reputation as a versatile stand-in location for various regions, including a pivotal scene shot at the Meadowlands Arena (formerly known as Continental Arena and Izod Center), which was transformed into the 1980s-era Los Angeles Sports Arena.

The Springsteen film starring Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong was shot in 14 municipalities, spending roughly $2 million on location fees alone.

“And that’s why we do what we do — it's about jobs,” Crowley said, adding that auto rentals, wardrobe, movie cameras, and sets are just some of the important elements assembled here in New Jersey.

🚛 Edge Auto Rental helps drive NJ film production engine

“We’re here in New Jersey really specifically because our clients came here,” Edge Auto Rental co-CEO Nick Day told New Jersey 101.5. “And I think really the genesis of that is the film and digital media tax credit."

Edge Auto first opened in Brooklyn in 2006. About three and a half years ago, their Newark location was opened to support all the production happening on this side of the Hudson River.

The company provides transportation for location shoots, starting with luxury SUVs for stars and passenger vans for cast and crew.

“The production team might need a truck for lights, for wardrobe, for cameras, and we can provide 10, 20, 30, depending on the size of the production, many, many trucks and vans, SUVs to support that production. So, it’s been described as a traveling circus,” Day said.

The company offers white glove service, like being available to swap out a scratched Lincoln Navigator at the 2 a.m. request of a production assistant.

🎥 Eastern Effects Inc. fuels high-octane filmmaking

New Jersey has gone from being known for HBO hit “The Sopranos,” to being among the busiest states for film production, thanks to lots of people working hard, according to Eastern Effects Inc. founder Scott Levy.

“From the governor down to the film commission, down to all of the teams like Eastern Effects Inc. to support this infrastructure and the needs of these productions — and all of the crews who live and work here,” Levy said.

Eastern Effects has a sprawling production facility at 10 Basin Studios in Kearny, and also rents film equipment through its headquarters in Bergen County’s Wood-Ridge.

A massive LED volume wall is among some of the “movie magic” tech in high demand here in New Jersey, Levy said. It has multiple sides and can be used for creating what's called a car stage, which gives you the subtle reflections on the windshield and other details.

The LED wall was critical in scenes with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in "The Rip," which is set to hit Netflix after filming much of its non-stop action at 10 Basin Studios.

“We were humbled to have them working with us and in our facility. It was really amazing,” Levy said of both Oscar-winning actors.

Levy, a New Jersey native, said it was also a true pleasure being able to have a homegrown crew for a recent Jimmy Fallon project that filmed at 10 Basin Studios.

“The team that they assembled here, locally, in New Jersey I would say was the friendly, kindest kind of easiest to work with production team that we had ever encountered in a film and television environment,” he added.

🎞️ NJ location scout says the Garden State is now a star

As of this fall, there are 46 certified “New Jersey Film Ready” communities.

Getting that 5-step certification and marketing program together showed foresight by the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, according to Katherine “Kat” Delaney, a Directors Guild of America location manager.

She spent the first 10 years of her career “really only working in New York, before New Jersey had its current tax incentives in place for film production,” Delaney, a Union County native, said.

“Working with people in New Jersey, keeping money in New Jersey, and creating jobs in New Jersey, — it’s just thrilling for me,” Delaney said.

She and filmmaker Ed Burns crisscrossed the state, stopping at roughly two dozen locations in New Jersey for his recent release, “Millers in Marriage.”

“I love being able to read a script and think back to a house I saw when I was 8 years old and say, Oh my god, that’s the perfect house! Or, a piece of property that I had been to on a school trip that would work really well for something," Delaney said.

Among her most “incredible” memories on productions shot in New Jersey was working  with the city of Paterson on “West Side Story.”

“What Steven Spielberg did — it’s so stunning, it’s so beautiful and what the city did — the period build-work there is so insane. There was so much painting and construction that went into it for weeks and weeks on end,” Delaney said.

The 2021 West Side Story remake starred Clifton native Rachel Zegler, who won a Golden Globe for her performance as Maria.

Read More: Inside the making of 'Happy Gilmore 2' in New Jersey 

💰 Record spending and new studios point to NJ’s film future

A record was recently set by “Happy Gilmore 2,” which spent a record $152.5 million in communities during 64 days of filming around the state.

That’s the highest spend by a single production since the state’s film tax credit program was reinstated in 2018 by Gov. Phil Murphy, according to the commission. The film’s average spend per day was $2.3 million.

Read More: Fresh start at Fort Monmouth, as Netflix breaks ground on NJ studios

Before the end of 2025, the state will likely hit over 50 “Film Ready” certified municipalities, Crowley said.

As word spreads to studios and networks that there are so many welcoming communities, Netflix is expected to officially take ownership of its Monmouth County property at Fort Monmouth in December.

Lionsgate Studios is also working on its Newark facility and 1888 Studios in Bayonne is also moving ahead.

All three facilities would take the state from three purpose-built sound stages to 36, Crowley said.

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