Netflix is about to get a new next door neighbor. Paramount has signed a 10-year lease to occupy a massive amount of studio space in New Jersey, which has recently been home to a highly lucrative and aggressive production tax credit.
Paramount will commit to taking up space within 1888 Studios in Bayonne, NJ, which is a 1.6 million square foot film and TV production campus currently being built out and is set to be the largest production facility in the Northeast. Paramount specifically will occupy 285,000 square feet of that footprint, giving Paramount-Skydance a big home in The Garden State and making it increasingly attractive as an East Coast production hub.
Back in May, Netflix broke ground on its own 500,000 square foot facility in Fort Monmouth, NJ, investing $1 billion in the project, and Lionsgate has a lease at a 270,000 square foot campus in Newark. The benefit of the Bayonne location is that 1888 Studios boasts that it’s 30 minutes from downtown Manhattan and is widely accessible even by boat or by helicopter.
In May 2024, 1888 Studios was one of three studios designated as New Jersey’s first Film-Lease Partner Facility, meaning that anyone who are tenants there will have access to New Jersey’s Film and Digital Media Tax Credit program.
New Jersey’s tax credit program was approved in 2018 and is funded until 2049, and it offers productions that shoot in the state a tax credit of up to 40 percent. While it has a cap on how much of that credit can go to above-the-line costs (those costs aren’t even eligible in California), the tax credits are transferrable, and the program has a $100 million annual allocation for legacy film projects specifically, so all of the above make it one of the more attractive and competitive filming tax credit programs in the country.
“Paramount’s expansion into New Jersey, utilizing 1888 Studios’ large-scale, full-service production campus in Bayonne, reflects the incredible momentum of our state’s creative sector, solidifying our reputation as a global powerhouse in the entertainment industry,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “By attracting world-class studios and productions, we are not only creating high-quality jobs, promoting infrastructure, and driving economic growth, but are also investing in our communities and elevating New Jersey as a national leader in entertainment.”
In a statement, Paramount chief strategy officer and chief operating officer Andy Gordon said “scaling our production and expanding our slate” is “central to our long-term strategy,” so being able to reduce costs and shoot in an affordable new location is going to be key.
Film historians will know that Thomas Edison once used to shoot films in New Jersey, but it was a combination of patent issues and of course the California weather that lured what would become Hollywood out West. But with everything much more global, New Jersey is back on the map for filming, and 1888 Studios is even named after the year Edison patented the motion film camera.