Movie, TV Sets Are Moving Out of California to the East Coast

Hollywood's center of gravity is edging away from Los Angeles, and one unexpected winner is picking up the slack: New Jersey. The Wall Street Journal reports that while overall US film and TV production spending fell 20% last year, the Garden State is surging, with 17 projects budgeted at $10 million or more shooting there in 2025 and nearly $1 billion spent—double the prior year. The Hollywood Reporter noted in April that New Jersey saw its production spend grow 37% year over year.

The attraction is money, not scenery. New Jersey now offers some of the country's most appealing film and TV tax credits, including up to 35% off local spending, per the Journal. Bonus incentives can push that figure toward 45% for a handful of studios that commit to a decade of work in the state—slots already snapped up by Netflix, Lionsgate, and Paramount.

Productions like Happy Gilmore 2 and Starz's Power: Origins have been drawn in to the state across the Hudson, as well as Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day and the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, notes Backstage.com. Meanwhile, Georgia, New York, and even California are losing out, per the Journal. New Jersey has locked in $430 million a year in incentives through 2049, betting it can build a lasting industry rather than a passing "circus." More here.