Television and film in New Jersey

[4] Motion picture technology was invented by Thomas Edison, with early work done at his laboratory in West Orange.

Edison's Black Maria, the world's first movie studio, is where the first motion picture to be copyrighted in the United States, Fred Ott's Sneeze, was shot.

[11] Fred Wesley Wentworth was commissioned in 1914 by Jacob Fabian to build the Regent in Paterson, one of the first theaters built exclusively for the exhibition of moving pictures.

When Governor Phil Murphy took office in 2018 he reinstated the New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program, which had been suspended by the previous administration.

[19][20] Murphy signed legislation in January 2023 increasing the state's digital media content production tax credit to 35% of qualified expenses purchased through vendors in South Jersey and Mercer County.

[24] The expansive floor and high ceilings of the Teaneck Armory has been used for numerous film shoots, including Sweet and Lowdown, You've Got Mail,[25] Bogus, and Stonewall.

[28][29] After the closure of the Meadowlands Arena as a sports and entertainment venue, NBC leased the space and converted it to a major film studio in 2019.

[37] In April 2024, West Orange officially approved the studio, which will consist of three to six production stages spanning 20,000 to 30,000 square feet each, as well as office and support spaces, and a large parking facility.

[39][40][41] In 2022, the city of Newark announced that a major new film and television production studio to be called "Lionsgate Newark Studios," would open in 2024 on the 15-acre former Seth Boyden Terrace housing project site at 101 Center Terrace in the Dayton section in the city's South Ward.