Film tax breaks returning to state; Bayonne has legendary movie history

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME – A panel of film professionals came to Jersey City on Sept. 12 to talk about tax incentives as well as the future of film industry in the state. Read more: Hudson Reporter – Bringing movie sets back to NJ Film tax breaks returning to state Bayonne has legendary movie history

via Al Sullivan/Hudson Reporter – Film historians often attribute the origin of the term “cliffhanger” to the 1914 silent film serial “The Perils of Pauline” in which the main character clings to the Palisade cliffs near Fort Lee. Many people are unaware that New Jersey has a long history in the film industry, dating back to Thomas Edison’s invention of aspects of photography and film production in Newark and his laboratories in West Orange. And one of the early companies that eventually evolved into Universal Studios started as a small silent film studio in Bayonne.

Numerous places in Hudson County and New Jersey have served as locations for films such as “A Beautiful Mind,” “Grosse Point Blank,” and the HBO series “Oz.” But the state has long lived in the shadow of New York City, which has always competed with Los Angeles as a setting for film production. Yet, more than 18,000 union workers associated with movie and TV production live in New Jersey.

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