New Jersey Revitalizes Film Tax Credit with Extension

Thanks to efforts by SAG-AFTRA, the New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program will be extended another five years and $25 million per year will be added to the annual cap.

On Jan. 21, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law A5580, breathing new life into the state program that provides countless middle-class union jobs to residents of the state. Since the law’s reinstatement last year — after the previous administration allowed it to expire — the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission estimates that film and television productions spent more than $300 million while filming in New Jersey. This represents a 250% increase from 2018 and nearly 500% from 2017. 

New Jersey has seen a boost in business activity courtesy of feature film productions such as Joker, West Side Story and Paterson, and television shoots such as Succession and Billions. This is money that would have gone to other states were it not for the reinstitution of this important economic incentive.

One week before Murphy signed the bill, SAG-AFTRA and its union allies penned a letter of gratitude, thanking the governor for his unwavering support.