The Hollywood film business can’t grow in the Garden State.
Industry insiders claim they would love to film their next project in New Jersey, but that Gov. Chris Christie’s resistance to raising the state’s paltry $10 million a year in film tax credits is keeping them out.
A handful of insiders — including “True Detective” producer Carol Cuddy and Tom Bernard, who is co-president and cofounder of Sony Pictures Classics — appeared at the Montclair Film Festival Wednesday night saying Christie would be wise to quickly raise the cap on tax credits because its No. 1 rival, New York City, has a film office in transition and a mayor whose dedication to the film industry is unknown.
“New York is scared s–tless that New Jersey is going to step it up,” said one industry source. “The question is, why won’t they?”
While New Jersey is a popular setting for many movies and TV shows — like HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” set in Atlantic City, and the Oscar-winning “Silver Linings Playbook” — most are not actually filmed there.
The HBO show is filmed in Brooklyn and “Silver Linings” was shot across the Delaware River in neighboring Pennsylvania, which has capped its film tax credit at $60 million a year.
New York has the most generous film tax credit program at $420 million.
“New York loves New Jersey not having any tax rebate,” said one source, noting Christie’s film tax credit program will end in 2015.
Tax credits are given to attract Hollywood’s high-paying jobs. Workers not only pay income tax on their salaries but also spend the money in the local economy.
One recent study showed that Pennsylvania’s film industry generated $248 million in wages.
The timing may be right for a film industry tax-credit hike in New Jersey as the state this week announced an $807 million budget gap.
NBC’s “Law and Order: SVU” had been filmed in New Jersey but left its North Bergen locale for New York because of tax credits.
“I think New Jersey can have a thriving movie industry, creating many new jobs and businesses with a competitive tax-rebate program,” Bernard, who appeared at the Montclair Film Fest panel, told The Post. “All it would take is a signature on a bill passed by the state Senate.”
A hearing on a bill to extend and increase New Jersey’s film tax-credit program is scheduled to be held in the state Senate on May 5.
Steven Gorelick, the executive director of the New Jersey Motion Picture & TV Commission, told The Post he couldn’t discuss tax credits — but said there were plenty of TV and movie projects happening regardless of any tax breaks.
“It’s not for me to speak, but I’m certainly interested in the discussion,” he said.
Christie’s office didn’t return calls for comment. The popular governor famously vetoed a benefit that would have given MTV’s controversial “Jersey Shore” program a tax rebate.
Gorelick said movies filming in New Jersey included a remake of the movie “Annie” and “Jersey Boys,” a movie version of the hit Broadway musical.
There are also several reality shows, he said, including Investigation Discovery’s “True Crime” and Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars,” which filmed in Clifton and Paterson.