CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Heather Simmons Commissioner – Gloucester County South Jersey Film Office Cooperative
What makes Camden and Gloucester counties the ideal region for film production? Between all of the municipalities in Camden and Gloucester counties, we have tremendous commercial locations, open spaces, diverse landmarks, waterfronts and talent. Our diversification of environments, from some of the most densely populated areas in the nation to rural farmlands, is unmatched. South Jersey as a whole has urban settings, beach settings, farms, wineries, industrial, rivers and old neighborhoods. Once we get producers to look at us, they’re going to find something to match whatever their script is looking for. If you can’t shoot it in South Jersey, you have no business shooting it. Location scouts also get very excited about New Jersey because the ease of doing business for these productions is much, much more welcoming than it is elsewhere.
Public sector initiatives In order to attract the required foreign investment in the state, public officials have to work on attractive incentives that allow New Jersey to be competitive on the national stage. The state offers several incentives including low-interest loans for small and mediumsized businesses, direct lending from the Economic Development Authority (EDA), which offers up to $2 million for fixed costs, the small business fund, which offers up to $500,000 and a bond financing program that can inject up to $10 million in liquidity. The state also offers lease incentives, technical assistance and industry-specific programs, such as for the technology and life sciences businesses. A tax incentive program was renewed by Gov. Murphy in December 2020 to drive economic growth, with a total cap of $11.5 billion in the next six years. This equates to around $1.5 billion per year and another $2.5 billion is allocated to major or transformative projects. New Jersey also created the New Jersey Innovation Evergreen Fund, which uses funds from auctioning off tax credits to support extra investment.
How are Camden and Gloucester counties ensuring adequate workforce for production companies? We strive for workforce development and that fits here too. Production companies traveling in want to know that they can roster together a crew that will bring them the level they need, depending on the budget they have. Even as we watched our neighbors in Philadelphia make their way into feature production, workforce was always a big issue there. We’re building a new industry here that can be standalone and not have to rely on crews from New York or Philadelphia. Building that workforce is significant, which is why Rowan University has a degree program in film production and our community colleges have various levels of film studies already in place. A production company has to know that they can put enough people together to get the job done. Both Camden and Gloucester counties are adjusting and creating workforce development programs to meet the demands of this narrow yet important focus. We’ve been exporting talent from South Jersey to the entertainment industry for a very long time. This is an opportunity for our people to not have to move out of state to work in entertainment. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
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