PLAINFIELD, NJ — Maybe you remember when The Walking Dead: Dead City filmed on Kensington Ave near Watchung Ave in Plainfield this June. Or you might have heard that It Ends with Us, starring Blake Lively and Hasan Minhaj, was filming on Hillside Ave near Prospect Ave around the same time. It seems even more people know about Riff Raff, starring Dustin Hoffman and Gabrielle Union, which filmed scenes on North Avenue, around Plainfield Train Station, right before Thanksgiving. If you feel like more television shows movies are shooting in Plainfield than ever before, you're right.
"More and more productions want to come to Plainfield because they like the architecture, and Plainfield has prepared itself to welcome these productions," said Union County Motion Picture & Television Advisory Board Chairman Lamar Mackson, a Plainfield native.
According to Mackson, it all starts with tax credits offered by the State of New Jersey, which were most recently expanded by Governor Murphy this past June. These credits, which are aimed at growing New Jersey's film and television industry, offers a 30-35% tax credit for certain expenses with a 2-4% diversity bonus.
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From there, people like Lamar Mackson prepare municipalities to welcome film production. Plainfield is the first municipality in Union County to be certified as Film Ready—which it achieved in mid-October—though the county as a whole, as well as other towns and cities, will soon follow suit.
Mackson says that during the strike, producers were moving around Plainfield scoping locations, and were eager to hit the button once they were able to start filming after the strike ended on November 9.
"For Riff Raff, they set up a production office in the old City News Building," said Mackson, "and they had a video village in there with all of their production stuff going on inside. I believe Pete Davidson was outside of those row buildings right there, where they created a torrential rainstorm for the scene."
Handling these requests to shoot involves a lot of flexibility from those in charge of helping to facilitate these productions, including Plainfield Film Ready lead, Earle Holder. Mackson and Holder help with logistics for the production companies, coordinating local municipal services and officials. Together, they act as a bridge between government entities, including public safety, to ensure a streamlined film production experience.
"We got a call on Thursday [November 16] at round 4pm that they wanted to check Plainfield out," recalled Mackson. "On Friday, I drafted the call to action to Earle Holder, and Dave Shoner [of the NJ Motion Picture and Television Commission] got in touch with me. They were able to start filming by Monday at 11am." Mackson said this is only possible through a program like Film Ready.
Film Ready training involves not only city officials, but the Board of Education, as their buildings—like Union County property—will probably be used.
Filming for The Walking Dead at one Union County property, Cedar Brook Park, presented an issue. The zombies were hung from gallows, which can be a traumatic thing for the public to see, especially if they don't understand the context. Blinders were built to shield the public after consultation with local officials.
Mackson asserts that Plainfield has everything a production crew might want for a wide range of scenes. In fact, a pilot called Crow Hill recently filmed rural scenes in Plainfield, farmhouse and all, at a County-owned property on Cushing Road.
"It has the rural. It has the urban. It has the modern. It has the Victorian. It has color. It has bleakness and all of that industrial areas. All of it can be translated in a visual sense. And storytellers love that old world," said Mackson. "We are one of the original communities in Union County. So that's why our buildings represent that era, and that age."
Mackson is perhaps most passionate about preparing kids, especially in Plainfield, for careers in film and television, which is why he runs the Film Future Club, which does just that.
The program, which is open to any Plainfield Public School students aged 15-18, is an afterschool workshop that helps prepare 10th, 11th, and 12th graders for a future in film and television. The Film Future Club's instructors are award-winning film and television professionals who teach camera operation, editing, interviewing skills, documentary techniques, and other proficiencies.
"The Film Future Club is training young people to be preared for these jobs, to be able to apply for these poisitions, and to be aware of them," said Mackson. "If we're not preparing our young people for those jobs, then who are they for? The New Jersey Film Commission is prepping not only the community at large, but helping us create these pathways for these workforce development programs like the Film Future Club."
These jobs will be on sets around the state, but also a $125 million Lionsgate Film studio being built right on the Newark/Elizabeth border, within Union County. According to Mackson, Elizabeth, Cranford, and Rahway have also experienced film activity similar to Plainfield.
"It's happening, and Plainfield is winning," said Mackson.