New Jersey is Ready for its Close-Up
Nothing will make you understand how far away California is more than growing up as a movie nerd in South Jersey.
Little known fact about New Jersey: It’s not in California.
You might be surprised to learn that New Jersey is actually thousands of miles away from California. I mean that literally, in the sense that it’s approximately five Sopranos episodes worth of plane ride to get there, but also culturally, in the sense that Californians like to eat granola and wear open-toed sandals, while people in New Jersey prefer to fistfight pigeons on the Boardwalk.
See, nothing will make you understand how far away California is more than growing up as a movie nerd in South Jersey.
When I was a kid, my house was within walking distance of the AMC 8 on Route 73. (Note: I’m using the Gen X definition of “walking distance,” which means “a few miles, plus a couple of dangerous roads.” If my 18-year-old tried walking that, my wife would call the police, two helicopters full of Army Rangers, the A-Team and Batman.) As a result, I spent my summers basking in the full glory of the ’80s multiplex, a time when movies were the center of the culture, and the movie theater was the center of your childhood.
It. Was. Wonderful.
Like any kid who loves something, it isn’t long before you start to question how that thing is made, and, more specifically, how to go about making that thing yourself. So you start to research it and it isn’t long before you hear words like “screenwriter” and “director,” and then words like “Hollywood” and “studios,” and then, finally words like “get your head out of the clouds” and “why not set your sights on something more realistic, like becoming president or learning telepathy?”
Three thousand miles might as well have been a billion back then, when a long-distance call made at the wrong hour might cost as much as a down payment on a Toyota Celica. I mean, people actually wrote letters in the ’80s. On paper, with ink and everything! Like we were living at one of those amusement parks where people dress up and pretend it’s Revolutionary War times or whatever.
So, if you were a reasonable person, you gave up on your dream. Not all at once, of course. It happened slowly, in phases: first by choosing a reasonable major in college, and then getting a reasonable job, and then, finally having a reasonable amount of barbecues in your reasonable suburban home until you died at a reasonable age.
And that would have happened to me, except for two lucky breaks. First, I started dating a girl who I desperately wanted to impress, so that was impetus enough for me to start doing standup. Why I thought that would impress any girl is beyond me, but that’s now my job and she’s now my wife, so sometimes poor decisions work out. (Editor’s Note: We reached out to Jay’s wife for comment and all she sent back was a text full of several dozen frowny-faced emojis.)
Second, my good friend, Brian Herzlinger, did the unreasonable thing, and went to Hollywood after college and started making it in the business. Eventually, we started working together, and, even though I never left New Jersey, we went on to write a whole bunch of movies together. Some of them even got made! Just, uh, do me a favor and don’t look up the reviews on a few of the early ones.
I came along at exactly the right time, when email and FaceTime made it possible to collaborate with Los Angeles at the same time you were eating a BLT at the Medport Diner (just so long as you lie and tell everyone on the other coast that it’s tofu bacon). I was fortunate.
But not, as it turns out, as fortunate as the kids who are growing up in New Jersey right now.
If you hadn’t heard, two big things are coming to New Jersey: Netflix is building a gigantic studio here, and the state has upped its tax incentive program to a place where it makes sense for big productions to film in Jersey, instead of places like Vancouver (Hollywood’s double for New York) or Atlanta (Marvel’s double for Asgard).
People are coming here to make movies, and for the first time ever, parents with kids majoring in communications at places like Rowan or TCNJ won’t be stress-eating entire cheese cakes every night, wondering what jobs could possibly await their children after graduation.
I’m sure there will be downsides to all of this, because there are downsides to everything. (Editor’s Note: Jay’s wife just texted us, “YES THERE ARE!”)
But, for right now, I can’t help but think of how many more of my friends might’ve followed their dreams if the only distance they had to travel was right out their front door.
Click here to subscribe to the free digital editions of South Jersey Magazine
To read the digital edition of South Jersey Magazine, click here.
Published and copyrighted in South Jersey Magazine, Volume 23, Issue 1 (April 2026)
Published and copyrighted in South Jersey Magazine, Volume 23, Issue 1 (April 2026)
For more info on South Jersey Magazine, click here.
To subscribe to South Jersey Magazine, click here.
To advertise in South Jersey Magazine, click here.
To subscribe to South Jersey Magazine, click here.
To advertise in South Jersey Magazine, click here.
