'Walking Dead' Spinoff, 'Mean Girls' Musical, And More Filming In NJ This Spring

NEW JERSEY — Seeing movie stars in neighborhoods around New Jersey has been a growing phenomenon, as more and more films and TV shows choose the Garden State for their productions.

This spring, it's a diverse cast of plots: from the zombie apocalypse to high school hallways, and into a local tattoo shop too.

"Summit" from AMC Studios, which "The Walking Dead" fans will be excited for, is filming in East Rutherford from February through May.

According to the Internet Movie Database, this production will focus on the love story between characters Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne Hawthorne (played by Danai Gurira). Fans have spotted Lincoln on set.

New Jersey is also the backdrop for the musical movie adaptation of "Mean Girls," which will begin filming in Middletown next month. "Mean Girls The Musical," a production of Paramount Players, is filming this March and April.

Filmmakers are looking for extras for the production. Related article — How To Audition As An Extra In 'Mean Girls' Filming In Middletown

But those aren't the only upcoming projects with the Garden State as their backdrop:

"Diarra from Detroit," from AP Production Services Inc., is scheduled to wrap filming in North Jersey in March. According to productionlist.com, this movie is about a public school teacher who "begins investigating a cold case after she matches on Tinder with a man she swears was a boy famously abducted in the 90s."

The biggest-name actor in this movie so far appears to be Morris Chestnut, who starred in the 1991 film "Boyz n the Hood," which also starred Cuba Gooding, Jr. Related article — "Diarra From Detroit" Movie Filming At AJ's In Secaucus

Reality TV series "Black Ink Crew" from New Pop Culture Productions, which focuses on tattoo artists, is set to film in Cresskill and Bayonne in March and April.

"Fantasmas," an Irony Point production, started filming in Kearny in February and will wrap up by April. Irony Point has produced comedy specials, TV shows, indie films, and shorts; it's not clear what "Fantasmas" is about.

And finally, "Cold Harbor" from Endeavor Content is filming in Holmdel from March to June. It's not immediately clear what this production is about; Endeavor is a holding company for talent and media agencies and represents artists in both sports and media. Endeavor was formerly WME-IMG.

NJ's Motion Picture and Television Commission keeps a list of all productions filming in the Garden State.

Gov. Phil Murphy has said he wants to dramatically increase filmmaking in the state, and New Jersey offers movie studios one of the most generous tax incentives to film studios out of any state in America. Related article — Netflix Approved To Open Massive NJ Film Studio: How It Will Look

"New Jersey will further solidify its status as an emerging national leader in the television and film industries," said Gov. Murphy, who personally wooed Netflix to open its largest film studio lot in the world at the old Ft. Monmouth Army base in Monmouth County.

This story contains reporting by Patch's Carly Baldwin.