Movie Renaissance Continues In Newark With Dylan Biopic, ‘The Bride!’

NEWARK, NJ — Newark is leaning into its reputation as a Film Ready location, with its newly created Office of Film and Television ready to help bring productions like the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” and Warner Brothers’ “The Bride!” to life in the streets of the Brick City.

On Tuesday, officials launched the Newark Office of Film and Television (NOFTV), a specialized agency dedicated to facilitating film, television and multimedia production in the city.

In addition to serving as a “one-stop shop” for film productions, the Newark Film Office will partner with the Newark Workforce Development Board to help create jobs for local residents.

Desireé Hadley – a Newark native who has been working as a press information officer with the administration of Mayor Ras Baraka – has been tapped to serve as the NOFTV’s director.

Under her leadership, the city has hosted production for a diverse mix of top entertainment projects and franchises: Hulu’s “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” Peacock’s “The Best Man: The Final Chapters,” “Ezra,” “Law and Order: Organized Crime,” AMC’s “The Walking Dead: Dead City,” BET+’s “Diarra From Detroit,” among a variety of other popular movies and television shows.

• See Related: Newark Becomes Gotham City For 'Joker' Movie (VIDEOS)
• See Related: Halle Berry Debuts New Netflix Movie Partly Filmed In Newark
• See Related: A 'Big Deal' For Newark: New TV Show Will Film At Symphony Hall
• See Related: ‘Isle Of The Dead’ Filming In Newark; Expect Zombies And Traffic

Along the way, Hadley has developed key relationships with Disney Searchlight, the Warner Bros. Access to Action Program, and Group Effort Initiative, which has helped to place residents in early career roles to learn more about the film industry.

The new office recently worked with Searchlight Pictures while they filmed Bob Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown” in Newark – with local residents hired to join their production team.

Meanwhile, the Warner Bros. “Access to Action” initiative offered paid internship employment opportunities to Newark residents while they filmed “The Bride!” starring Penelope Cruz and Christian Bale downtown in April.

Since the nonprofit organization Group Effort Initiative has begun collaborating with the office, they have assisted with hiring locally for both “The Bride!” and “A Complete Unknown,” as well as other production sets, officials said.

The city’s new film office will be housed in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which is one of the partners on a highly hyped movie production studio that Lionsgate is expected to bring to the city in the spring of 2026.

Located in the South Ward next to the now vacant Dayton Street School, the studio is expected to drive $400 to $550 million of annual economic impact for New Jersey, according to city officials.

• See Related: Huge Movie Studio Coming To Newark; 600 Jobs Expected, Gov. Says
• See Related: Lionsgate Will Get Extra Tax Breaks To Make Movies, Shows In Newark

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said he is proud to have Hadley “serve as the Klieg light illuminating Newark to the rest of the world.”

“As the birthplace of nitrocellulose film in 1887, Newark has long stood at the vanguard of the world’s filmmaking industry, and has welcomed countless productions ever since,” the mayor added.

• See Related: Once Forgotten – Newark Is On The Rise, Mayor Says

Hadley said there are plenty of reasons for production teams and location scouts to choose New Jersey’s largest city.

“Newark is the ideal place to film a TV show or movie,” Hadley said. “We have diverse architecture throughout our five wards and we offer a pool of talented professionals as well as residents who are eager for their opportunity to break into the industry.”

In March, the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission included Newark on a list of 14 municipalities and four counties that it has deemed a “Film Ready Community.”

The film commission noted that Newark is known for transforming its locations into period pieces such as Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America" and the Sopranos prequel, "The Many Saints of Newark."

"Having already provided locations for countless motion picture and TV productions, including 'The Sopranos,' 'Joker,' 'A Beautiful Mind' and 'The Equalizer,' Newark has considered itself 'film-ready' for decades," Baraka previously said. See Related: Movies Filmed In Newark Will Appear At 2024 Sundance Fest

It isn't just the film industry that has taken notice of Newark, either. MTV has brought its eponymous “MTV Video Music Awards” to the city on multiple occasions. Read More: MTV Comes To NJ: Watch Highlights From Video Music Awards

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page.