Valuetainment - July 04, 2025


＂Too Much Power In Hollywood＂ - Netflix DITCHES California For New Jersey Over HUGE Tax Breaks


Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

190.54044

Word count

2,589

Sentence count

206

Harmful content

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

New Jersey is on track to become the top 3 film destination, says the CEO of the N.J. Economic Development Authority. Adam Kownacki and Tom Brolley discuss why New Jersey should be the next Hollywood.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 New Jersey poised to soon become the top three film destination, says the CEO.
00:00:06.380 Now, in the history of this, if you're familiar with it, I did a video on this about a year and a half, two years ago,
00:00:11.100 about the fact that the headquarters, Hollywood, used to be in New Jersey, and Thomas Edison ran it.
00:00:18.160 And now, it looks like it's going back to New Jersey.
00:00:21.220 New Jersey film industry has surged since Governor Phil Murphy signed a film and digital media tax credit in 2018.
00:00:28.000 With 547 projects filmed in 2023, generating $592 million, and up from $67 million in 2017,
00:00:38.280 per variety, prompting Tim Sullivan, CEO of New Jersey Economic Development Authority to state,
00:00:43.300 film and TV started in New Jersey way back in the day under Thomas Edison in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
00:00:49.920 We were Hollywood before there was a Hollywood. He's right.
00:00:53.100 We're bringing ourselves back to the top of the pack with major investments because we see a huge economic opportunity here.
00:01:01.180 Major studio developments, including Netflix's $1 billion, half a million square foot production studio at Fort Monmouth,
00:01:08.760 announced in May, Lionsgate's 300,000 square foot facility in Newark, announced in 2022.
00:01:14.560 And 1888 studio's 1.6 million square feet space and Bayonne are rare set to boost real local economies.
00:01:25.260 Tom, thoughts on this story?
00:01:27.240 Guess what? New Jersey saw an opportunity to say, we live in the shadow of New York.
00:01:33.580 We need economic incentives.
00:01:35.780 You know what? There's a lot of actors and actresses that are up in New York.
00:01:38.480 There's a lot of good people here in New Jersey that would like jobs.
00:01:42.000 Tell you what, what if we gave a tax credit to these people because we're not blue.
00:01:46.560 We're kind of light blue.
00:01:47.920 And by the way, I believe the answer is 4.5 points was New Jersey was not far off from going red in the last election.
00:01:59.080 And so I think New Jersey just spoke up and said, hey, guys, tell you what, here's an economic.
00:02:03.620 You employ a bunch of people.
00:02:05.500 We'll give you some economic incentives, like some startup costs.
00:02:09.200 And we're going to call it the film and digital media tax credit.
00:02:13.300 And guess what? 547 projects.
00:02:16.720 That's huge.
00:02:17.540 That's like 547 little startup projects that are out there.
00:02:22.140 And you know what?
00:02:23.520 And guess this is where people that are operators that join government and get it done.
00:02:29.360 And I don't even know this guy, but I read about what he's been saying and doing, and it feels like I agree with him.
00:02:35.500 Tim Sullivan, the CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
00:02:39.980 And when you have those people that have the ear, it's like who's in your ear?
00:02:44.140 Is it a bunch of crazy liberals who want to give away free crap with a mayor coming into New York?
00:02:49.000 Or is it people that are whispering in your ear and saying, hey, maybe we should do this incentive, Mr. Governor.
00:02:55.380 Maybe we should do this.
00:02:56.560 And the Economic Development Office here, we could bring this stuff here.
00:03:00.620 It's going to make jobs for people in New Jersey.
00:03:03.380 And by the way, this is a growth orientation.
00:03:05.680 This is the same thinking that Trump has on a national level.
00:03:08.520 If we get growth and more people paying the tax that there is today and buying groceries and using cars and doing all those things in our city and getting haircuts and all that kind of stuff, guess what?
00:03:19.560 They're part of the local economy.
00:03:20.420 We can help grow New Jersey without having to tax during the exodus, which is the current California plan or the Chicago plan.
00:03:28.740 And this is a sign of when an operator gets in the ear of a governor, Phil Murphy, and something gets done to help things grow.
00:03:39.100 Jobs happen and good things happen.
00:03:41.460 And the loser is California and Hollywood.
00:03:44.080 And it is so ironic that in the annals of history where Thomas Edison was, we're back where we started.
00:03:51.440 It's pretty wild when you see this happening.
00:03:53.940 But the great thing about competition is the fact that it's going to end up taking place.
00:03:58.340 Meaning if you're able to produce a better product to attract the people coming to you, it doesn't matter where.
00:04:02.860 There's people going to come to you.
00:04:03.740 Adam, your thoughts on the story.
00:04:05.480 Yeah.
00:04:05.820 Well, I remember we talked about it.
00:04:07.180 When did you film that episode, PBD, about Edison?
00:04:08.780 Probably a year and a half ago.
00:04:10.340 Okay.
00:04:10.620 I remember that.
00:04:11.640 And so this would have been in early 1900s.
00:04:14.860 This is how Hollywood kind of got started.
00:04:16.420 You tell me if I'm right or wrong.
00:04:17.760 I think it was Thomas Edison was the man, right?
00:04:20.300 And he was in New Jersey.
00:04:21.940 And that was the original Hollywood.
00:04:23.280 And he had essentially a monopoly on what or could not be done.
00:04:28.080 So then you had all these people that were like, well, I can't do what I want to do.
00:04:32.500 I can't use the equipment that I want to use.
00:04:34.140 I want to do all these things, but good old Thomas Edison is basically telling us everything.
00:04:40.580 He controls everything, you know, so people don't like control.
00:04:42.760 So they moved out west.
00:04:44.380 Now, a lot of these people that moved out west that started Hollywood happened to be Jews.
00:04:49.900 I don't know if you know this, but Jews happened to be kind of good at writing, kind of good at banking, kind of good at finance, kind of good at telling jokes.
00:04:56.700 I know.
00:04:57.120 I know it's hard to hear, guys.
00:04:58.240 I know, but they were the ones that moved and took the risk and disrupted the original Hollywood and moved out to California.
00:05:06.040 And they were the ones that started and founded, I think it was Warner Brothers, Paramount Studios, Columbia Pictures, MGM.
00:05:13.320 That's why we know while Jews run Hollywood, well, they do because they started Hollywood. 1.00
00:05:19.140 So that's sort of the story that I recall.
00:05:21.980 I thought we were talking about New Jersey.
00:05:24.080 So let's get back to that.
00:05:25.700 That's true.
00:05:26.180 That was just Adam setting a shout out to his-
00:05:28.960 New Jersey?
00:05:29.540 But was any of that false?
00:05:30.820 Did I mispronounce that?
00:05:31.360 No, no, no.
00:05:32.440 No one's saying any of that is false.
00:05:35.060 The challenge is now, sometimes when you get too much power in an industry like they did in Hollywood,
00:05:41.540 and then the state thinks they're going to own them forever and they're never going to leave,
00:05:45.480 and they start abusing those privileges and the gratitude of having Hollywood, the creative guys being there,
00:05:51.480 other states, there's 49 other states that will be more than happy to accept them.
00:05:54.740 And some states are saying, by the way, you know, some states had the opportunity to do the same thing as well.
00:05:59.100 They didn't do it.
00:05:59.720 You know why?
00:06:00.140 They're like, we actually don't want Hollywood here.
00:06:02.800 We actually don't want you to come to us.
00:06:05.000 Go to Atlanta.
00:06:06.460 Go to New Jersey.
00:06:07.960 Go to Austin.
00:06:09.240 Please don't come here.
00:06:10.980 Please do not come here because the track record shows that the moment Hollywood moves to a certain city or state,
00:06:15.820 with the way they vote, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years from now, they destroy that great state.
00:06:21.000 So we'll see what's going to happen with New Jersey.
00:06:23.460 But as of right now, you're absolutely right.
00:06:25.320 But, you know, I remember a time when Hollywood, California, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
00:06:30.140 who was a California Republican, was the person running the show.
00:06:34.400 He was Hollywood.
00:06:34.960 Yes, Hollywood does play a role here.
00:06:38.040 But woke politics, that's Gavin Newsom.
00:06:41.820 That's Pelosi.
00:06:42.980 That's a lot of people in California.
00:06:44.260 There's nothing necessarily to do with Hollywood.
00:06:46.080 Silicon Valley wasn't around when Hollywood basically was getting started.
00:06:49.220 Yes, Hollywood plays a role.
00:06:50.720 But to blame everything on Hollywood would be a disservice to how far left the Democratic Party has gone.
00:06:55.980 No, I said the politicians start owning and controlling Hollywood.
00:07:00.300 They abuse, but still, other states, typically folks who are in the entertainment business.
00:07:07.380 Like, for example, we just watched a shitty movie.
00:07:09.680 It was called Jurassic Park, whatever the new Jurassic Park movie came out.
00:07:12.920 Three, whatever the hell.
00:07:13.980 They did a new one?
00:07:14.600 It was so funny.
00:07:15.280 Literally right before going to watch this Jurassic World movie, I told the guys,
00:07:20.460 I've never seen a Jurassic Park movie I've not liked.
00:07:22.960 I've never.
00:07:23.500 I like every one of them except this one.
00:07:25.300 I give this a two.
00:07:26.680 It was absolutely horrible.
00:07:28.080 The acting sucked.
00:07:29.120 But it just wasn't good.
00:07:31.900 And to counter that with a Formula One movie, which what is a Formula One movie with Brad Pitt?
00:07:36.880 F1?
00:07:37.200 F1 the movie.
00:07:38.340 It was awesome.
00:07:39.500 I gave it a good seven and a half.
00:07:41.760 It almost was as if Brad Pitt was talking about his life, even though he's not in race.
00:07:46.660 And, you know, if you replace Formula One with Hollywood, it was Brad Pitt's, some of the stuff,
00:07:52.960 I just didn't feel like he was acting.
00:07:54.540 I really liked the actors in the F1 movie.
00:07:56.620 But, you know, in this movie, Jurassic World, they're trying to get these three different things that's going to cure cancer, right?
00:08:03.800 And the one guy's like, you could tell he went to Berkeley in the movie.
00:08:07.260 He's like, why don't we not sell this for tens of millions of dollars?
00:08:10.780 Why don't we just open source it and give it to everybody?
00:08:14.080 Everybody so they can just have it.
00:08:16.940 And let's just do the right thing.
00:08:18.980 That's what we're going to do.
00:08:19.920 We're just going to give it to everybody for free.
00:08:22.740 Scarlett Johansson made $15 million, okay, doing the movie.
00:08:26.760 Why don't you do the movie for free, Scarlett?
00:08:29.100 Why don't you guys go do this movie for free?
00:08:31.020 How much do they pay you?
00:08:32.520 You know, how much do they pay you for what it is?
00:08:34.340 So those ideologies move to the state that they want to live in.
00:08:38.140 And that is why some states that could have easily made the bid to attract Hollywood to their cities and states, they're like, no, this is definitely not a community we want in our state.
00:08:48.500 Let it go to a different state.
00:08:49.760 We want job creators coming to our state.
00:08:51.640 And by the way, they also have a good argument.
00:08:53.400 You wouldn't recommend the movie, P.B.D.?
00:08:56.000 Jurassic World?
00:08:57.420 Absolutely.
00:08:58.020 I wouldn't even recommend it when it comes out on DVD or when it comes out on Apple TV or whatever you want to call it.
00:09:03.720 Acting was no good?
00:09:04.740 I wouldn't waste two hours of my 13 minutes of doing that.
00:09:07.700 Go watch reruns of Baby Shark video.
00:09:12.980 Watch that Baby Shark video 60 times.
00:09:15.160 It's a two-minute video.
00:09:16.240 You will get more value from it than watching this movie.
00:09:18.460 A freaking two hours and 13 minutes waste of a movie.
00:09:22.140 And you consider all that momentum in Hollywood and everything, it makes you respect people like Gary Sinise and Vince McMahon who have always stood up to it.
00:09:32.100 Yeah, I just thought it was a horrible movie.
00:09:33.560 I thought the dinosaurs that acted in the first movie and the second movie were way better than this one.
00:09:38.280 Yeah.
00:09:38.680 They actually were.
00:09:40.280 Believe it or not, as much as I remember being 14 years old watching the first Jurassic Park and I was blown away by it.
00:09:47.420 This was horrible.
00:09:49.540 Absolutely horrible is what it was.
00:09:51.980 Once a year, we host an event called The Vault Conference.
00:09:55.960 If you're somebody that either runs a business, you're a married couple, husband and wife, life's been kind of flatlining lately.
00:10:04.720 There's not been too much things that are growing in ways, business, personal, financial.
00:10:10.220 And you kind of want to call it a timeout and get away and spend four days with 3,000 other couples and nearly 12,000 people in the same room together to strategize the future of your life with your kids, being intentional about it.
00:10:22.820 I highly, highly recommend you attend The Vault Conference.
00:10:26.120 It's the only conference you can go to where the attendees are comfortable talking about business, are comfortable talking about money, are comfortable talking about politics, are comfortable talking about family values.
00:10:36.900 And no one cares.
00:10:38.200 No one walks on egg shows.
00:10:39.240 You go to some business conference, oh, we can't talk about politics.
00:10:42.400 We talk about everything.
00:10:44.040 If that's appealing to you, do whatever you can to go to The Vault Conference.
00:10:47.720 Here's a video I did with my patient.
00:10:53.200 Here's a doctor sitting down as a therapist, sitting down with his patient, and guess who his patient is?
00:10:59.220 Rob, go ahead and play the clip.
00:11:01.520 Matthew, who's my next patient?
00:11:03.040 It's your job.
00:11:04.440 Oh, this one's going to be tough.
00:11:05.640 Oh, I've got to take the jacket off for this one.
00:11:09.300 Okay, so what's been happening lately?
00:11:11.600 Oh, nothing positive, I'll tell you that, Doc.
00:11:14.140 Just, you know, work is crazy.
00:11:16.140 My marriage is hanging on by a thread.
00:11:17.660 I know we talked about that last time I was here.
00:11:19.740 The kids are freaking screaming and yelling all the time.
00:11:22.820 The business is bleeding cash.
00:11:24.480 I can't breathe.
00:11:25.620 So, like, what do I do?
00:11:27.060 Let me ask you, Coach, when's the last time you and your wife sat down and actually mapped out your next 5, 10, 15 moves, personal life, and your business life?
00:11:35.260 Never.
00:11:35.680 The only thing we've ever mapped out was our Disneyland trip, just, like, which rides to go on.
00:11:39.320 Well, it's just, that's one day, though.
00:11:40.820 But I'm talking, like, 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now.
00:11:43.520 You guys have never done that?
00:11:44.460 Never.
00:11:45.040 Do you guys read books together?
00:11:46.320 Do you spend a lot of time reading lately or no?
00:11:48.600 I don't know about her, but the last thing I read was the back of a shampoo bottle while I was in the bathroom.
00:11:52.180 Yeah, it's not enough.
00:11:52.920 I know, but you should see the stuff that's in there.
00:11:54.320 It's actually really interesting stuff.
00:11:55.700 But I'm talking, like, life and business.
00:11:57.760 No.
00:11:58.300 Nothing?
00:11:58.760 Nope.
00:11:59.260 Okay.
00:11:59.620 We don't have time.
00:12:01.080 Does this sound familiar to you?
00:12:02.540 Do you listen to anything he said and say, that's a little bit of me?
00:12:04.840 When is the last time you and your wife took a timeout, went away to a business conference to identify your next 5, 10, 15 moves?
00:12:13.580 If you've never done that, we host a conference once a year called The Ball Conference from September 8th to the 11th.
00:12:20.220 If you just watched this, you laughed a little bit, you giggled, but you said, that's kind of me.
00:12:24.780 Get registered.
00:12:25.460 I look forward to seeing you and your spouse September 8th through the 11th at the Gaylord Orlando.
00:12:30.320 All right.
00:12:32.160 Well done, team.
00:12:33.500 Yes.
00:12:33.840 Guys, go to TheVaultConference.com.
00:12:37.140 Go to TheVaultConference.com.
00:12:38.880 Get registered.
00:12:39.520 Get yourself a ticket.
00:12:40.900 If there's one that I can tell you since 21 years old, I've gone to 4 to 10 business conferences every year purely to recreate myself.
00:12:48.620 Again, go to TheVaultConference.com.
00:12:51.260 Get yourself and your spouse a ticket.
00:12:53.340 Let's spend 4 days to get in Orlando September 8th through the 11th.
00:12:56.960 Cannot wait to see you there.
00:12:59.780 If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this, click here.
00:13:02.500 And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.
00:13:05.280 We'll be right back.