‘Hood docudrama a wrap in Newark

Late last month, a docudrama about the Hip hop group Wu-Tang wrapped up filming of Season 2 of the eponymously entitled show that chronicles the life of boys in the ‘hood in the Brick City. The show is one of the most recent beneficiaries of the NJ Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program unveiled last year–a highly touted initiative of the New Jersey Economic Development (NJEDA) in Trenton.

Under the widely promoted Tax Credit Program, a tax break of between 30 to 35 percent is granted to companies and organizations for video, film, and media projects filmed throughout the state of New Jersey. Additionally, a diversity tax credit is extended to those entities that employ people of color and women throughout production. However, the NJ Film & Digital Media Tax Credit hit a big snag shortly after it launched in January 2020—just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the state and idled the production of films, television shows, and series.

Filmed entirely in the Garden State, Wu-Tang: An American Saga follows the formation of the Wu-Tang Clan in 1992 in Staten Island, NY. Wu-Tang, aka Bobby Diggs, aka RZA, is a popular, albeit controversial, hip-hop group that hit its stride in 1998 when the group was nominated for the Best Rap Album. The group is known for its hardcore lyrics, solid messages, and hood slang. Its original members, RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and Raekwon, have been credited with fostering and uniting young black men torn between a productive life of music and prosperity to crime and jail. Filming locations for the series included East Orange, Elmwood Park, Paterson, Plainfield, and Newark.

In an interview last year with NJUrban News, NJEDA head Tim Sullivan said, “Tax incentives continue to attact marquee productions to New Jersey. Dozens of jobs and ancillary business oportunities are created when a film or television series is made in New Jersey.” To that end, since the reinstatement and enhancement of the NJ film incentive program, production activity has increased by about 500 percent, according to a recent press release from Secretary of State Tahesha Way.

Projects and television programs produced and filmed in New Jersey include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Sopranos, Oz, and The Equalizer. The HBO series, The Plot Against America, was filmed at various Cranford, Union, and Newark locations. Lastly, episodes of Wu-Tang: An American Saga Season 2 will air later this year on the Hulu streaming and on-demand network.