Filming in Westwood, New Jersey
In Westwood a fifty-person crew is a major motion picture, whatever your budget. The threshold is $2,000,000 or a fifty-person footprint, the lowest on this site by a wide margin, and it moves a great many ordinary shoots into the $1,000-a-day tier.
Westwood has the most elaborate filming fee structure on this site and the most procedure around it: ten business days’ notice, one permit per location, a greenlight meeting, posted signs, notice to owners within 200 feet, and a bond set at double the total fee. It is also candid about what it wants, with a purpose clause that speaks of “family-friendly commercial filming”. Read this one properly before you commit to a schedule.
Information checked September 21, 2026
- County
- Bergen County
- Film Ready status
- Film Ready certified locality. Confirmed on the State’s published certified-localities list, read in full September 21, 2026.
- Who issues
- Not established in our reading of Chapter 157. A greenlight meeting is part of the process, so ask the Borough Clerk’s office who convenes it and who signs the permit
- Controlling source
- Borough Code Chapter 157, amended in its entirety June 3, 2025 by Ordinance No. 25-16
- Published lead time
- 10 business days
- Major motion picture threshold
- A budget of $2,000,000 or a footprint of 50 or more people. The lowest threshold on this site
- Basic permit fee
- $125, or $175 expedited. $75 per week for bona fide nonprofits; student filming free
- Daily fee
- $200 per day on private property, $750 per day on public property, $1,000 per day for a major motion picture including setup and wrap
- Large crowds
- An additional $500 for each 100 people beyond the first 100
- Bond
- Double the total film fee, so it scales with the shoot rather than sitting at a flat figure
- Duration limits
- Three consecutive days per location, and six days per location per calendar year
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. or sundown, whichever is earlier
- Notice
- Owners and tenants within 200 feet, plus signs posted in advance
- Other procedure
- One permit per location; a greenlight meeting; the applicant must be at least 18
- Last verified
- September 21, 2026
In Westwood a fifty-person crew is a major motion picture regardless of budget. The threshold is a budget of $2,000,000 or a footprint of 50 or more people — the lowest on this site — and it puts you in the $1,000 a day tier, charged for setup and wrap days as well as shoot days.
Then add the bond, which is double the total film fee, and allow 10 business days. Work out which tier you are in before you do anything else.
The fifty-person threshold
Almost every filming ordinance in New Jersey defines a major motion picture by budget alone, usually at $20,000,000. Westwood defines it at $2,000,000 or a footprint of 50 or more people, and the second limb is disjunctive: crew size alone is enough.
Fifty people is not a large call sheet. A modest commercial or a single-location indie can pass it on a busy day, and the moment it does, the daily rate goes from $750 on public property to $1,000 — and the $1,000 rate applies to setup and wrap days too, which the lower tiers do not.
Count your actual on-the-ground headcount, including drivers, catering and anyone in a holding area, and count it for your biggest day. Then price the whole permit from that.
The full fee structure
| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| Basic filming permit | $125 |
| Expedited permit | $175 |
| Bona fide nonprofit applicant | $75 per week |
| Student filming | None |
| Daily fee, private property | $200 |
| Daily fee, public property | $750 |
| Daily fee, major motion picture, including setup and wrap | $1,000 |
| Each 100 people beyond the first 100 | An additional $500 |
| Recurrent weekly television series programming | No amount is published — see below |
| Bond | Double the total film fee |
The bond is the structural oddity. Most New Jersey towns set a flat $500 or $1,000. Westwood’s scales with the shoot, so a major motion picture week generates a bond in the thousands. It is returned, so it is cash flow rather than cost, but it has to exist before you shoot.
A fee category with no fee
§ 157-5G lists “Recurrent weekly television series programming.” as a fee category and then states no amount for it. The line ends with a period where a figure should be.
We are not going to guess what the Borough intended, and we are not going to infer it from the neighboring categories. If you are producing a recurrent series, raise it with the Borough before you budget and get the rate in writing.
Procedure, and there is a lot of it
- Lead time. 10 business days — two full working weeks.
- Greenlight meeting. A meeting to get on the calendar, inside that window.
- One permit per location. Multiple locations mean multiple permits, and multiple basic fees.
- Duration. Three consecutive days per location, and six days per location per calendar year.
- Notice. Owners and tenants within 200 feet, plus signs posted in advance. Both are tasks with their own lead times, not formalities.
- Hours. Monday to Friday only, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. or sundown, whichever is earlier. In December that can end your day before four in the afternoon.
- Applicant. Must be at least 18.
Taken together this is the most procedurally demanding town in this batch. None of it is unreasonable, but all of it takes calendar time, and ten business days is the floor rather than the plan.
An annual cap that argues with itself
Chapter 157 contains the same self-contradiction found in Nutley’s chapter: the annual cap may be extended only where the filming is a major motion picture, while a major motion picture is itself subject to the cap. Those cannot both be operative.
Both passages are in the text as amended in June 2025. If your schedule needs more than six days at one location in a calendar year, that is the provision to raise with the Borough, in writing, well before you book.
What Westwood says it wants
A purpose clause worth reading
Chapter 157’s purpose clause speaks of “family-friendly commercial filming”. That is unusually candid language for an ordinance, and it tells you something useful about how an application will be read.
It is not a content restriction you can plan around with certainty, and we would not advise treating it as one. But if your project’s subject matter is likely to draw attention on a residential street, the greenlight meeting is the place to have that conversation rather than the day of the shoot.
Film Ready status
What Film Ready certification actually means for your shoot
Film Ready certification means the municipality has put a process in place and named someone to run it: a designated liaison, an adopted filming ordinance, a permit form, and a location inventory filed with the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission.
It does not mean filming is free, that a permit is optional, or that approval is automatic. Every requirement on this page still applies. What certification tends to buy you in practice is a faster answer and a person who has done this before.
Westwood is on the State’s certified-localities list, read in full on September 21, 2026. The June 2025 rewrite of Chapter 157 is a sign of a process someone is actively maintaining, which usually matters more than the badge.
Practical production planning
- Count heads for your biggest day before you do anything else. Fifty is the number that changes your budget.
- If you are over fifty, remember the $1,000 rate covers setup and wrap days as well, so count those days too.
- Work out the bond from the total fee, not from a flat assumption.
- Book the greenlight meeting as the first task in prep, not the last.
- Start the 200-foot notice and the posted signs early; they are tasks with lead times.
- In winter, price the sundown limb honestly. A 4:00 p.m. wrap is a different schedule from a 7:00 p.m. one.
- If you need more than six days at a location in a year, or you are producing a recurrent weekly series, get both answers from the Borough in writing before you commit.
Common questions
What counts as a major motion picture in Westwood, NJ?
A production budget of $2,000,000 or more, or a footprint of 50 or more people. The second limb is the one that catches productions out: the threshold is met by crew size alone, regardless of budget, so a modestly financed shoot with a fifty-person call sheet is a major motion picture in Westwood and pays $1,000 a day including setup and wrap. This is the lowest major-motion-picture threshold of any municipality on this site, and it is the first thing to check when you price a Westwood shoot.
How much does a film permit cost in Westwood, NJ?
The basic permit is $125, or $175 expedited, with $75 per week for bona fide nonprofits and no charge for student filming. Daily fees are $200 on private property, $750 on public property, and $1,000 for a major motion picture, which is charged for setup and wrap days as well as shoot days. Crowds add $500 for each 100 people beyond the first 100. Then add the bond, which is double the total film fee.
What is the film permit bond in Westwood?
Double the total film fee. Unlike the flat $500 or $1,000 bonds common elsewhere in New Jersey, Westwood's bond scales with the size of your shoot, so a major motion picture week generates a bond in the thousands. Work it out early and treat it as a cash-flow line: a bond is posted before the shoot and returned afterwards, so it is not a cost, but it does need to exist.
What are the filming hours in Westwood, NJ?
Monday to Friday only, from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. or sundown, whichever is earlier. The sundown limb bites hard in winter, when it can end your day before four in the afternoon. Combined with the three-consecutive-day cap per location and the six-day annual cap, Westwood requires more schedule planning than almost anywhere else in this batch.
How far in advance do I apply for a Westwood film permit?
Ten business days, which is two full working weeks and the longest lead time in this batch after Watchung. There is also a greenlight meeting to get on the calendar, notice to owners and tenants within 200 feet, and signs to be posted in advance, all of which take place inside that window. Treat ten business days as the floor rather than the plan.
Is there a fee for a weekly TV series in Westwood?
None is published. Section 157-5G lists “Recurrent weekly television series programming.” as a fee category and then states no amount for it, ending the line with a period where a figure should be. We are not going to guess what the Borough intended. If you are producing a recurrent series, raise it with the Borough before you budget and get the rate in writing.
Official sources
- OfficialNJ Motion Picture & Television Commission, Film Ready certified localities
- MunicipalWestwood Borough Code, Chapter 157
- MunicipalBorough of Westwood
Checked September 21, 2026 against the official municipal sources listed above. Report a correction or updated permit requirement.
Planning a production in New Jersey?
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This guide is researched and reviewed by Sam Moskowitz, a New Jersey-based producer and DP who runs BLL Films. Sam’s production and cinematography credits include work for Netflix, History Channel, Hulu, the NFL and Google. Every changing fact on this page carries a verification date; see how this site is researched for the full process.
More town production guides
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