Netflix's 'Big Mistakes' Films Season 2 In Downtown Metuchen

METUCHEN, NJ — Netflix's "Big Mistakes" brought its Season 2 production to downtown Metuchen Thursday, filming scenes in and around Yestercades and Peterson Park, Mayor Jonathan M. Busch said.

The comedy series, starring Dan Levy, Laurie Metcalf and Poorna Jagannathan, transformed Yestercades for the day into a fictional storefront called "Caputo's Yarn & Crafts" for the shoot.

"Exciting day in Metuchen as filming for Season 2 of Netflix's 'Big Mistakes' came downtown," Busch wrote.

The production has local roots. Season 1 filmed last summer at Edison Millwork & Hardware, a nearly 50-year-old family-owned store on Old Post Road, ahead of the show's debut. The store hosted a watch party for the premiere.

The Metuchen shoot is the latest payoff from the borough's yearslong push to attract film and television productions. Metuchen became a certified Film Ready Community through the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission a few years ago, positioning it to draw productions downtown, Busch said.

"Over the last few years, New Jersey has become one of the most desirable locations in the country for film and television production, bringing investment, jobs and new business to communities across the state," Busch wrote. "With Netflix's new production complex at the former Fort Monmouth site, that industry is only continuing to grow."

The borough laid the groundwork for that certification in November 2023, when the Metuchen Council passed an ordinance establishing the process. At the time, Busch pointed to the borough's photogenic downtown as a natural draw for productions.

"We want Metuchen to be well-positioned to be part of that growth, both for the economic opportunities it can bring and for the chance to showcase our Borough to audiences beyond New Jersey," Busch wrote.

"Big Mistakes," co-created by Levy and Rachel Sennott, follows two siblings whose lives collide with organized crime in their small New Jersey hometown. Taylor Ortega, who stars alongside Levy, was born in Cranbury.

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