Every New Jersey Town That Helped Build the World of Netflix’s ‘Don’t Say Good Luck’

Netflix’s latest tearjerker has been turning heads since it landed on the platform, and fans of ‘Don’t Say Good Luck‘ are already asking questions that go well beyond the storyline. One of the most searched topics surrounding the film is where it was actually made, and the answer turns out to be a fascinating deep dive into the Garden State’s thriving film scene.

‘Don’t Say Good Luck’ stars Sunny Sandler as Sophie Birenbaum, a 15-year-old theater kid who unexpectedly wins the lead role of Jenna in her school’s production of ‘Waitress,’ only for her world to be upended when her mother Elizabeth’s cancer returns and is diagnosed as terminal. The film was directed by Julia Hart and produced by Adam Sandler through Happy Madison Productions, with Netflix handling distribution.

The New Jersey Filming Locations Behind ‘Don’t Say Good Luck’

Principal photography for ‘Don’t Say Good Luck’ began on July 2, 2025, and wrapped on September 12, 2025, with most filming taking place across northern New Jersey and Jersey City functioning as the production base. Although the movie’s world feels like one coherent suburban community, the production actually assembled it from locations across northern and central New Jersey, including Livingston, Ridgewood, Paramus, Montclair, Cranford, Madison, Jersey City, and at least one additional Bergen County stop in Lyndhurst.

The New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission’s production records confirm the state as the film’s home base, though Netflix has not released an official list of every shooting location. The choice to film entirely within New Jersey gives the movie an authentic suburban texture that would be impossible to replicate on a studio lot, and it also reflects the ongoing boom in Garden State productions fuelled by the state’s attractive filming incentives.

Ridgewood and the School Sequences

The Sandler family brought movie magic to New Jersey as the film set up production in Ridgewood on July 29, with cameras rolling at Benjamin Franklin Middle School on North Van Dien Avenue. A Netflix production sign was visible at the school during filming, and the building’s real auditorium and classroom spaces gave director Julia Hart the authentically modest theatrical setting that the story required.

The choice matters because so much of Sophie’s emotional life is attached to the musical. Rehearsals, auditions, and performances are not simply extracurricular background; the stage becomes the place where she processes emotions that are far harder to articulate at home.

Using a functioning public school rather than a constructed set keeps those sequences grounded in the kind of ordinary teenage environment that the film’s emotional core depends on.

Montclair High School at 100 Chestnut Street was another education-related filming site, with the school’s amphitheater identified as the setting used for the graduation material. That division of labor across multiple real schools is a common production strategy, allowing filmmakers to find exactly the right space for each scene without being limited to a single campus.

The Birenbaum Deli and Suburban Landmarks

Few locations in ‘Don’t Say Good Luck’ are as closely tied to the Birenbaum family as their deli, with the real-world counterpart found at Nana’s Deli and Restaurant on South Livingston Avenue in Livingston. Production temporarily transformed the restaurant into Birenbaum’s, Est. 1985, dressing the windows with references to matzo ball soup, Reubens, pastrami, and knishes.

Nana’s closed for several days during the early July shoot before reopening, and Netflix notes that the deli walls contain real family photographs supplied by people involved with the production. That level of detail is exactly what separates a lived-in screen location from something that reads as purely decorative. The deli gives Sophie’s family a cultural identity that feels earned rather than assigned.

The production also used Paramus Park Mall in Bergen County, where its appearance connects to one of the movie’s lighter mother-daughter interludes, when Elizabeth helps Sophie explore her character’s Southern accent by trying different voices while the two are out shopping. It is a mundane setting by design, offering the film a brief window of ordinary teenage life before grief reasserts itself.

Drew University, Cranford, and Jersey City

The crew moved to Drew University on Madison Avenue in Madison during late July, with local production signs for set access and catering appearing around campus. Adam and Sunny Sandler were both reported on location there during filming. Morris County’s inclusion expands the film’s geographical reach beyond Bergen County and signals how ambitious the location-scouting process actually was.

Cranford supplied the residential side of Sophie’s world, with production spending time around Maple Street, where filming took place at a private home and along the surrounding street. Cranford’s established suburban character gives the Birenbaums’ domestic scenes a believable contrast with the busier school, theater, and deli locations.

Jersey City served as one of the broader production bases for ‘Don’t Say Good Luck,’ with principal photography continuing there from early July through mid-September. Township records from Lyndhurst also list the production in connection with addresses on Stuyvesant Avenue and Park Avenue, though those locations have received far less public attention than the more prominent Bergen County sites.

Why New Jersey Was the Right Choice

New Jersey has been a hotbed for filming locations of late, especially for Netflix, with multiple major productions setting up in towns across the state throughout the summer season. The state’s combination of accessible suburban streetscapes, functional public institutions, and production-friendly infrastructure makes it an increasingly logical choice for stories set in recognizable American communities.

Director Julia Hart uses actual malls, schools, restaurants, campuses, and suburban streets to build Sophie’s community piece by piece, resulting in something appropriately unflashy. This is a story about a teenager whose world becomes enormous because of what is happening inside her family, even though the places around her remain reassuringly ordinary. The film blends school life, family problems, music, and young love into a coming-of-age dramedy that Netflix describes as heartfelt, bittersweet, and emotional.

If you’ve already watched ‘Don’t Say Good Luck’ on Netflix, which of those real New Jersey locations felt most authentic to Sophie’s world, and did knowing the deli was a real Livingston restaurant change how you experienced those family scenes?