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| Where Was Don't Say Good Luck Filmed? All Netflix Movie Shooting Locations Revealed. |
Netflix's Don't Say Good Luck was filmed entirely on location across New Jersey, with production running for roughly 10 weeks from 2 July to 12 September 2025. Rather than relying heavily on studio-built sets, the production moved through real schools, restaurants, residential streets and shopping spaces across North and Central New Jersey, giving the film the lived-in suburban atmosphere its coming-of-age story needs. Not every precise filming spot was publicly identified while cameras were rolling, understandably so: keeping locations quiet helps protect the production from overenthusiastic fans turning an ordinary filming day into an impromptu sightseeing event.
The film, directed by Julia Hart and starring Sunny Sandler, follows 15-year-old Sophie Birenbaum, a teenager whose dream of landing the lead role in her school musical arrives at exactly the wrong time. Her excitement is complicated by a major family health crisis, forcing her to balance rehearsals, friendships and life at home while trying to understand emotions that are considerably bigger than anything she expected to deal with at her age.
The New Jersey locations therefore do more than provide attractive scenery. They create the ordinary suburban world Sophie is desperately trying to hold together.
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City served as the principal production base throughout the shoot, making it one of the most important places connected to the movie's production even when it is not necessarily the location viewers will recognise from one particular emotional scene. Equipment trucks, crew operations and the practical machinery required for a 10-week production were centred here, giving the city an important behind-the-scenes role.
Jersey City is an especially useful choice for a production like this because it offers a mixture of dense urban surroundings and quieter residential areas within a relatively compact area.
For a film moving between school life, family life and the wider world around its teenage characters, that flexibility is extremely valuable. It also means the production could keep its base within reach of the other New Jersey locations without constantly turning every filming day into a logistical expedition..
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Nana's Deli, South Livingston Avenue, Livingston
One of the most recognisable filming locations is Nana's Deli on South Livingston Avenue in Livingston. During production, the real business was temporarily transformed into “Birenbaum's, EST 1985”, allowing it to become part of Sophie's family world.
The transformation is exactly the sort of location trick that makes movie fans stop and look twice. The production did not need to construct an entirely fictional deli when a perfectly usable real establishment was already available.
Instead, the team altered the signage and visual details to create a believable multi-generational family business within the story. Once filming finished, the location could return to its normal identity, leaving behind the slightly surreal fact that a familiar New Jersey deli had briefly been pretending to be somewhere else.
For fans of the movie, this is one of the most appealing places to visit because it represents the film's preference for real environments over obviously manufactured sets. It is also the sort of place where you can imagine Sophie walking in, ordering something and immediately becoming involved in another teenage crisis because apparently one crisis at a time would be far too convenient.
Ilpoom, Livingston
Another Livingston location used during production was Ilpoom, which also became part of the movie's collection of authentic local settings.
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Its inclusion helped the filmmakers build out the everyday environment surrounding the Birenbaum family rather than making the entire story feel as though it takes place on a controlled soundstage.
Using existing restaurants and businesses gives a production an advantage that cannot easily be recreated with a set. Walls already have character, streets already have history and businesses already look like places people actually visit. That natural texture is particularly useful for a film about an ordinary teenager whose life is suddenly becoming anything but ordinary.
Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Ridgewood
Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood was transformed into one of the film's most important fictional spaces: Sophie's high school theatre environment. The production used the school's auditorium, backstage areas and music classrooms for scenes involving rehearsals, preparation and performances.
This location matters because theatre is central to Sophie's story. Her ambition to land the lead role is not simply a side plot; it represents the future she has imagined for herself.
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The school therefore becomes the place where her confidence grows, where friendships develop and where she attempts to maintain some sense of normality while dealing with what is happening at home.
The use of a functioning school rather than a purpose-built fictional campus also gives these sequences a more convincing atmosphere. The corridors, classrooms and auditorium feel like spaces students genuinely use rather than immaculate Hollywood versions of schools where nobody seems to own a backpack. For viewers interested in visiting movie locations, the Ridgewood setting is one of the most significant places associated with the production.
Cranford, Maple Street
Production also spent around two weeks in Cranford, particularly around Maple Street, where a local residential property was used as the Birenbaum family home. Both exterior and interior material was filmed there, making the house an important part of Sophie's personal world.
The family home is particularly important to the film because much of Sophie's emotional journey happens away from the stage. At school, she is trying to be a teenager and a performer. At home, she is dealing with a family situation that makes those ordinary teenage concerns suddenly feel much less straightforward. The contrast between the two environments is central to the story.
Cranford's residential character works well for that purpose. The location provides the kind of familiar suburban surroundings that make Sophie's situation feel grounded rather than exaggerated.
It looks like the sort of neighbourhood where somebody could be worrying about an upcoming rehearsal one minute and dealing with a completely unexpected family conversation the next.
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Paramus Park Mall, Paramus
Paramus Park Mall was another major filming location, providing the production with authentic retail interiors, walkways and public spaces for scenes involving Sophie and her classmates. The mall's existing layout allowed the filmmakers to capture the everyday social world of the teenage characters without having to recreate a shopping centre from scratch.
For a coming-of-age film, a mall is almost a character in itself. It is somewhere teenagers can meet, wander around, talk, avoid going home and pretend they know exactly what they are doing. In Sophie's case, those ordinary moments become more meaningful because her private life is becoming increasingly complicated.
The use of Paramus Park also adds visual variety to the film. After spending time in the school and family home, the shopping centre opens the story out into a more public environment. It is familiar, slightly chaotic and full of distractions, which is probably exactly what Sophie needs even if it does not solve any of her actual problems.
Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair also played an important role during the production period, serving as the main residential area for members of the production team and producers while filming was underway. Its connection to the shoot helps illustrate how widely the production was spread across New Jersey rather than being concentrated in a single town.
Montclair's mix of residential streets, established neighbourhoods and local commercial areas made it a practical base for the production operation. While audiences may not associate every frame of the finished film with Montclair itself, the town formed part of the wider environment supporting the production during its summer shoot.
It is also a good reminder that filming-location stories are not only about the places that receive a dramatic close-up. A movie production is a travelling operation involving cast, crew, equipment and endless logistical decisions. Somewhere has to accommodate all of that, and Montclair became part of that wider production footprint.
What makes the filming locations of Don't Say Good Luck interesting is how closely they match the story's tone. The film is built around an ordinary suburban teenager experiencing an extraordinary emotional upheaval, so the production did not need glamorous destinations or elaborate fantasy landscapes. It needed recognisable places that could make Sophie's world feel real.
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The school, family home, deli, restaurant and shopping mall all represent different parts of her life. The theatre is where she wants to become somebody. The family home is where reality catches up with her.
The deli and other local businesses connect the family to their community, while the mall provides the more casual teenage environment where friendships and everyday concerns continue despite everything happening in the background.
That realism is one reason the locations have attracted attention from viewers. Fans have reacted differently to the film's setting, with some enjoying the familiarity of seeing recognisable New Jersey surroundings on screen while others are naturally more interested in tracking down the exact places where particular scenes were filmed. For location hunters, the appeal is obvious: the movie turns ordinary places into pieces of its fictional world without making them look dramatically different from reality.
Not every exact filming spot was made public while Don't Say Good Luck was being filmed, and that is hardly surprising. Film productions need privacy and uninterrupted working conditions, particularly when shooting around functioning businesses, schools and residential neighbourhoods.
Keeping some precise details quiet can prevent large groups of fans from gathering around a set, interrupting filming or making ordinary local activity considerably more complicated. A production day already involves enough moving parts without somebody arriving because they saw a social-media post announcing that a particular actor was supposedly standing outside a house.
That is why filming-location information can sometimes appear incomplete during production and become clearer later. Some locations are easy to identify because they are public businesses or recognisable buildings, while other details may remain deliberately vague until filming has wrapped and the movie is released.
New Jersey gives Don't Say Good Luck exactly the sort of setting its story requires. The state can move from busy commercial areas to quiet residential streets and school campuses without making the characters feel as though they have suddenly travelled between completely different worlds.
For Sophie's story, that consistency matters. Her problems are not happening in some exaggerated movie town. They are happening in the places where she has grown up, gone to school, rehearsed and spent time with her family. The familiarity makes the emotional contrast stronger because the world around her continues looking normal even while her personal circumstances are changing.
The result is a film that uses location as part of its storytelling rather than treating scenery as decoration. A deli is a family business. A school auditorium becomes the centre of Sophie's ambition. A suburban house becomes the place where difficult conversations happen. A shopping mall becomes a temporary escape from reality. Each location carries a different piece of her life.
Can fans visit the Don't Say Good Luck filming locations?
Several of the locations connected to the production are real public-facing places, which means fans can potentially experience some of the movie's settings for themselves.
Businesses such as Nana's Deli and locations within public commercial areas offer the easiest opportunity to see places associated with the film, while schools and private residential properties naturally require more consideration and respect for normal operations and residents.
That distinction is important for anyone planning a movie-location trip. Visiting a public business is one thing; turning up at a private home because it appeared in a film is quite another. The fun of a location tour should not become somebody else's unexpected afternoon problem.
For fans who enjoy recreating scenes, New Jersey offers plenty of opportunities to combine the movie locations with the surrounding towns and attractions. The appeal is less about standing in precisely the same spot for five minutes and more about experiencing the environments that helped give the film its identity.
Ultimately, the locations work because they support the central theme of the film. Sophie is trying to find her voice through theatre while dealing with a difficult change in her family life, and every place she visits reflects a different side of that struggle.
The production's decision to film in genuine New Jersey locations gives the movie an understated quality that suits its story. Nothing needs to look spectacular for it to matter. A school stage can represent a dream. A family house can hold an entire emotional history. A deli can represent community. Even a shopping centre can become somewhere a teenager goes when she needs a break from thinking about everything else.
That is perhaps why fans have become so curious about where Don't Say Good Luck was filmed. The locations are not simply pretty backdrops waiting to be photographed. They are recognisable pieces of the world Sophie inhabits, which makes visiting them feel a little like stepping into the edges of the film itself.
For now, these are the key specific locations associated with the production, from Jersey City and Livingston to Ridgewood, Cranford, Paramus and Montclair. As more precise filming information becomes available, the location trail may become even more interesting. So, if you have watched Don't Say Good Luck, which location would you most want to visit, and which scene made you curious enough to search for the real place?