{"id":1236720525,"date":"2026-10-01T13:39:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1236720525"},"modified":"2026-10-01T13:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:39:26","slug":"nithya-raman-hollywood-position-karen-bass-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/politics-news\/nithya-raman-hollywood-position-karen-bass-polls-1236720525\/","title":{"rendered":"Nithya Raman Promises She\u2019ll Be a \u201cRelentless Advocate\u201d for Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tPolitical rhetoric aside, Nithya Raman comes by her Hollywood bona fides honestly. Her husband, after all, is Vali Chandrasekaran, writer on Modern Family,<\/em> 30 Rock<\/em> and other TV hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOn Thursday Raman went in front of the industry\u2019s biggest names to argue that her professional credentials were on par with her personal ones and that she\u2019s the candidate who will do the most for the entertainment business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s a lot that mayor could do, and if I\u2019m mayor I\u2019m going to do it,\u201d she told the Bloomberg Screentime conference, suggesting that her rival, incumbent Karen Bass, has fallen short in this (and other) regards. Raman promised to be a \u201crelentless advocate” for better tax credits in Sacramento, though informed observers might note that California\u2019s tax-credit program is among the most generous; it\u2019s the cost of food and housing that drives production costs so high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe City Councilmember also talked up her idea for an L.A. film commissioner to ease the path for shooting, citing a high-profile recent example of a \u2026 less smooth road. \u201cBaywatch <\/em>had problems becayse the city and the county were two different jurisdictions,\u201d she said, referring to the spring kerfuffle<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tA commissioner could help in situations like that, even if Bass, after a delay, also hired<\/u><\/a> a film liaison last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tLos Angeles runaway production and the subsequent drying up of jobs has become one of many hot-button issues in the election given how many voters work in the entertainment business. Raman says she\u2019s see the effects in her personal life. Speaking to moderator Sarah McGregor and a room packed with luminaries (she followed Casey Bloys two speakers earlier), the candidate said, “We feel lucky but we\u2019ve seen in our friend network how jobs are fewer,\u201d adding, \u201cPeople that my husband has worked with deciding the industry uncertainty is so much that they\u2019re either leaving the industry or Los Angeles entirely. That\u2019s really painful to watch play out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAfter being in a nip-and-tuck race<\/a> with Spencer Pratt for a second-place qualifying spot for a week following June\u2019s primary, Raman has now surged<\/a> in the head-to-head general election and leads incumbent Karen Bass by at least 15 points according to most surveys. The City Council member seems to be drawing Spencer Pratt voters (there were nearly 220,000 of them) far more successfully than her opponent, a point she sought to make in Thursday\u2019s talk. “To every voter who voted for Spencer Pratt in the primary who’s disappointed that he’s not in the general election,” she said, “I share your frustration.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAs part of that tack to the center, Raman also sought to distance herself from the DSA after McGregor asked her about her feelings for the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t“I’ve spent most of my talk talking about how we need to give tax credits, which is very much at odds with what Democratic Socialists are to most people,” she said. Raman is a longstanding member of the organization dating back to 2019 and was the first DSA member in the L.A. City Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBass and Raman have largely split Hollywood support since the race began earlier this year, with a younger-skewing creative set including Adam Scott and Mindy Kaling supporting Raman while Bass has attracted the likes of JJ Abrams and Samuel L. Jackson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tRaman doubled down on issues of interest to the entertainment business when asked about the Paramount Warner Bros. merger. “The deal is essentially done, and don\u2019t want to be re-litigating this into eternity,\u201d she said. “[But] what I would really say to David Ellison is I want those dollars that you’ve committed to production not just to be spent in America \u2014 I want them to be spent in Los Angeles.”



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