Karen Bass Says Spencer Pratt’s Insurgent Campaign Hasn’t “Prompted Any Soul-Searching From Me”
Spencer Pratt, a literal reality TV villain with no political experience, may have become a competitive candidate and attracted wealthy donors, but that isn’t pushing sitting Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass to introspection.
“It’s not prompted any soul searching from me,” said the mayor, her tone firm, when asked by The Hollywood Reporter about how she’s taken the development on Thursday. “I think that we’ll see where his campaign leads him. No.”
Instead, ahead of the June 2 primary election, Bass is laser-focused on trumpeting what she sees as her achievements in office — including her response to L.A.’s production crisis, which has become a political flashpoint in the race.
Supporters of the mayor point to an array of actions she’s taken since 2022. That’s included installing an industry council, passing two executive orders aimed at cutting red tape, getting personally involved in production snafus on Baywatch in Venice Beach and supporting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s expanded $750 million state tax credit, passed in 2025.
She’s promising more. During the race, Bass has pledged support for uncapping California’s film and TV tax credit (after opponent Nithya Raman said the same) and for establishing a federal film tax incentive. On Thursday, she celebrated winning the endorsement of Hollywood crew unions with a speech at Sunset Gower Studios: “I am honored to continue to work shoulder-to-shoulder with you in the years ahead,” she said.
But critics have argued that her measures were too little, too late. Her opponent Raman, supported by an array of Hollywood figures herself, has faulted Bass for only appointing a film liaison in 2025 “despite years of job loss.” And Pratt, a favorite amongst business leaders and moguls, has said Bass and Gov. Newsom have “offered feeble tax-credit Band-Aids while ignoring the arterial bleed for far too long.”
Bass discussed her track record on entertainment and her plans for the future in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter after Thursday’s event.
To start with the obvious, runaway production from L.A. has been devastating the city and entertainment workers. What is your plan, if elected to a second term, to address that issue?
Well, to me it’s important to address it on all levels. So locally continuing to look for ways to cut the costs for production and to make it easier to film, to produce here. And part of that is eliminating the red tape. So we’ve already done a lot of that. Now the question is, is it going to be helpful? So we evaluate it and make any additional changes or additions to it.
Why do you think, based off of what you worked on in your first term, you should be supported by the Hollywood community for a second term?
Well, first of all, it was wonderful to be here and to be supported by the Hollywood community for a second term with IATSE and the different sectors of labor that are involved in the industry. I have worked with the industry for a very long time and have deep, solid relationships that will allow me to continue to be shoulder to shoulder [with them], where people will tell me what more is needed. Now having said that, I will also continue advocating on a state and a federal level. And it has been extremely helpful to me in this job that I served in those two bodies, where I have very close relationshipsm and can get audiences much quicker, in a much more substantive way, than people that do not have those relationships or have never worked in those two bodies.
You mentioned that you have the ear of some of the folks that we just saw out there. I’m curious if there’s some people that you consider close friends or rely upon to give you information about the industry or to talk through some ideas.
Oh my gosh, there’s like all sorts of people. Yes, I couldn’t even begin. Yes, there’s a lot of people, in addition to members of my family. My family’s been involved in the entertainment industry for three generations. So I get lots of voices coming from a lot of different directions.
What do you think you could have done better in your first term when it comes to working on production in Hollywood?
Well, I’m sure that there are other costs that we could have cut. I’m sure that there’s other red tape that we also could have cut or eliminated, but I think those will surface because we’ve already done a lot. Now the question is, to what extent did it help? And that’s the stage we’re in right now. So as that materializes, I will be aggressively moving those policies forward as well.
You’ve been a representative for this area in some way, shape or form since 2004. Why hasn’t this issue of production exodus, which has been going on for a long time but really culminated recently, been addressed in an expansive way before now?
By me, is that what you’re referring to?
By you in leadership.
Well, actually I think getting the first tax credits through the state legislature was a significant contribution. I also moved on to Congress, where I focused on intellectual property and worked on national legislation in regard to the music industry, the film industry, in terms of copyright issues and other intellectual property issues. So I think that when you’re working on that level, it doesn’t have the bang and the spotlight to it, but it is very significant contribution to protecting the industry.
Something I hear about when I’m talking to locations professionals are these special neighborhood conditions, which are characterized as onerous, as patchwork. Nithya Rahman’s platform does include a plan to reform those. Do you plan to address them in any way in a second term?
Well, first of all, she can have all the plans in the world, but she’s been on council for six years and has never introduced one idea. And it’s very difficult to introduce ideas if you don’t have the support from any member of council. And if she were to become mayor, it’d be very tough to work with people that you haven’t been able to work with for six years.
And in terms of the special neighborhood conditions, do you think you would…
Yes, I think we absolutely need to look at those. Yes, we do. Some neighborhoods, by the way, the neighborhood I live in — I mean, obviously now I’m living in the mayor’s residence — we fight over production because we want it in our neighborhood. I know that’s true in some neighborhoods [the special neighborhood conditions], but not my neighborhood.
On a slightly different subject, Hollywood Boulevard, the Walk of Fame area is an iconic place to many tourists and it remains the sites of a lot of premieres and parties for Hollywood, but to many Angelenos, it’s kind of a sad place to visit, kind of decrepit and they don’t want to go there. I’m curious if you’ve done anything to address this issue and how it telegraphs…
Yes. Well, first of all, I would never call it decrepit, but second of all, yes, one of the problems we had at Hollywood Boulevard are massive encampments and working in collaboration with Councilmember Soto-Martinez, we have addressed that, and we’ll continue. Having addressed it, it doesn’t mean that tomorrow a tent might not pop up. And if that’s the case, we will address that by getting the person housed. What we do not do is just move them from one block to the next.
Zooming out to this election in general, is there someone you would rather face, Spencer Pratt or Nithya Rahman, in a potential runoff?
I mean, anybody that’s running doesn’t want to face anyone. How about that? I would like to take it away June 2nd, so I won’t pick my opponents.
To drill in more on Pratt, we’re talking about a literal reality TV villain. He’s gained traction in this race with a lot of criticisms of the way the city is currently run and the state of politics in general. Has that prompted any soul searching for you about how the public perceives you?
No. I’m sorry. Excuse me. Soul searching from a reality star? No. It’s not prompted any soul searching from me. I think that we’ll see where his campaign leads him. No.
What do you think of the tone of Spencer Pratt’s campaign and do you see any parallels between him and President Donald Trump’s style?
Well, I think the tone of his campaign is very negative and it’s like the tone I think you would see from a reality star. So I think his goal is to be famous and he’s a lot more famous now than he was as a reality TV star.
Spencer Pratt has made a lot of promises. He’s promised to subsidize FilmLA, halve location fees, remove city staff from most productions. On homelessness, there’s even more: he’s wanting to establish forced treatments and arrests for unhoused people. Barring your feelings about these policies as someone who has been mayor in LA, how realistic or feasible do you think some of these ideas are?
They’re not at all. How about that? Not at all. None of them. Seriously.
Is there anything else you want to add on that?
No.
It’s been well reported about how you helped assist the re-election of Nithya Rahman in 2024 and then she decided to run against you. Did you see her run as a betrayal after your allyship beforehand?
I mean, what difference does it make? She is running, but I think that she’s, and I didn’t know this beforehand, consistent in the sense that her colleagues describe if she takes a position, you can’t be sure that that position will hold.
Amid the Epstein files scandal, you called for the 2028 L.A. Olympics chairperson, Casey Wasserman, to step down. The LA28 Olympic Committee obviously kept him in that role. If elected, how do you plan to work with him moving forward?
Let me just tell you, I work with Casey. It was a decision of the LA28 board. They’ve made that decision that is independent from the city of Los Angeles. I do not sit on that board. I will tell you that we work very closely together, LA28 and the city of Los Angeles, and we’re going to have the best games that history has ever seen.
We’re also just curious about your cultural diet. Do you wind down with any particular movies or TV shows? Do you scroll TikTok or Instagram? What’s your entertainment consumption like?
Well, first of all, I do. Late at night I like to watch sitcoms to wind down. And my favorite one is The Neighborhood with Cedric the Entertainer.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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