(Updated with Paramount statement) Deep in the middle of a tough reelection campaign, Karen Bass has discovered the middle of the road can be a very politically dangerous place with few good options. To that, the incumbent Mayor has today snagged the Hollywood production and competition proposals of her most threatening rival.
Just like Councilmember Nithya Raman and most of the candidates for Gov. Gavin Newson’s job, Bass now wants California’s $750 million film and TV tax incentives program to be uncapped. Also like her one-time City Hall ally Raman, the former state legislator and Congresswoman is now against Paramount’s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery, kinda.
“I cannot support a deal that results in massive job losses,” Bass said late this May Day. “I urge federal regulators to enforce job protections and creative freedom during the approval process, and I call on Paramount’s leadership to redouble its commitment to the industry workers in our city,” she add in a statement that is already DOA.
Bass’ throw down on PARA-WBD comes just over a week after an all smiles Oval Office meeting with Paramount owner David Ellison‘s dinner and UFC pal Donald Trump over wildfire relief. Trump and key members of his administration have been big supporters of Paramount’s bid for WBD, in no small part because of the control of CNN it will give “good friends” Ellison and his Oracle founder father Larry Ellison.
Estimated to come with a debt load of $78 billion and obvious overlaps in roles and departments, the melding of the two iconic studios under one corporate umbrella is widely assumed to come with deep deep job cuts. Since Skydance founder Ellison’s takeover of Paramount last year, the home of CBS has seen thousands laid off. Under David Zaslav’s expensive leadership the past four years, WBD has also had more than its fair share of cuts.
Jumping into the race for City Hall on the last possible day, Raman, who is married to producer/writer Vali Chandrasekaren, has promised “to be the loudest advocates for the most expansive possible film tax credits at the state and federal level, guaranteed multiple years into the future so that producers and studios can count on them.”
Even with the 2025 expansion of the state tax credits and a recent and much Bass touted small quarter-over-quarter rise uptick in days in LA, production in the home of Hollywood has been way down in the past few years.
That harsh decline has seen job losses and larger economic ramifications as the tax base, vendors and the region overall has taken hits. Add the growing presence of AI in the industry to the mix, and the situation is critical. Also, the tub thumping of the shoot day rise has rubbed many the wrong way as it is suffers from the false equivilency of comparing the holiday filled end of last year with the first few months of 2026.
In office since 2022 and a vocal advocate for tax credits that she played a pivotal hand in back in her Sacramento days, Bass finally created a film office in City Hall last year under the direction of Board of Public Works President Steve Kang. Along with the delay in prioritising the production downturn, Bass has been widely panned for picking Kang due to his lack of industry experience.
Having cut fees and some other measures for filming in the City of Angels, Bass has Friday also joined the movement for a federal incentive program to counter moves in the UK, Australia, Canada and elsewhere to lure production. “We are in a global battle for entertainment jobs, and we must hold nothing back in our fight,” Mayor Bass said tonight. “This is about an industry that is essential to our middle class and who we are as a city.”
Paramount agrees with Bass, kinda.
“We welcome the Mayor’s support for increased tax incentives to reverse the losses of production out of California,” a Paramount spokesperson told Deadline tonight.
“Further, this transaction will drive more content creation, more filming, and more high-quality jobs across Los Angeles and California by combining complementary strengths to invest at greater scale in storytelling, production, and creative talent,” the company added of the WBD deal. “We welcome all efforts that support our commitments: increase output, expand opportunities for creators and crews, and strengthen LA’s entertainment economy by ensuring the city remains the global epicenter of film, television, and creative innovation.”
With The Hills alum Spencer Pratt also running with a MAGA inspired campaign, the L.A. Mayor’s race takes places in two ballot stages with a primary on June 2. If neither Bass nor Raman garners more that 50% of the vote, as occurred in the now incumbent’s battle with developer Rick Caruso in 2022, then the election goes to a runoff on November 3, the same day as the potentially seismic midterms.
