Reality television star and Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt is intensifying his criticism of city leadership, accusing his opponents of overseeing Hollywood’s decline while presenting himself as the candidate best positioned to revive the entertainment industry.
Pratt launched the attack in a lengthy series of social media posts Friday, targeting incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman.
“Nithya did NOTHING as Hollywood fell into the abyss over the last few years, and now she wants you to believe she suddenly cares?” Pratt wrote. “She thinks you’re dumb.”
He reserved similar criticism for Bass, arguing that current city leadership has failed to support the entertainment industry that helped make Los Angeles a global cultural and economic powerhouse.
“Karen and Nithya treat productions like a nuisance, and they’ve killed our golden goose,” Pratt wrote.
Pratt’s criticism carries added weight because of his own history in the entertainment industry. The former star of the MTV reality series The Hills spent years filming in Los Angeles and has firsthand experience with the city’s production environment.
The candidate outlined several proposals aimed at attracting film and television productions back to Los Angeles. His plan includes streamlining permitting and parking approvals, increasing police patrols around production areas and addressing homelessness and public safety concerns that he argues have driven productions elsewhere.
“We need to win back these productions, and tax credits aren’t enough to do it,” Pratt said. “They just need filming to be easier and safer in LA. They need LA to be nicer, and less disgusting.”
Pratt also argued that production companies, agencies and residents have increasingly left California because quality-of-life issues have made Los Angeles less attractive.
“The city needs to roll out the red carpet for productions,” he wrote.
Raman’s campaign responded by pointing to her own proposals designed to strengthen the entertainment sector. Her campaign website similarly argues that Los Angeles is losing productions because filming has become too difficult and expensive.
“We must ensure that Hollywood remains a reliable on-ramp into the middle class for Angelenos,” Raman said during a recent press conference. “We must protect that before it slips further away.”
The debate comes as Hollywood faces increasing competition from other states and countries offering aggressive incentives for film and television projects.
Industry leaders have repeatedly warned that Los Angeles is losing productions due to rising costs, permitting challenges and broader concerns about public safety and homelessness, per the Daily Mail.
Recent polling suggests the race could be surprisingly competitive. According to a California Post survey cited in the report, Pratt is polling at 30.1%, narrowly ahead of Bass at 29.5%, while Raman trails at 23.4%.
The same poll found that voters remain highly concerned about homelessness and housing affordability, two issues expected to dominate the mayoral campaign in the months ahead.
As the race continues, Pratt is betting that frustration over Hollywood’s struggles and broader quality-of-life concerns will help fuel what many observers view as one of the most unconventional mayoral campaigns Los Angeles has ever seen.
