Mike Schur, joined by fellow actors, writers and producers, endorsed Councilmember Nithya Raman Friday in front of CBS’s Radford Studios.
The “Parks and Recreation” co-creator introduced the mayoral candidate, stating that electing her was the “best chance to keep Hollywood.”
“Other states offer incentives, they streamline permitting, they eliminate location fees, they do everything they can to yank production out of Los Angeles, which is its rightful home,” Schur said. “And the companies that make TV and movies take the path of least and most inexpensive resistance.”
“If L.A. loses Hollywood, we lose a huge chunk of the middle class that helped build this city and make it what it has been for the last 100 years,” he added.
In a jab at mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, the writer-producer said that the way to keep film and television in L.A. was not to “cast a vote for a reality show Ding Dong, whose next good decision will be his first.”
#TheOffice and #TheGoodPlace writer Mike Schur endorses mayoral candidate Nithya Raman and her plan ot bring production back to L.A. pic.twitter.com/Mm15pu8x70
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) May 29, 2026
Councilmember Raman then outlined her plan to revive film production in the city if elected mayor. Her three-point plan stated that she would work with the state to support an uncapped film tax credit program, create a “real film office” at the city level staffed with industry professionals and coordinate with the county and the state to resolve issues around productions that cross jurisdictional lines.
Raman specifically responded that her film office would staff “people with deep industry experience” who “know the difference between a location manager and a line producer” and “people who will pick up the phone when a production calls.”
“At its peak, this was a $30 billion industry, supporting 200,000 jobs across L.A. County,” she said. “We must ensure that Hollywood remains a reliable on-ramp into the middle class for Angelenos — union wage with health insurance and a pension — an income that allows you to buy or rent a good house and put your kids through school. We must protect that before it slips further away.”
"Hollywood was ready. City Hall just hasn't been acting."
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) May 29, 2026
At a press conference, mayoral candidate @nithyavraman pushed back on @KarenBassLA's handling of efforts to bring production back to Los Angeles, responding to comments Bass made to TheWrap. pic.twitter.com/WXTFgxycaH
Noelle Stehman, co-founder of Stay in LA, then spoke endorsing the councilmember as an advocate for reliably bringing productions back to the city.
“It should be the cheapest, cheapest and easiest place to film. In fact, it is the most cumbersome and most expensive. That cannot continue.” she said. “If we don’t do something quickly, this is going to become the next Detroit …We can’t wait until the problem shows up. We have to be proactive.”
Other entertainment industry professionals supported Raman on-site in Studio City. Supporters included Rachel Bloom, Harper Steele, Kay Cannon, Guy Branum, Gilly Barnes, Sanjay Sharma, Cord Jefferson, Nico Santos and Zeke Smith.
“I love this city. I want to live here, and I want to work here,” Schur said. “My best chance, our best chance, to keep Hollywood the center of the entertainment universe is to do everything we can to elect Nithya Raman the next mayor of Los Angeles.”
