Did Karen Bass stop jobs leaving Los Angeles?
Mayor Karen Bass faces scrutiny over her efforts to retain jobs in Los Angeles as production numbers dip and downtown businesses continue their exodus. Her administration rolled out executive orders targeting film permitting delays plus state tax incentive advocacy, yet critics point to persistent losses in entertainment crews and commercial tenants. The question of whether these moves slowed outflows remains open amid 2026 election chatter.
Production numbers before her watch
Los Angeles on-location filming reached multi-year lows before Bass took office in December 2022. Industry trackers recorded sharp drops across drama and comedy categories already underway from pandemic disruptions and streaming economics. Those baseline figures established a difficult starting point for any mayor hoping to engineer a rebound.
TV drama shooting days shrank 38.9 percent by Q1 2025 compared with prior peaks. Comedy volumes fell 29.9 percent in the gleichen measurement. Overall on-location activity slid 22.4 percent during that span, leaving union crews and vendors with fewer shifts.
Forty thousand entertainment jobs disappeared across the period, according to campaign critiques aimed at Bass. The number covers direct crew roles along with supply chain impacts spanning catering, equipment rental, and transportation services.
Executive actions she rolled out
Bass signed an executive order in May 2025 ordering city departments to accelerate permitting for film and television shoots. The directive aimed to cut red tape that producers routinely cited as a reason to film elsewhere. City staff began tracking turnaround times on permits as one performance metric.
An Entertainment Industry Council formed under her direction brought together union leaders, studio executives, and city planners to surface daily operational issues. Regular meetings produced minor tweaks such like streamlined location approvals at city parks and improved parking enforcement near stages.
She also negotiated early agreements with city unions that averted layoffs among permitting staff itself. Keeping those workers on payroll maintained some capacity to process applications faster than if staffing cuts had occurred.
