Political rhetoric aside, Nithya Raman comes by her Hollywood bona fides honestly. Her husband, after all, is Vali Chandrasekaran, writer on Modern Family, 30 Rock and other TV hits.

On Thursday Raman went in front of the industry's biggest names to argue that her professional credentials were on par with her personal ones and that she's the candidate who will do the most for the entertainment business.

 There's a lot that mayor could do, and if I'm mayor I'm going to do it,  she told the Bloomberg Screentime conference, suggesting that her rival, incumbent Karen Bass, has fallen short in this (and other) regards. Raman promised to be a  relentless advocate  for better tax credits in Sacramento, though informed observers might note that California's tax-credit program is among the most generous; it's the cost of food and housing that drives production costs so high.

The City Councilmember also talked up her idea for an L.A. film commissioner to ease the path for shooting, citing a high-profile recent example of a … less smooth road.  Baywatch had problems becayse the city and the county were two different jurisdictions,  she said, referring to the spring kerfuffle .

A commissioner could help in situations like that, even if Bass, after a delay, also hired a film liaison last year.

Los Angeles runaway production and the subsequent drying up of jobs has become one of many hot-button issues in the election given how many voters work in the entertainment business. Raman says she's see the effects in her personal life. Speaking to moderator Sarah McGregor and a room packed with luminaries (she followed Casey Bloys two speakers earlier), the candidate said,  We feel lucky but we've seen in our friend network how jobs are fewer,  adding,  People that my husband has worked with deciding the industry uncertainty is so much that they're either leaving the industry or Los Angeles entirely. That's really painful to watch play out. 

After being in a nip-and-tuck race with Spencer Pratt for a second-place qualifying spot for a week following June's primary, Raman has now surged in the head-to-hea

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