The Frame

Author, religion scholar and TV consultant Reza Aslan adds talk show host to his credits with "Rough Draft"; Oscar nominee Lon Burden breaks down the sound design for a crucial scene in "The Revenant"; the toughest Oscars trivia contest happens at a pub in Santa Monica.

The Black Version is a group of improv performers who put an Afro-centric spin on mainstream movies; Leonardo DiCaprio sees environmental parallels between the 1820s when "The Revenant" is set and modern-day America; eligibility rules for the Oscars raise questions for the original score nominees.

Will this year’s Academy Awards be the tipping point for racial representation in Hollywood? Marc Bernardin of The Hollywood Reporter weighs in; The Song Exploder podcast takes apart a song with the band Clipping; "Inside Out" writer Meg LeFauve gets a Pixar education and now takes on Ms. Marvel.

USC's Institute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg tracked the representation of women, people of color, and the LGBT community in film and television and found Hollywood is still "a straight, white boys club." Then co-star and co-creator of the HBO show 'Togetherness', Steve Zissis, mines his life-- failures and all-- for the show. And comedian Kamau Bell is excited to see Chris Rock turn #OscarsSoWhite into comic gold at the Academy Awards.

Comedian Paul Rust went from Iowa to working with his childhood heroes Judd Apatow and Paul Rubens, and now he's landed the Netflix series "Love," which comes out today. The Coen Brothers bring water ballet back to the big screen in "Hail, Caesar!" with the L.A. aquatic dance troupe Aqualillies. Also, we deconstruct the Oscar race for Best Picture with John Horn and Kyle Buchanan from The Awards Show Show.

Writer-director Robert Eggers' impressive feature debut is about witches in colonial New England; after camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed on a film set, her parents became advocates for production safety; the play 'Placas' tells the story of a man who escapes one of the world's most brutal gangs.

David Javerbaum created @TheTweetOfGod, which led to the hit Broadway play, "An Act of God," currently starring Sean Hayes; faced with low ratings, ABC fires network chief Paul Lee; singer-songwriter M. Ward revisits his early years in the Conejo Valley on his new album.

The producer of the Record of the Year Grammy talks about what went into making the dance hit, "Uptown Funk"; France's Academy Awards entry for Foreign Language Film was actually shot in Turkey by a Turkish-born filmmaker; Edward Gero played Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in a show at Arena Stage.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Alejandro G. Iñárritu of "The Revenant" are among the filmmakers and actors on The Frame's annual Academy Awards preview. You'll also hear from Sylvester Stallone, Brie Larson, Bryan Cranston and many others.

Sylvester Stallone turned down the part of an ailing Rocky Balboa in "Creed" twice before agreeing to do it-- with the help of an acting coach. Now he's nominated for an Oscar. Grammy nominated musician Lianne La Havas finds inspiration in Jamaica. How only Kanye West could pack Madison Square Garden while playing an album off his laptop.

From Stephen Colbert's late-night foray to Kim Jeong's new sitcom, we recap the news from the Television Critics Association press tour; Thundercat breaks down his song "Them Changes" in the latest Song Exploder podcast; Cheating death and finding love while making the documentary 'Meru'. The Log Lady is ready for the new "Twin Peaks."

F. Gary Gray dealt with drama both on and off set to get his vision right for "Straight Outta Compton"; comedian Jen Kirkman takes us backstage at Outside Lands Fest; it's got an Emmy nomination but what the hell is Acorn TV?

The new Broad Museum is getting ready for its close-up. We get a sneak peek at the work it takes to curate and install hundreds of piece of art; The spectacular demise of “Fantastic Four” offers a case study in what can go wrong when a studio rushes a film into production and clashes with its director; John Ridley and actor Richard Cabral on how life imitated art in the ABC series "American Crime."

The hip-hop producer hasn't released an album in 16 years, but he's back with a collection inspired by the movie, "Straight Outta Compton"; Roberto and Kim Benabib combine comedy with global conflict in HBO's “The Brink”; MuseIque makes orchestral music more accessible with eclectic programs.

Kacee Clanton is one of two performers who play rock icon Janis Joplin in a classic jukebox musical; Vice's content tends to skew male, so it's targeting women with a new online channel; Will Geer started producing theater in Topanga Canyon more than 60 years ago, and his family is keeping up the tradition.

Before he landed on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart was the host of several short-lived shows; a lifelong fascination with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" led to Salma Hayek turning the book into an animated film; composer Reinhold Heil provides the tense score for the Sundance Channel's "Deutschland 83"

British actress Bel Powley is decidedly American in "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"; the Eagle Rock Gospel Choir is not a church-based group, but they've got the spirit; LA's theater community mourns the passing of playwright Lynn Manning.

The musician (Meryl Streep) at the heart of screenwriter Diablo Cody's "Ricki and the Flash" represents the common female struggle to balance family and work; an electronic dance festival in L.A. County is marred by two suspected drug-related deaths; Jon Stewart has inspired a group of Iraqi comedians to create a "Daily Show"-like web series.

Bob Thiele leads The Forest Rangers, a band that was spawned by the "Sons of Anarchy" TV series; comedian Andy Kindler takes no prisoners when he gives his annual State of the Industry speech; a filmmaker is challenging the copyright claim to "Happy Birthday to You," which keeps the song out of many TV shows and movies.

When Marlon Brando died, he left hundreds of hours of himself on tape, which were culled for the documentary, "Listen to Me Marlon"; a 1965 gospel concert at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium was special not only for its stars, but also because it was recorded — a rarity for its day; NBC Universal will reportedly invest $250 million in BuzzFeed's growing digital empire.

Five finalists were chosen to develop pilot scripts for a TV series that calls for a female engineer protagonist; Summer can be a great time to watch TV, if you know where to look; the singer Little Boots was once signed to Atlantic Records, but she decided having her own label is a better fit.

A comedy writer has sued Conan O'Brien, claiming his show stole jokes that were first posted on Twitter; on "Song Exploder," Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie dissects "El Dorado"; director James Ponsoldt was initially skeptical that a book about being on tour with writer David Foster Wallace could be a movie.