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.

Los Lobos' Louie Pérez offers insights into the band's new album, "Gates of Gold"; Margaret Cho has become a role model for a new generation of Asian-American comedians; J.A. Micheline is glad Ta-Nehisi Coates will write some Black Panther comic books, but she says the industry has more work to do regarding diversity.

Playwright Rolin Jones reimagines Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," setting it in London's swingin' 1960s; Prince and the publishing house claiming a copyright to "Happy Birthday to You" both lose in court; Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre moves its soap opera dance-drama around L.A.

Box office hits such as "Bridesmaids" are being cited as part of an effort to push for more movies and TV shows by, for and about women; The Budos Band makes do as a part-time group; The new TV season is chock-full of new shows that were once feature films.

Emily Mortimer, Dolly Wells and their husbands and kids star in HBO's "Dolly & Em," but it's not about them; Diversity and gender equity were top of mind at the Emmy Awards; The Toronto International Film Festival supplied its annual dose of Oscar buzz.

How director Denis Villeneuve created the suspense of 'Sicario' and why he's remaking 'Blade Runner'; The Broad is about to open its doors and art critics are critical; Harry Nilsson fans lobby the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Go inside The Broad museum's galleries, art storage and hidden corners with the Chief Curator as our guide; What we watch when we watch the Emmys; The LA Phil has turned itself and its conductor Gustavo Dudamel into a roving virtual reality experience.

Working in Visitor Services at the new museum means being part-concierge, part-docent, and part-guard; Director Scott Walker and actor Joel Edgerton were challenged in making the Bulger story, "Black Mass"; ABC News partners with the virtual reality company Jaunt to make VR more accessible.

As creator of the TV series "Transparent," Jill Soloway is a rarity, according to a new report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film; Joe Adalian of Vulture.com handicaps the new TV season; Jay Duplass went from being a reluctant actor to a vey happy one.

Film composer Atticus Ross took Brian Wilson's music and created sound collages for the score to "Love and Mercy"; the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has settled differences with a neighborhood group over the new facility planned for Wilshire and Fairfax; for composer Derrick Spiva, music is all about movement.

Author Emma Donoghue adapted her best-selling novel into a screenplay about a mother and son being held captive; National Geographic Society CEO Gary Knell says it will maintain its mission even though 21st Century Fox now owns a controlling interest; The Toronto International Film Festival is huge, and hugely influential.

The actor plays a homeless man in the new feature film, "Time Out of Mind," which he also produced; Aretha Franklin's objection to the screening of the documentary "Amazing Grace" has now affected the Toronto and Chicago film festivals; In our latest installment of "Song Exploder," Hrishikesh Hirway breaks down "Feeling OK" with the band Best Coast.