The Frame

Young Jean Lee's play, "Straight White Men," is an examination of privilege that provokes and challenges audiences; movie theater owners are getting creative about selling "Star Wars" merchandise and concessions; Lorely Rodriguez, aka Empress Of, is getting raves for her debut album.

Spike Lee's latest provocation likens the level of gun violence in Chicago to a war zone; Rooney Mara's performance in "Carol" adds to her already impressive list of credits; the beloved "Charlie Brown" holiday special, now in its 50th year, wasn't originally embraced by network executives.

Eddie Redmayne, last year’s best actor Oscar winner for “The Theory of Everything,” talks about portraying a trans-woman in “The Danish Girl”; Latin Grammy-winner Natalia Lafourcade deconstructs her song, “Hasta La Raíz”; This year's Independent Spirit Award winners will likely differ a lot from the Oscars.

As producer of the "Hunger Games" movies and a former studio executive, Nina Jacobson has a platform to demand gender equality in Hollywood; Pixar president Ed Catmull has helped build the studio into the empire it is today.

Ryan Coogler grew up watching the "Rocky" movies, and now he's director and co-writer of the spin-off, "Creed"; How "Toy Story" saved a struggling special effects firm called Pixar; "The Hunting Ground" inspires the question: can journalism and advocacy co-exist in documentaries?

Todd Haynes has directed several films with women as protagonists and his latest is “Carol,” which stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara; MADtv debuted 20 years ago and managed to stay on the air for 14 seasons; a club owner considers L.A. nightlife after the Paris attacks.

Series creator Kurt Sutter is disappointed but not bitter about the cancellation of "The Bastard Executioner"; it's been 20 years since MADtv set out to be the west coast version of "Saturday Night Live"; "The Hunting Ground" examines sexual assaults on college campuses.

Writer-producer John McNamara and director Jay Roach talk about the struggle to make "Trumbo," about the 1940s Hollywood blacklist victim; Nancy Tartaglione, international editor for Deadline.com, on the importance of cinema in France; Rashard Bradshaw, aka Cakes da Killa, is a loud and proud gay rapper.

The Marvel comics character Jessica Jones has a dark backstory, which is what inspired producer Melissa Rosenberg to create a TV series about her; in the documentary "Song of Lahore," a group of Pakistani musicians use a jazz standard and You Tube to find a global audience; Pandora will enter the on-demand music streaming business.

After taping an episode in Cuba earlier this year, Conan O'Brien travels to Armenia with his assistant, who gets to visit her family's homeland; the terrorist attacks in Paris have caused two networks to postpone sensitive episodes, and several bands have canceled European dates.

The writer-director's latest is the Netflix film, "The Land of Steady Habits"; actors and characters from Middle Eastern and North African countries continue to fight stereotypes; the experimental R&B musician Tirzah stirs up a quiet storm.

Michel Gondry directed Carrey in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and now they reunite for an offbeat Showtime series; Ethan Hawke dons his directing hat for "Blaze," a biopic about C&W singer Blaze Foley; in the wake of the CBS/Les Moonves mess.

The actress was honored at the Telluride Film Festival where her new film, "The Favourite," had its North American debut; speaking of film festivals: it's that time of the year for Hollywood; among the Emmy nominees for best original song is a Queen parody from the Netflix series, "Big Mouth."

Orson Welles didn't finish "The Other Side of the Wind" before he died and Neville chronicles that saga in "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead"; there won't be a Most Popular Movie award at the 2019 Oscars; the U.S. Justice Dept. charges a North Korean spy in the hack of Sony Pictures.

The Emmy-nominated actress is looking forward to season five of the series, despite the departure of creator Kenya Barris; climate change and how Californians are responding is at the core of the play, "Hole in the Sky."

The Oscar-winning actor stars in the true story of teenaged drug dealer (and FBI informant) sentenced to life in prison; the history of the abortion debate is chronicled in the documentary, "Reversing Roe."

The entire show is dedicated to coverage of Aretha Franklin’s memorial service, which was held today in Detroit. Dignitaries and prominent artists included Smokey Robinson and gospel legend Shirley Caeser.

The small festival in the Colorado resort town has a reputation for launching best picture hopefuls and winners; veteran British singer, songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson is back with a new album; in this era of "peak TV," what's it like to watch television the old-fashioned way?

After the 2016 Presidential election, the singer/songwriter took a cross-country train trip and then wrote a song cycle of character sketches and personal reflections; Taylor Swift's recording contract is about to expire, giving her a world of options; Boots Riley's "Sorry to Bother You" is one of the year's biggest critical hits.

Director Chris Weitz's film 'Operation Finale' tells the amazing story of the capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann; fans begin to pay their respects to the Aretha Franklin at the Museum of African American History in Detroit; and Cuban jazz pianist Dayramir Gonzalez is a rising star.

Breaking down the scene between Michelle Yeoh and her would be daughter-in-law, Constance Wu; documentary filmmaker Steve James spent a year inside a Chicago high school for the series, “America to Me”; remembering playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon, who died at the age of 91.

The former "Gilmore Girls" co-star has an Emmy nomination for her role in the dystopian world of "The Handmaid's Tale"; Harvey Weinstein's legal woes seem to be mounting; Aneesh Chaganty, director and co-writer of the film, "Searching," has created a hyper-modern day thriller.