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.

Playwright Heidi Schreck and actress Maria Dizzia on how the nation’s most treasured document connects with violence against women; can the best picture win for "Parasite" be attributed to the Motion Picture Academy's diversification efforts?

Conversations with Oscar nominees and stories about how the most loved films of the year came to be; interviews with actors Renee Zellwegger, Cynthia Erivo, and Adam Driver and filmmakers Greta Gerwig, Taika Waititi and Bong-Joon Ho among others.

The actress, who stars in the film, talks about her personal connection to the story about mental illness with director Jeff Baena; how much has the Motion Picture Academy membership actually changed?; the L.A. post-punk band, French Vanilla.

The singer-songwriter wrote and recorded the album, "The Gospel of Water," after being diagnosed with cancer; Jeff Kanew talks about directing Kirk Douglas in the actor's one-man stage show; a campaign for the DGA to improve its parental leave policy.

The filmmaker's first feature has won her a prize from the Directors Guild and a nomination for the Independent Spirit Awards; The Lucas Museum has acquired a prominent collection of ephemera related to African American film history.

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho talks about his surprise hit, which has six Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture; Disney takes full control of Hulu; "JoJo Rabbit" costume designer Mayes Rubio.

The former Police frontman is front and center in a musical that's set in his hometown; Hollywood's awards season is nearing its conclusion; WWI through the ears of the Oscar-nominated sound team behind “1917.”

"The Good Place" has been one of the few broadcast network breakout hits in recent years. With the series ending tonight, we revisit our interviews with series creator Michael Schur, writer Jen Statsky, and cast member D’Arcy Carden.

The writer/director has an Academy Award nomination for her adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott classic; photographer Thomas Kiefer turns border detritus into art.

The veteran animator talks about collaborating with the NBA legend on their Academy Award-winning short animated film; Carlos Lopez Estrada's "Summertime" is a collaboration with 25 spoken word poets; the Oscar-nominated production design for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

The film festival presented the premiere of "Hillary," a four-part series coming to Hulu in March; filmmaker Gotham Chopra talks about his 2015 documentary, “Kobe Bryant’s Muse.”