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.

With her new film, "Disobedience," Rachel Weisz found something she had been seeking but couldn't find: a story with two female leads; former comedian and TV host Byron Allen has quietly built a company with interests in both film and television.

Movie theater owners look beyond popcorn to find new concessions at CinemaCon; Chicano photographer George Rodriguez captures two very different L.A.'s over a 50-year period; CalArts celebrates world music with its own salsa band.

Andrew Form and Bradley Fuller, producers of the hit horror movie, "A Quiet Place," talk about the film's surprising box office success; movie studios at CinemaCon tout sequels, more sequels, and a Tarantino movie; meet poet and singer-songwriter Jamila Woods.

Married comedians Natasha Leggero and Moshe Kasher turned their honeymoon into a comedy tour a three-part series for Netflix; Harry Potter mania arrives on Broadway with the opening of the two-part play, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”

Former "Daily Show" correspondent Wyatt Cenac has a new, weekly HBO show that examines pressing social issues; movie theater owners are trying to fight the popularity of streaming services; Hasan Minhaj's "Homecoming King" wins a Peabody Award.

Prince died two years ago without leaving behind a will and now his estate is in disarray. Washington Post reporter Karen Heller fills us in on where things stand with Prince’s estate; In the podcast “Dear Franklin Jones,” producer Jonathan Hirsch revisits his childhood and how it was dominated by his parents’ guru; A play by Tim Robbins' Actors’ Gang forces audience members to ask themselves if America is still a welcome place for immigrants.

With Earth Day approaching, "FernGully" director Bill Kroyer and KPCC environment reporter Emily Guerin talk about the 1992 film's impact; Barry Avrich made a second documentary about Harvey Weinstein after a struggle with the mogul thwarted his first.

How director Joshua Marston and screenwriter Marcus Hinchey made "Come Sunday"– a movie about a Pentecostal bishop's spiritual epiphany first documented by This American Life; could MoviePass be the next film industry disruptor?; Moses Sumney dissects his song, "Quarrel."

Queen Bey's performance at Coachella set a new standard; The HBO documentary "I Am Evidence" examines the backlog of untested rape kits around the country; Kendrick Lamar is the first winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music who is not a classical or jazz artist.

Zhao takes stories and events from her untrained actors’ real lives and writes them into a fictionalized script; Hari Kondabolu’s documentary, “The Problem with Apu,” gets a response from "The Simpsons"; “Will & Grace” and “Roseanne” are hits again, but how strong is the appetite for reunion shows?

"Still Dreaming" follows a group of retired actors who mount a Shakespeare play; Netflix pulls its movies from the Cannes Film Festival in a disagreement over screening policy; composer and producer Gustavo Santaolalla returns to the concert stage.

Al Madrigal, who got his break from Mitzi Shore at The Comedy Store, pays tribute to the late patron; actor Michael K. Williams digs into the juvenile justice system; Canadian singer & songwriter Lindi Ortega on her new album, "Liberty."