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 Big Short” was originally to be released this year, but writer-director Adam McKay pushed it up and the result is five Oscar nominations; "Daily Show" Samantha Bee made a strong debut with her new late night show; with the primaries in full swing, which candidates are getting support from Hollywood?

The McFerrins recently performed their first-ever full concert together, and the father-and-son spoke about it after the show; Beyoncé surprised her fans with a new song and video that quickly dominated the cultural conversation; Big Freedia is the Big Easy's queen of bounce music.

After making three films with Joel and Ethan Coen, Josh Brolin says he still sometimes can't figure out their cryptic directing; the artists who installed a teahouse in Griffith Park last year are now transforming a downtown L.A. alley for one day; the Sundance Film Festival's commitment to inclusion has become a beacon for filmmakers such as Jason Lew.

The latest offbeat comedy from Jonathan Krisel is "Baskets," which stars Zach Galifianakis as a struggling clown; virtual reality projects had a huge presence at this year's Sundance Film Festival; "Kung Fu Panda 3" is the first big studio film to screen in English and a Chinese language in the U.S.

Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, creators of "The People v. O.J. Simpson," talk about finding new ways to tell the familiar story; Slate TV critic Willa Paskin on why viewers are ignoring Trevor Noah; Drake's use of "Hotline Bling" for a phone ad was inevitable.

Brian Oakes tells the story of his childhood friend who became a conflict journalist in "Jim: The James Foley Story"; Mark Mangini made a battle truck sound like a living beast in "Mad Max: Fury Road"; residents of Leimert Park and Montebello connect in "Through the Looking Glass."

Elba's trophy for best supporting actor in "Beasts of No Nation" rekindles debate over his Academy Award snub; James Schamus used to buy films at Sundance as the head of Focus Features, but this year he was there with his directorial debut.

It's a new chapter in U.S.-Chinese relations — cinematically speaking. “Kung Fu Panda 3” opened simultaneously here and in China, thanks to a partnership between DreamWorks and its partners there; writer-director Sian Heder's feature debut was inspired by her experiences as a nanny.

A powerful documentary about the aftermath of the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; Rihanna's new album had a surprise (or maybe not?) release this week; the L.A. Art Fair aims to be the nexus for art from the Pacific Rim.

Nate Parker spent seven years making "The Birth of a Nation," and his efforts paid off as the breakout hit at the Sundance Film Festival; prominent comedians take to the stage to benefit Bernie Sanders' campaign; Larry Klein's work with Joni Mitchell made him a go-to producer for a wide variety of singers.

The legendary R&B singer has a new album and an HBO documentary coming up, but don't expect this to be her swan song; a film about Nat Turner's slave rebellion has set a sales record at the Sundance Film Festival; actresses Alysia Reiner and Sarah Megan Thomas launched Broad Street to counter gender inequity in Hollywood.

With the top award from the Producers Guild, "The Big Short" is now frontrunner for the best picture Oscar. We chat with producers Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner; a Motion Picture Academy officer admits that the organization has been too slow to change; the band Foals has gone from playing house parties to arenas.