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 actress is getting raves for her role in "Room" as a kidnap victim raising a son in captivity; Jeff Russo has gone from rock band guitarist to Emmy-nominated composer; Warner Bros.' big budget "Pan" opened badly, but the company's other divisions are performing well.

The actor/comedian is also a noted art collector and now he's curating a show of work by Canadian painter Lawren Harris; El Teatro Campesino collaborates with Center Theatre Group and Boyle Heights residents for a show at Grand Park; Jafar Panahi is banned from making films in his homeland, but that hasn't stopped him.

Julie Plec has "The Vampire Diaries" and "The Originals" on The CW Network, and she'll soon add a third show, albeit one that's fang-free; it's been two decades since the Scottish band Garbage and singer Shirley Manson burst on the scene; the EEOC is looking into hiring practices for women filmmakers.

Director Danny Boyle says tech titans like the late Apple founder have to be called into account; stage director Peter Sellars collaborated with novelist Toni Morrison on a re-imagining of "Othello"; the Church of Scientology continues its campaign against Gibney's documentary, "Going Clear."

Photographer Eilon Paz and editor Sheila Burgel collaborated on a book about obsessive vinyl fans; the L.A. Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela team up for a Beethoven marathon; can TiVo's new device make a dent in the market?

Scott directed the science fiction classics "Blade Runner" and "Alien," but he says "The Martian" is science fact; a hilarious encounter with Chinese-to-English translations inspired Hwang's play, "Chinglish"; the Chinese dissident artist Ai Wei Wei discovered listening devices in his Beijing studio.

The actor worked with filmmaker Cary Fukunaga and hundreds of non-professional actors to make "Beasts of No Nation;" Grantland's Andy Greenwald gives a status report on the new TV season; the Isango Ensemble transports Bizet's opera to a South Africa township.

Choreographer Twyla Tharp has kept her company and artistic vision going for 50 years with unflagging determination; after spending time in Ghana, ethnomusicologist Brian Shimkovitz scoured the continent and then launched the label, Awesome Tapes from Africa; author Salman Rushdie considers the literary merits of the rapper, Drake.

The actress' next role as a fighter for women's voting rights is in keeping with her activist profile in Hollywood; Kyle Eastwood has scored films for his dad, Clint, but he's made his own name as a jazz bassist and composer; saxophonist Phil Woods was a jazz great, but became known for his solo on a huge pop hit.

Deaf West Theatre's production of "Spring Awakening" started out in a small theater on L.A.'s Skid Row, and now it's on Broadway; Showtime's David Nevins kicks off our talks about the state of the TV industry; Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields deconstructs a song from the band's new album in a new installment of Song Exploder.

Mark Pellington has applied his distinct style to music videos, feature films and now NBC's "Blindspot," about a woman whose tattooed body holds clues to crimes; Trevor Powers records as Youth Lagoon and his new album chronicles some personal losses; How do TV networks choose among streaming services?

Performer Geoff Sobelle has turned the Kirk Douglas Theatre into a warehouse of boxed-up memories; Carolina Miranda of the L.A. Times on the trend toward mega-galleries in Los Angeles; Charlton Heston's family will auction three works by Andrew Wyeth that the actor collected.