The Frame

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.

Los Lobos' Louie Pérez offers insights into the band's new album, "Gates of Gold"; Margaret Cho has become a role model for a new generation of Asian-American comedians; J.A. Micheline is glad Ta-Nehisi Coates will write some Black Panther comic books, but she says the industry has more work to do regarding diversity.

Playwright Rolin Jones reimagines Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," setting it in London's swingin' 1960s; Prince and the publishing house claiming a copyright to "Happy Birthday to You" both lose in court; Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre moves its soap opera dance-drama around L.A.

Box office hits such as "Bridesmaids" are being cited as part of an effort to push for more movies and TV shows by, for and about women; The Budos Band makes do as a part-time group; The new TV season is chock-full of new shows that were once feature films.

Emily Mortimer, Dolly Wells and their husbands and kids star in HBO's "Dolly & Em," but it's not about them; Diversity and gender equity were top of mind at the Emmy Awards; The Toronto International Film Festival supplied its annual dose of Oscar buzz.

The veteran actor talks about playing the attorney who was both loved and loathed as he turned Simpson’s murder trial into a debate on race in America.

Actor Cliff Curtis is familiar to TV audiences from “Fear the Walking Dead,” but in the new film “The Dark Horse" he transforms himself to play a toothless, bipolar chess genius. Miles Davis’ son and nephew recount how Don Cheadle’s biopic of the late trumpeter, "Miles Ahead" came to be. Virtual Reality is now a reality for consumers, we test drive some content made by Wevr.

Irish actress Lisa Dwan goes solo for a trilogy of works by her homeland's great playwright, Samuel Beckett; the band Songhoy Blues perseveres after extremists took over Mali; bad reviews didn't deter moviegoers who came out in droves for the superhero action film.

Garry Shandling's death has resulted in an outpouring of fond memories, including from former "Larry Sanders" writer Maya Forbes and filmmaker Mark Duplass; Daniel Clowes' new book, "Patience," is described as a "time-travel love story."

Playwright-turned-TV writer Jessica Goldberg explores a religious cult in "The Path"; comedian Garry Shandling dies at the age of 66; studios threaten to leave Georgia if its governor signs a bill that is considered anti-gay; the music from "Star Trek" is featured in a concert tour.

Ethan Hawke plays jazz singer and trumpeter Chet Baker in the biopic, "Born to Be Blue"; Lyle Workman added Latin sounds to the score for the set-in-L.A. Netflix series, "Love"; rapper Phife Dawg was a key member of A Tribe Called Quest.

Charles Roven was a producer on Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy and now he’s working with Zack Snyder on “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice”; Jesse Eisenberg on playing Lex Luthor; Rostam Batmanglij leaves Vampire Weekend for a solo career.

Producer DeVon Franklin's "Miracles from Heaven" is a new style of faith-based film; Aofie O'Donovan's latest album was inspired by childhood trips to visit her family in Ireland; there's a high failure rate for for film festivals as they struggle to find a place in the crowded marketplace.

"Midnight Special" filmmaker Jeff Nichols shares how being a father of a young son influenced his new movie and why his next film is about the Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia. The UK trio Haelos won the music industry lottery when it got into the Coachella Music Festival. How are changes in the TV biz impacting pilot season?

Co-creator and star Jerrod Carmichael tells The Frame why the NBC comedy "The Carmichael Show" tackles social issues like sexual identity and the Bill Cosby controversy; The Police's drummer Stewart Copeland gets the 1925 silent film "Ben-Hur" out of cold storage to write its score; Teenage classical music students learn to improvise.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences makes changes to its board in an effort to diversify. We talk with two members of the Academy about what's to come. Then composer Laura Karpman talks about her Grammy-winning composition "Ask Your Mama" and how she's working to get more women into the scoring stage.

Producer Janet Yang (The Joy Luck Club, The People v. Larry Flynt) was among the Asian American professionals in Hollywood who sent a letter to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences protesting offensive jokes told at the Oscars. Touring LACMA'S Mapplethorpe exhibit and finding unexpected art. We meet a young African American filmmaker undeterred by Hollywood's diversity problem.