The Frame

Bob Thiele leads The Forest Rangers, a band that was spawned by the "Sons of Anarchy" TV series; comedian Andy Kindler takes no prisoners when he gives his annual State of the Industry speech; a filmmaker is challenging the copyright claim to "Happy Birthday to You," which keeps the song out of many TV shows and movies.

When Marlon Brando died, he left hundreds of hours of himself on tape, which were culled for the documentary, "Listen to Me Marlon"; a 1965 gospel concert at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium was special not only for its stars, but also because it was recorded — a rarity for its day; NBC Universal will reportedly invest $250 million in BuzzFeed's growing digital empire.

Five finalists were chosen to develop pilot scripts for a TV series that calls for a female engineer protagonist; Summer can be a great time to watch TV, if you know where to look; the singer Little Boots was once signed to Atlantic Records, but she decided having her own label is a better fit.

A comedy writer has sued Conan O'Brien, claiming his show stole jokes that were first posted on Twitter; on "Song Exploder," Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie dissects "El Dorado"; director James Ponsoldt was initially skeptical that a book about being on tour with writer David Foster Wallace could be a movie.

The Beijing-based Wanda Group financed "Southpaw," just the latest example of Chinese investments in Hollywood; The Next MacGyver contest hopes to encourage women engineers with the promise of a TV pilot; Juilliard-trained Brad Segal has become the go-to composer for reality shows.

The British actor reunites with director Bill Condon to play a 93-year-old version of Sherlock Holmes in "Mr. Holmes" (pictured); Chinese authorities have returned the passport of dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who had been unable to leave the country since 2011; the makers of the documentary about crowd-funding, "Capital C," financed their film through a crowd-funding campaign.

Noted muralist Kent Twitchell (pictured) has created a new work for the Special Olympics; playwright Todd Almond was inspired by Matthew Sweet's 1991 album, "Girlfriend," for his musical about growing up gay; the Teragram Ballroom tries to carve out a niche on the local live music landscape.

Kurt Sutter has been writing film scripts while working on demanding TV shows, and now his first feature, "Southpaw" (pictured), is being released; the singer Miguel talks about growing up mixed-race in his beloved L.A.; the box office for "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" and "Dope" hasn't measured up to their indie darling hype.

A landmark album from 1966 (pictured) pairing the singer and bandleader is revisited as part of a Sinatra tribute at the Hollywood Bowl; YouTube is betting that audiences will pay for a commercial-free service; Camp Reel Stories is a summer camp designed to introduce teenaged girls to filmmaking.

Lisa Hanawalt's lifelong equine obsession pays off in her role as production designer for the animated series, "BoJack Horseman" (pictured); with embassies re-opening in Washington and Havana, cultural exchange could be on the upswing; costume designers for superhero movies take comic book drawings and turn them into flashy but practical outfits.

Despite an ongoing dispute between The Recording Academy and its recently-ousted CEO, the show will go on, so we’ll spotlight a wide range of nominees and celebrate the music they make.

The festival's opening night featured a film about a 1970s camp for disabled teens, some of whom became activists in the disability-rights movement; the Grammys' problem du jour; the Academy Award-nominated documentary, "For Sama."

John Horn is off to the film festival, where the schedule includes a documentary about Hillary Clinton and a feature film, "The Assistant," largely inspired by stories of working for Harvey Weinstein; Jonathan Pryce, Academy Award best actor nominee for "The Two Popes," talks about portraying Pope Francis.

The actress and writer heads for the Sundance Film Festival with a TV project that is partially inspired by her Iranian immigrant family; opening arguments take place today in Harvey Weinstein's trial; the controversy shrouding the Grammy Awards continues to evolve.

The former R.E.M. frontman retreated from music after the band split up in 2011, but he's back with two new songs; wrapping up the Television Critics Assn. winter tour, which previewed what's coming up from networks, cable channels and streaming services.

Michael Stipe has two new solo singles; Victoria Mahoney is the first woman and first person of color behind a camera on a "Star Wars" movie, Mary Steenburgen turns a bizarre brain phenomenon into a music career; "American Factory" gets an Oscar nomination; Franklin Leonard makes an alt Oscar ballot.

An exhibition at New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage attempts to fight growing ignorance about the Holocaust; turmoil at the Grammy organization; a new fund aims to improve equity and inclusion in film and TV.

The prolific author examines his craft in “Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different"; J. Clara Chan of The Wrap reports from the Harvey Weinstein trial; the satirical comedy group Culture Clash takes on a Baroque opera;

Justin Levine, music supervisor for the Broadway adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film, talks about adapting recent pop songs for the period musical; The Lucas Museum has acquired a prominent collection of ephemera related to African American film history; Mary Steenburgen's sudden and odd songwriting career.

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns on how she and director Sam Mendes penned the script knowing the film would be shot as if it was one continuous take; an alternate history of this year's Oscar nominations; multimedia artist Miwa Matreyek takes her environmental activism to the stage.

The Academy Award nominations include only one non-white artist among the 20 nominees in the acting categories. And women are again shut out in the directing category.

Jon Batiste reveals how he and Stephen Colbert first bonded; Zahra Noorbakhsh, a proud "feminist, Muslim, Iranian-American comedian" uses her voice more than ever; Cristela Alonzo reflects on her life in a new memoir; meet the man behind the Daptone sound and more...