The Frame

A new report by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA says movies and TV shows with diverse casts (such as "Empire," pictured) make good financial sense; Song Exploder breaks down the theme song for "House of Cards"; a new stage production at CalTech takes "Alice Through the Wormhole."

How did Amy Poehler's sitcom (pictured) survive seven seasons of average ratings?; Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, returns to his musical roots with "Archive Series Volume Number One"; Wes Anderson's Oscar-winning film is the subject of a new book; the L.A. Philharmonic stages a multimedia production of "Alice in Wonderland."

Sam Beam -- better known by his stage name Iron and Wine -- started writing stripped down folk songs more than a decade ago in his bedroom in Miami, Florida. After experimenting with Jazz, R&B and Pop, he returns to his quiet folk music roots with “Archive Series Volume No. 1.” Iron and Wine performs a live-set of songs new and old for The Frame. Set List: "Everyone’s Summer of ’95” “Two Hungry Blackbirds” “Low Light Buddy of Mine” Our interview with Beam and more here: http://www.scpr.org/programs/the-frame/2015/02/20/41644/iron-wine-performs-songs-from-archive-series-volum/ Video produced by Zach Stamey, James Kim and Maya Sugarman.

A special edition of The Frame examines Hollywood's diversity challenge with screenwriter José Rivera, producer Effie Brown and Frank Leonard, CEO of the The Black List screenplay project.

Many of the winners of the 87th Academy Awards joined us on The Frame to talk about their work. Hear from Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, Best Adapted Screenplay winner Graham Moore (pictured), Best Actress Julianne Moore and ... more!

“Comedy Bang Bang” host Scott Aukerman (far right, with sidekick Reggie Watts) loves and laughs at late-night talk shows; How the "Interstellar" sound editor created the sound of gravity; The indie film crowd gets raucous at the Independent Spirit Awards; How "Hero" by Family of the Year became the unofficial theme song of “Boyhood."

Photographer Sandro Miller talks about how he recreated some of the world’s most famous portraits with actor John Malkovich (pictured) as his muse; Kate Burton and Jason Robards talk about being second-generation actors; The sound designer from "Birdman" breaks down a scene from the film.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail have another stage hit with their hip-hop musical, "Hamilton" (pictured); How the sound editors for "Unbroken" created a pivotal scene for the movie; Thomas Lennon plays Felix Unger in CBS' remake of "The Odd Couple."

Jason Blum made his name producing successful, low-budget horror films, but he could get an Oscar as part of the producing team for "Boyhood" (pictured); the Sundance Institute pairs composers and filmmakers at Skywalker Ranch; Simon Rich's "Man Seeking Woman" is one of the most bizarre sitcoms on TV.

Our interviews with the best actors, best directors and more ahead of the Academy Awards. Hear from Wes Anderson, Alejandro Iñárritu (far right, with Michael Keaton), Richard Linklater, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne, Reese Witherspoon and more.

The director's new film continues his focus on characters struggling to come to terms with themselves; why are 1930s-era murals in San Francisco causing a fuss today?; revisiting our chat with Emmy-nominee Samantha Bee.

His father is Bobby McFerrin and he has a brother and sister who also are singers. Taylor has been making music for some time now, but he's never sung on an album — until now; gay characters are featured on a telenovela for the first time; the story behind "Blinded by the Light."

An Associated Press exposé details decades of alleged sexual harassment by the renown opera singer and conductor; the documentary “Cold Case Hammarskjöld” turned into a whodunnit; how did a little-known L.A. band end up opening for The Rolling Stones?

One of the few major music festivals in the U.S. that is not organized by a giant company, Outside Lands took over Golden Gate Park this weekend; Universal Pictures scraps "The Hunt," an R-rated satire in which elites hunt "deplorables" for sport.

In "Escape At Dannemora," director Ben Stiller goes inside a prison to tell the story of the inmates who broke out; comedian and SNL writer Julio Torres prefers humor about ordinary objects to politics; Geena Davis hopes her research institute and a new documentary will convince Hollywood the value of creating film and TV with a diverse cast of women and girls.

The offbeat comedian talks about his path from immigrant to "SNL" writer to star of an HBO stand-up special; Rolling Stone writer Elias Leight on the continuing practice of payola in the radio industry; an episode of Song Exploder with Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney.

Geena Davis is executive producer of the new documentary that explores the status of women in the film industry; David Rubin, the newly-elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; rock musician Ty Segall.

Nanfu Wang's documentary is a personal look at China’s former one child policy, which continues to reverberate there; The Emmy Awards will go without a host; on the 20th anniversary of "Eyes Wide Shut," a look at how its composer was chosen.

The wrongly-convicted former athlete and director Tom Shadyac discuss the path to making the movie; we revisit the documentary, "Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am," following her death; Bruce Lee's family is unhappy about his depiction in "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood."

Barak Goodman's documentary, “Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation,” asks: Why did 400,000 young people trek across the country for a festival in the middle of nowhere?; music historian Andy Zax helped restore every Woodstock performance for a 38-disc boxed set; filmmaker Sam Jones on the influence of documentary director D.A. Pennebaker.

Today's show: The creators of "Sherman's Showcase" discuss the comedy and music in their sketch show. We discuss the portrayal of Bruce Lee in Tarantino's new film. Why Patricia Arquette wanted to co-star in "Otherhood." Then Indie duo The Bird and The Bee make a tribute album of Van Halen covers.

Actress Patricia Arquette, writer/director Cindy Chupack and producer Cathy Schulman talk about their new film and how middle-aged women are portrayed in Hollywood; has hip-hop reached a turning point in its inclusivity of black, gay artists?