The Frame

The Irish actress plays a Scottish singer trying to make it big in Nashville in what she hopes is her breakout movie role; is "Men in Black: International" the latest proof that audiences are suffering from sequel fatigue?; the Cuban singer known as Cimafunk draws comparisons to James Brown.

Bryan Cranston wins a Tony; Eleni Mandell makes music with prisoners; playwright Lucas Hnath tells brings the true story of his mother's kidnapping to stage. Also, a top film critic wants Hollywood to bring back sex scenes of yore and best friends made a love letter to their city with the film "The Last Black Man in San Francisco."

The legendary singer-songwriter's 1975 tour is revisited in a new documentary by Martin Scorsese; the cultural week-in-review with L.A. Times TV critic Lorraine Ali; the new surf film, "Self-Discovery for Social Survival.”

After a Broadway run, her play about a 1920s obscenity trial comes to Los Angeles; the annual E3 convention draws to a close with plenty of news from the gaming world; the band Making Movies got a boost on its latest album from Ruben Blades.

The singer-songwriter's latest album, "Wake Up Again," was inspired by teaching songwriting at a women’s prison in Southern California; Washington Post movie critic Ann Hornaday wonders why American movies shy away from sex scenes; media critic and feminist Anita Sarkeesian on sexist and misogynist depictions in video games.

A new docu-drama by Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce explores the car designer's turbulent career and flamboyant life; YouTube’s struggle to dealing with hateful and harmful content; 'Baskets' returns for its fourth season.

The film is loosely based on the story of actor Jimmie Fails. He once lived with his friend Joe Talbot, who would eventually direct and co-write the film; re-capping the Tony Awards, and revisiting our interview with Bryan Cranston, who won Best Leading Actor in a Play.

Emma Thompson talks about her new movie "Late Night." Neil Gaiman adapts his novel "Good Omens" into an Amazon series. Plus, we meet up with Mexico guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela in a Los Angeles guitar shop. All that, and more, on this debut episode of The Frame Weekend.

Barak Goodman's new documentary looks at the many challenges the festival's promoters encountered as they planned and produced the event that helped define a generation.

The acclaimed playwright fashioned a show from interviews his mother conducted that recount her five-month abduction in 1997.

Fox Searchlight invested a lot in "The Birth of a Nation," but now an old rape case against filmmaker Nate Parker has re-surfaced; Laika Studios CEO Travis Knight makes his directing debut with "Kubo"; pianist and composer Manuel Lima is spending 10 days inside a cube on the Sunset Strip.

The acclaimed cellist's interests in world music and education cross paths in The Silk Road Ensemble; a former policeman who's appeared multiple times on "COPS" says scripted TV has created unreasonable expectations for officers.

We continue our series on how police are depicted on TV with the creators of “COPS,” the longest-running reality show in TV history. Creator John Langley tells us about the show’s genesis and why it continues to be so popular; the Latino Comics Expo is unofficially known as the “Latino Comic-Con"; Comedy Central says Larry Wilmore's show failed to gain traction with viewers.

From refugee athletes to individual profiles, Olympics mini-docs are a big part of the broadcast and have been since the 1970s. NBC Sports' Jimmy Roberts joins us from Rio where he's reporting on his 16th Olympics; Part 2 of our look inside the Sundance Directors Lab, where eight budding filmmakers are encouraged to take risks and seize the opportunity of a lifetime.

We visit the Sundance Director's Lab where Robert Redford and a group of industry pros mentor up and coming filmmakers. Variety's chief TV critic Maureen Ryan breaks down the CBS news coming out of the Television Critics Association press tour; Colburn Conservatory of Music graduates endure stressful mock auditions to prepare for the real thing.

Actress Taraji P. Henson opens up about the career path that led her to her Emmy-nominated role of Cookie Lyon on the hit Fox show, "Empire"; amid the bad reviews for "Suicide Squad," we look at the unsustainable — but enduring — Hollywood business model of taking big swings at expensive movies in hopes of finding a franchise.

In our #CopsOnTV series, writer-producer Cheo Hodari Coker reveals what he learned about the LAPD while producing the police drama, "Southland," and how that connected with his experiences as a black man; the bad news/good news of NBC's Olympic ecosystem: broadcast viewership is down, but online streaming is booming.

In the first of a continuing series of conversations, former "Law & Order: SVU" executive producer Neal Baer says studios and networks want police to be depicted as heroes; how soon will virtual reality become a big thing in entertainment?

Stuntwoman and "American Ninja Warrior" contestant Jessie Graff teaches host John Horn some tricks of her trade; the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics has become a job for film directors; Aubrey Plaza's amateur basketball team, the Pistol Shrimps, has quite the following.

The comic actress' star-turn in "Ghostbusters" and another Emmy nod for "SNL" have her primed for bigger things; fans of the kids' show 'Doc McStuffins' are worried about the future of one of the few kids' shows with a black lead character; DanceSafe provides education and and even drug-testing at raves, but its hands are tied by a federal law.

Artist and animator Jorge Gutiérrez discusses the creative inspirations of the U.S.-Mexico border and the painting spree that led to his gallery show; HBO, Netflix and NBC face the press at the Television Critics Association; screenwriter, producer and former studio chief James Schamus makes his directorial debut with "Indignation."

Director Marc Osborne didn't want to make a straight-ahead adaptation of "The Little Prince," so he came up with a novel approach; "Equity" is the rare movie about Wall Street that stars and is made by women; Claire Boucher, aka Grimes, dissects her song, “Kill V. Maim.”