The Frame

Musicians Inara George and Eleni Mandell host an occasional performance and conversation series with songwriters of all genres composing music around a common theme; is R. Kelly still getting paid?; TV composer Kurt Farquhar was once homeless.

The veteran R&B singer finds the soul in classics such as "It AIn't Me Babe" and "Mama, You Been On My Mind" on her latest album, "Things Have Changed"; Emma Thompson went public with her decision to pull out of a movie produced by the company that recently hired a disgraced former Pixar executive.

There were surprises ("Green Book"! Olivia Colman!) and some history was made (Hannah Beachler, Ruth Carter). John Horn recaps the show with film critic Claudia Puig and L.A. Times film reporter Jen Yamato.

John Horn and Rebecca Keegan of The Hollywood Reporter co-host the hour-long special, which features interviews with many nominees, including Glenn Close, Rami Malek, Spike Lee and Rachel Weisz.

Bo Burnham's script won a top award from the Writers Guild, but it wasn't nominated for an Oscar; there's now an algorithm that writes movie scripts; Anthony Wilson's album of songs and photographs.

Twenty years after its premiere, the musical based on E.L. Doctorow's novel gets an elaborate revival at the Pasadena Playhouse; unpacking the Jussie Smollett story; what to expect (and not to expect) at the Academy Awards this weekend.

The prolific photographer talks about the survey that chronicles 50 years of documenting pop culture and politics; Hollywood Reporter TV critic Daniel Fienberg on the state of television.

In 1993, Lorena Bobbitt became famous for cutting off her husband's penis, but a new Amazon docu-series reveals the more complicated story; how the Oscar-nominated sound editors of "First Man" conveyed the anxiety of space flight; the Hollywood guilds spread awards love.

Barry Jenkins talks about his adaptation of James Baldwin's novel, and composer Nicholas Britell explains and demonstrates how he created the film's score.

The singer/songwriter is part of country music royalty, but her politics are out of the Nashville mainstream; the documentary about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "RBG," is up for an Academy Award.

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.