The Frame

With rock 'n' roll bands no longer headlining top music festivals, is the genre finally dead?; what to expect from this year's Cannes festival; comedic actor Drew Droege came to L.A. with glamorous dreams of making it in Hollywood, only to find success with a viral video.

Writer Tanya Saracho talks about her arc in the TV business — from being a "diversity hire" on "Devious Maids" to creating her own show "Vida" about two Latinx sisters who move back home after their mother's death; and Goldenvoice, the concert promoter of FYF Fest has canceled this year's festival because of low ticket sales. Is it a case of festival fatigue or something else?

Jim DeRogatis has been reporting on allegations of sexual abuse against R. Kelly for nearly two decades including a new report in Buzzfeed today – why this singer may be finally facing his #metoo moment; and as costume designer for "The Crown," Jane Petrie discusses the pressure to get the look of the royal family just right.

A new exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Arts Center celebrates the life and work of composer Leonard Bernstein; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences votes to expel Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski; and Memphis-based author and filmmaker Robert Gordon captures the grit of his hometown's music in his new book “Memphis Rent Party.”

Actor Martin Freeman goes from 'The Office,' to 'Black Panther,' into two small-scale horror films; Billionaire businessman Wang Jailin of the Dalian Wanda Group hoped that Hollywood studios would see China as a location for making movies, but the Wall Street Journal reveals that’s not happening; We go inside the new production called, “theater is a blank space,” which takes you from Powell Library to the rafters of UCLA’s Royce Hall, literally.

"Mean Girls” and “SpongeBob” led this year’s Tony nominations with 12 picks each. New York Times theater reporter Michael Paulson helped break down the nominations for us; We talk with 'RBG' co-director Betsy West about convincing Justice Ginsburg to give them access to her life; “Spongebob Squarepants the Musical” snagged 12 Tony nominations today, including the top prize, best musical. We talk with playwright Kyle Jarrow.

The screenwriters of "Avengers: Infinity War" explain how the sitcom "Frasier" influenced the film; the Hulu documentary “Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie” shows how executives at Mattel went about changing the body shape of their iconic and controversial doll.

Alia Shawkat co-wrote and stars in “Duck Butter," a movie about two women who spend 24 hours doing nothing but being with each other and having sex; San Francisco's Grace Cathedral holds a Beyoncé-themed service; YouTube struggles to clean up its act.

With her new film, "Disobedience," Rachel Weisz found something she had been seeking but couldn't find: a story with two female leads; former comedian and TV host Byron Allen has quietly built a company with interests in both film and television.

Movie theater owners look beyond popcorn to find new concessions at CinemaCon; Chicano photographer George Rodriguez captures two very different L.A.'s over a 50-year period; CalArts celebrates world music with its own salsa band.

Writer/director David O. Russell has completed a trifecta with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in his latest film, "Joy"; the Producers Guild and the Writers Guild have announced their award nominees, one week before the Motion Picture Academy does the same; there really is a company called Central Casting that's been casting extras for 90 years.

Sarah Silverman's career took a serious turn when she took on the lead role in "I Smile Back," and now she's getting award buzz; Phyllis Nagy worked for 18 years to adapt a Patricia Highsmith novel for the movie, "Carol"; composer and conductor Pierre Boulez had a long connection to the Ojai Music Festival.

Diane Warren's latest success is “Til It Happens to You,” which Lady Gaga performed for the documentary, “The Hunting Ground”; Coachella's headliners include Guns N' Roses and LCD Soundsystem; The Discovery Channel is scaling back on reality shows to get back to its original mission.

HBO chief Michael Lombardo joins us for an intimate chat about what he learned from "True Detective" and more; Then, 2015 was a record year at the box office, but most of the ticket sales came from just a handful of movies. Ben Fritz of the Wall Street Journal helps shed light on this trend.

We put together a special episode of The Frame, featuring interviews with George Clooney, "Empire" creator Lee Daniels, musician Jenny Lewis, actress Julianne Moore, "Transparent" creator Jill Soloway and the R&B singer Miguel.

Don Randi's memoir, "You've Heard These Hands," details his years with the L.A. studio band that played on hundreds of hits in the 1960s and '70s; Kelly Sue DeConnick revamped the "Captain Marvel" series, but her "Bitch Planet" titles are with a smaller publisher that allows her to control her work.

Comic strip artist Lalo Alcaráz draws on his own border upbringing as a writer/producer on Fox's typically irreverent animated comedy, "Bordertown"; writer/director László Nemes breaks away from the usual Hollywood treatment of Holocaust movies with his debut, "Son of Saul"

The screenwriter Charlie Kaufman wrote a play that ended up being turned into the stop-motion animated film, "Anomalisa"; filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky relied heavily on footage shot by Ukrainian protestors for the documentary, "Winter on Fire"

Carter Burwell had a busy 2015, scoring five films including Todd Haynes' "Carol" and Charlie Kaufman's "Anomalisa"; Haskell Wexler had a long and illustrious career as a cinematographer and documentary filmmaker; musician Blair Tindall's memoir is the basis for the Amazon series, "Mozart In the Jungle."

We put together a show with some of our favorite conversations of 2015. Hear interviews with Meryl Streep, composer Philip Glass, "Orange is the New Black" actors Uzo Aduba and Lea DeLaria, "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner.

After more than 40 years as a recording artist, James Taylor had an album debut atop the Billboard charts for the first time this year; Tom Hooper is getting praise for directing “The Danish Girl," the true story of one of the first gender confirmation surgeries in the world, which took place in the 1920s.

Stacey Sher worked with Quentin Tarantino on “Pulp Fiction” and “Django Unchained,” so she's familiar with his methods and madness; "The Hateful Eight" was mostly filmed on a scenic ranch in Telluride, Colorado; holiday music to enjoy and avoid.