The Frame

Taylor Mac is the theater artist, drag performer, MacArthur fellow and creative mind behind a 24-hour-long retelling of American history through popular songs; was James Levine allowed to remain in power at the Metropolitan Opera because of "maestro worship"?

Boots Riley of the hip-hop group The Coup talks about his directing debut, "Sorry To Bother You" – a satire about race in America; “High Maintenance” co-creator Katja Blichfeld says she and fellow co-creator Ben Sinclair kept the show intact despite their breakup; the massive SxSW tech, film and music fest is underway in Austin.

"A Wrinkle In Time" author Madeleine L'Engle mixed spirituality and science in her controversial book, now it's a big Disney movie; filmmaker Alma Har'el challenges the advertising business to hire more women to direct commercials; Spotify promises to expand your musical choices, but does it?

Hiro Murai had only directed music videos when Donald Glover tapped him to direct "Atlanta"; Amy Adrion's documentary, "Half the Picture," takes an empowering view of women in filmmaking; Tom Brosseau's latest album is titled "Treasures Untold."

The company that produced "The Wolf of Wall Street" is fined $60 million in embezzlement case; Shawn Colvin's new album is made for kids and their parents; Quiara Alegría Hudes' trilogy of plays gets a first-ever simultaneous staging.

Aparna Nancherla manages to find comic relief in her own depression and anxiety; how to fix an Academy Awards broadcast that hit an all-time ratings low; Tamar-kali's score for "Mudbound" is "the blood beneath the mud."

From the diversity seen on the red carpet and onstage, to the pointed messages delivered during the ceremony, the movie industry is at a tipping point.

We take one last look at the nominees and the larger cultural and political issues surrounding the ceremony; talent agencies have been in the middle of Hollywood's abuse scandals. Maha Dakhil talks about what role the agencies should play to protect their clients.

Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Fritz's book, “The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies,” examines the fallout from Sony's computers being hacked; Spotify seeks cash infusion as it prepares to sell stocks in the company; the Independent Spirit Awards take place on the eve of the Oscars.

John Horn & Rebecca Keegan of Vanity Fair look at key Academy Award nominees in a year that saw significant contributions by women. And, at least this year, it's not #OscarsSoWhite.

Errol Morris' documentary miniseries examines the mysterious death of a government biochemist who was given LSD by the CIA; Kira Kelly is a Hollywood rarity: an African-American female cinematographer. She got an Emmy nomination for shooting Ava DuVernay's documentary, "13th," which led to her working on the filmmaker's drama series, "Queen Sugar."

The filmmaker says the roots of his latest movie, "The Shape of Water," go back to his childhood when he saw "Creature from the Black Lagoon."

From The Frame's vaults: actress and writer Zoe Kazan was speaking about rampant sexual harassment in Hollywood months before the Harvey Weinstein floodgates broke; singer and performer Lizzo on her wild year that started with a fateful appearance on Samantha Bee's show.

“The Post" screenwriters Elizabeth Hannah and Josh Singer talk about writing a movie with a woman— Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham — as the hero; Los Angeles Times pop music critic Mikael Wood shares some of his picks for the best music of 2017.

The film “Hostiles,” written and directed by Scott Cooper, both indulges in and overturns some of the familiar tropes of the Western genre; Rotten Tomatoes senior editor Grae Drake looks back on the year in film reviews and addresses some of the controversy surrounding the movie review aggregation site.

Writer/director Dee Rees on her film "Mudbound," about the harsh reality of life in the Jim Crow South, and its new resonance in 2017; Pasadena Playhouse brings the 1947 'Miracle on 34th Street' radio play to the stage; Facebook makes a play for YouTube's hold on music videos.

Questlove, drummer and leader of "The Tonight Show's" house band The Roots, talks about the emotional ballad he wrote for the movie "Detroit"; Actor/tax attorney Sandra Karas explains Actors' Equity Association's opposition to the tax overhaul that Congress passed today.

For his role in "The Florida Project" Willem Dafoe immersed himself into the world of the "hidden homeless;" A new website called Rotten Apples allows users to search TV shows and movies to see if anyone on the projects was accused of sexual misconduct; Italian filmmaker Marta Savina revisits a landmark rape case from 1965 in her short film “Viola, Franca."

Meet Hong Chau, the actress from Alexander Payne's movie "Downsizing," who's grabbing attention even before the film opens; how the radio drama version of "Star Wars" helped put NPR on the map; and three film critics (who happen to be under the age of 10) weigh in on "The Last Jedi."

DeLappe's play about high school girl soccer players was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama; what effect will the Net Neutrality vote have on content creators and distributors?; an old fashioned marquee gives a theater company a new identity.

Director Steven Spielberg, producer Amy Pascal and Tom Hanks discuss the present-day resonance of their new film 'The Post'; with Disney buying much of 21st Century Fox we look at what that means for Hulu; and Canadian singer Elise LeGrow taps Chicago roots in her debut album.

SAG announced its nominees for their awards and that all the presenters plus the host of the telecast will be women. How else will Hollywood awards shows amplify women's voices in this #metoo era?; Trans actress Daniela Vega from the Chilean film "A Fantastic Woman" hopes it teaches audiences empathy; watching Pixar's "Coco" in Mexico is a singular experience.