The Frame

Rankine, whose poetry has examined everyday racism in America, and Wolfe, whose music addresses issues of the American worker, were both named MacArthur Foundation fellows; as the Fall TV season launches, we visit with producer Betsy Beers at Shondaland, one of the most successful companies in the industry.

Diavolo Dance Theatre is reinventing modern dance by combing architecture and wildly physical choreography; media critics have been piling on NBC for going soft on the GOP nominee, and now late night host Samantha Bee has joined the fray; Richard Nelson keeps his election-themed plays current by writing until the last minute.

The new documentary, “The Lovers and the Despot,” tells the true story of what happened in 1978 when Kim Jong-il ordered the kidnapping of a filmmaking couple from South Korea to jumpstart North Korea's movie industry; William Bell has revived the classic Stax sound; a new report shows that the music business is actually making money in the streaming age.

Playwright and performer Lucy Alibar draws on her Southern childhood for “Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up"; Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, who won a writing Emmy for "Master of None," talk about their approach to diversity; the Toronto International Film Festival kicked off a lot of Academy Award talk.

Kent McCord of the 1960-70s TV cop show, "Adam-12," which was produced in partnership with the LAPD. McCord says a show about cops who aren't "edgy" wouldn't sell in today's TV business; In advance of TV's big awards night, we discuss what goes into an Emmy campaign, and how valuable is a nomination or a win in this era of "too much TV"?

Cheo Hodari Coker, creator and showrunner of the Netflix series "Luke Cage," unpacks the idea of building a show around a superhero who also happens to be a "bullet-proof black man" in a hoodie; Can Pandora and Amazon be the next disruptors in the streaming music space? They hope so.

The documentary "Audrie & Daisy" examines the sexual assault and cyber-shaming of two teen girls; with its third album, the band Local Natives remains entrenched in Silver Lake's indie rock scene; a group of songwriters is challenging the Dept. of Justice's control over royalty rates.

How do unconscious biases affect hiring practices in Hollywood? To dig deeper into this issue, Cathy Schulman (Oscar-winning producer/Women In Film) and Judith Williams (Global Head of Diversity at Dropbox) put Frame host John Horn to the test as if he's a studio executive; In 2005 Jackie Lopez co-founded the hip hop troupe "Versa Style" to teach kids not only how to dance but the cultural history behind hip hop.

"Kicks" filmmakers discuss how being outsiders who didn't fit society's views of manhood fueled the making of their lyrical coming-of-age drama; A new documentary explores why Brad Bird's 1999 animated film "The Iron Giant" was a critical darling, but a box office bomb; Inside Nate Parker's "The Birth of a Nation" press conference at TIFF; Can you scream like Nicholas Cage?

Every August, cultural festivals take over the Scottish city of Edinburgh with thousands of performances taking place day and night. This year The Frame host John Horn immersed himself in shows and brings an audio postcard of his creative excursion; TV reporter Whitney Friedlander joins us to preview some new and returning television shows that are worthy of our time and DVR space this fall.

Previewing the most anticipated features and documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival (pictured); Bill Robles has drawn the trials of everyone from Charles Manson to Lindsay Lohan; 'Mommy' is the fifth feature from 25-year-old Xavier Dolan.

Journalist Ben Fritz and former Navy officer-turned-actor Ricky Ryba on the marketing and accuracy of "American Sniper" (pictured); Frances McDormand and Suzzy Roche discuss "Early Shaker Spirituals"; the documentary "Red Army" looks at how the former Soviet Union built a hockey dynasty.

Former Disney exec-turned-producer Nina Jacobson discusses how an actor’s pay is determined in the industry; composer Hans Zimmer (pictured) discusses the making of his Oscar-nominated score for Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar"; Michael Chabon is the most recent novelist trying his hand at writing pop song lyrics.

Classical music legend Neville Marriner (pictured) is in L.A. to conduct the Colburn School student orchestra; Stephanie Allain, an executive producer of "Dear White People" and director of the L.A. Film Festival, on why Hollywood isn't diverse enough; Doug Lussenhop, aka DJ Douggpound, brings his sound-rich act to Riot LA.

Who got left out of the Academy Award nominations, and why; screenwriter Jason Hall on adapting war hero Chris Kyle's raw memoir for the big screen; and L.A. Opera adapts "The Marriage of Figaro" into a story about illegal immigration.

Neil Young (pictured) wants his hi-res audio player to let fans hear music the way it sounds in the studio; TV producers are previewing new shows for the new year; and an L.A. artist has turned his studio apartment into a museum.

Chris Lemmon's one-man stage revives his dad's stories and spirit (pictured); Film L.A. reports that film production is down, but TV production is way up over the past year; In-Q has carved out a place for himself where spoken word, poetry and music intersect.

The British actor talks about his new movie, "Match" (pictured); author Annabelle Gurwitch on the parallel universes surrounding awards season in Hollywood; the stage actors union is considering changes that could turn the theater scene upside down.

Jenni Konner, executive producer and writer of "Girls" (left, with star Lena Dunham), talks about season four; What do the Golden Globe, Writers Guild and Producers Guild nominations mean for the upcoming Oscars?; Disney's "Fantasia" film transforms into a video game with a modern update.

French artist Pierre Huyghe transforms an exhibition space at the L.A. County Museum of Art (pictured) into a quirky biosphere; the winter TV season has arrived; a new public radio show/podcast is about the invisible forces that control human behavior.

Mark Duplass talks about the new HBO series, "Togetherness" (pictured), he created with his brother, Jay; what's the market for the new high-end audio players from Sony and Neil Young?; a landmark mural of Anthony Quinn is being restored in downtown L.A.

The roster for the Coachella festival (pictured) has Drake, AC/DC and Jack White as headliners; Mica Levi conducts a live performance of her award-winning movie score; a look at the latest gadgets debuting at the Consumer Electronics Show; an effort to expand Wikipedia entries for African-American artists.