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.

The film festival high in the Rocky Mountains has an amazing track record of debuting movies that end up as Academy Award nominees and winners; singer Snoh Aalegra is an unlikely R&B artist, having grown up in Sweden as the daughter of Iranian immigrants; finding the spirit at Ambient Church.

The actor's Emmy-nominated role in "When They See Us" and his latest solo stage show, “Latin History for Morons,” have important messages about Latino history; even Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman" can't convince movie theater owners to soften their stance on Netflix releases.

The actor already has Academy Awards for "Moonlight" and "Green Book," and now he has an Emmy nomination for "True Detective"; China is a huge and growing market for music streaming, but its biggest platform is under scrutiny by the government there.

A new report by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative shows an absence of Latino actors and directors; director Gavin Hood on his new film, "Official Secrets"; the summer box office report card for the studios.

We visit with Ava DuVernay at her company Array where she's disrupting the old Hollywood system; NYT culture critic Wesley Morris; 'Jawline' documentarian; filmmaker Issa López and more...

The former publicist is creating her own empire as a director, producer and distributor, housed in a rehabbed compound on the edge of downtown L.A.; the future of the Spider-Man film franchise.

The documentary by Liza Mandelup follows a 16-year-old on his journey to become a successful live-streamer; how TikTok became a powerful platform for music and pop culture; filmmaker Sacha Gervasi and actor Peter Dinklage on their Emmy-nominated movie, "My Dinner With Hervé."

The first release from their Higher Ground production company is a documentary by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar about the cultural struggles that surfaced in the takeover of a gutted GM factory in Ohio; the outsized influence of Colombian artists in the Latin music scene.

The filmmaker's latest is dark fairytale about a group of orphans, living on the streets amidst drug-related violence in their Mexican town; 'Chernobyl' has some present-day resonance; The Rolling Stones 1964 U.S. debut in San Bernardino.

Sian Clifford, who plays the sister of series star and creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, talks about their off-screen friendship; we also hear from Waller-Bridge's real-life sister, Isobel, who writes the music for the show; Variety senior film writer Matt Donnelly on the Fall movie season.

Richard Linklater on Texas pride and getting political. Taylor McFerrin sings on his new album. Bruce Springsteen love on the big screen in "Blinded By The Light." "Luce" Filmmaker confronts assumptions around race and privilege. We remember Peter Fonda.

The actor had directed several movies and TV projects, but never anything as grim as the Showtime series, and it paid off with an Emmy nomination for him; Latinos in the entertainment industry speak out on recent events.