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 writer and actor is the son of Eugene Levy, and they are the co-creators and co-stars of the series, "Schitt's Creek"; John Horn reports from the Sundance Film Festival; a new dance performance inspired by horticulture.

Could Linda Perry be the first woman to win a Grammy for Producer of the Year?; a preview of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival; the host and executive producer of KPCC's podcast "The Big One."

Film critic Claudia Puig talks about the odds for Alfonso Cuarón's biopic about his childhood in Mexico City; the actresses from "Roma" — Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira; Hannah Beachler ("Black Panther") is the first African-American to be nominated for production design.

The pianist and composer talks about and performs music from the movie about Don Shirley; what were the most streamed songs and albums of 2018?

"The Apprentice" creator Mark Burnett is the subject of a riveting, comprehensive story in The New Yorker; Sony Music is reportedly dropping R. Kelly; Isabella Rossellini is the ringleader of an animal circus!

The playwright talks about his latest production, which revolves around a man going through a divorce and an epic mid-life crisis; the band Los Texmaniacs has a timely remake of a Woody Guthrie song about farmworkers.

The much-hyped Fyre Festival seemed to good to be true —and, as a new Netflix documentary shows, that was sadly the case; YouTube's struggles to police user-generated content; the influential artist and critic Manny Farber.

The 21-year-old singer who prefers to remain anonymous is nominated for Album of the Year and Best New Artist; NBC Universal joins the crowded field of streaming services; the Spanish singer Rosalía is putting a fresh spin on flamenco.

The company led by Benjamin Millepied is presenting its first full season in its new home in L.A.'s Arts District; a former Weinstein Company film, "The Upside," won the box office this weekend. What has become of all the former Weinstein properties?; generations of African-American harpists bond over their connection to a pioneer of the genre.

The remake with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga is the only movie nominated in all 11 guild and film society award competitions; Merrill Markoe and Megan Koester chat about their audiobook, "The Indignities of Being a Woman"; the venerable country-swing band Asleep at the Wheel is still rollin' along.

Series creator Michael Schur and one of the show's key writers, Jen Statsky, talk about the ways that the cast and crew take their own research and turn it into a hit show; John Lasseter was ousted from Pixar over inappropriate behavior, and his hiring at another studio has created a furor.

In 2018, for the first time in the 90-year history of the Academy Awards, a woman was nominated for cinematography. Why did this recognition take so long?; L.A.-based singer/songwriters recently gathered in Topanga Canyon to share their works; on Song Exploder, Yo-Yo Ma deconstructs one of his signature Bach performances.