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.

Producer David Klawans and writer Jeff Maysh find unusual real-life stories, turn them into long-form articles and pitch them to Hollywood; the Netflix docuseries "Wild Wild Country" tells the remarkable true story of the friction and violence that ensued when an Indian guru tried to create a massive utopia in Oregon in the 1980s.

The new Spike Lee film 'BlacKkKlansman' tells the amazing true story of Ron Stallworth, the black police detective who fooled the KKK into letting him join their ranks; Rosie & the Riveters play folk music with a feminist bent.

Nico sang with the influential Velvet Underground, but this film chronicles the latter part of her career and life; the U.S. Justice Dept. is reviewing a longtime prohibition on movie studios owning their own theaters; mariachi students from around the country are in SoCal for a workshop and competition

The song list is part of Turning the Tables, an ongoing project from NPR Music dedicated to recasting the popular music canon in more inclusive – and accurate – ways; With the sale of 20th Century Fox's studio to the Walt Disney Co., film historian and author Leonard Maltin looks at Fox's movie legacy.

The actress makes her directing debut with a film about two young girls on a journey to avenge their mother's death; the National Hispanic Media Coalition is targeting movie studios over lack of Latino representation; teenaged jazz bassist Anna Abondolo is going places.

The company that revolutionized moviegoing is floundering as movie theater chains launch similar pass programs; first-time novelist Elizabeth Klehfoth sold her book to Hollywood before she even had a publisher; Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo' bring their blues collaboration to the Hollywood Bowl.

The director and co-writer of "The Spy Who Dumped Me" turns the action-comedy genre on its head; what's the fate of CBS chief Les Moonves?; Netflix and Amazon preview their coming attractions at the TV Critics Assn. press tour.

The Texas native shot her indie feature in her home state, with a script based on her own teenage years there; the Idyllwild Arts Academy appears to have escaped the fire that's ravaging the area; the use of "white voice" by black characters in current films is a comment on white privilege.

On her latest album, the French singer and actress pays tribute to her family legacy and also mourns her sister's death; Spotify is paying advances to some artists, but says it's not actually signing artists the way record labels do. But if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...

The photographer has shot virtually every famous face for Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and other magazines; the Venice and Toronto film festivals have released their schedules — let the award campaigning begin!; streaming services aren't as encyclopedic as you might think.

The veteran singer/guitarist's lifelong passion for the genre is evident on his new album, "Out of the Blues"; playwright Young Jean Lee's provocative "Straight White Men" opens on Broadway; composer Max Richter plans to put Grand Park campers to "Sleep."

"Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn is the latest figure to come under fire in an industry that no longer tolerates an "anything goes" culture; the documentary, "Far From the Tree," examines what happens to a family when one child has a difference that sets them apart; Naia Izumi, winner of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert competition.