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 FX series "Trust" explores the characters and circumstances surrounding the 1973 kidnapping of J. Paul Getty III. Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy who won Oscars for "Slumdog Millionaire" re-team for their first American TV series.

"On the Exhale" is a play that's told from the perspective of a mother whose child was a victim at Sandy Hook Elementary; "Roxanne, Roxanne" charts the unlikely rise of rapper Roxanne Shonte; incentivizing diversity in the state’s film & TV tax credit program could help change the industry’s biased hiring practices.

In his new HBO series, Hader plays an assassin who doesn’t find his career totally satisfying. When he accidentally walks into an acting class, a whole new world opens up for him.

Actress Lola Kirke talks about her new noir thriller, which is set in Los Angeles; in The Actors' Gang's "The New Colossus," the audience votes on which characters should be allowed to stay in the U.S.; The Weinstein Co. releases employees from the non-disclosure agreements that kept them silent.

"Wild Wild Country" tells the story of an Indian guru who in the 1980s tried to transform an Oregon town into a massive utopia of enlightenment. But friction and violence ensued; "Rise" revolves around a group of high school drama kids in a struggling, working-class Pennsylvania town.

In “Sell/Buy/Date," playwright and performer Sarah Jones explores empowerment, sex and culture by inhabiting a variety of characters; the film and TV industries are undergoing a reckoning with #MeToo, but the music business has certain barriers that have kept women silent.

Filmmaker Rebecca Miller takes on a tough documentary subject: her iconic playwright father; Merrill Garbus addresses cultural appropriation on Tune-Yards' new album; Aaron Sorkin’s Broadway adaptation of "To Kill a Mockingbird" hits a legal roadblock from the estate of author Harper Lee.

Playwright Lauren Yee play is inspired by Cambodian psychedelic rock of the '70s, before Pol Pot singled out the nation’s artists; CherryPicks will aggregate movie, music and video game reviews from female critics; Ludwig Göransson dissects a song from his score for "Black Panther."

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."