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.

With Jeffrey Tambor bowing out of the Amazon series, what does that mean for the show's future?; Zoe Kazan, who comes from a show biz family, says she's been dealing with harassment since her teen years.

Fifty years after his L.A. debut, Plácido Domingo is still an operatic force; Jason Bateman and Laura Linney are a married couple who get caught up with the wrong crowd in the Netflix series, “Ozark”; transgender singer Our Lady J left a music career to join the writing staff on "Transparent."

The Irish actress talks about her role as a California teenager, and about the troublesome male behavior she’s seen in Hollywood; Claes Bang plays an art museum director in the offbeat and unpredictable film, "The Square."

Comedian Hari Kondabolu explores his love-hate relationship with “The Simpsons” in a documentary about the show's portrayal of the South Asian store keeper; with The Weinstein Co. out of the picture, Quentin Tarantino is a free agent with his next film; the L.A. band Quetzal explores its musical roots in Veracruz.

Elvis Costello wrote a new ballad for the movie, "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool," about the eccentric actress, Gloria Grahame; after leaving Saturday Night Live, Dana Carvey made a sketch show for ABC that was an epic bust. The tale is told in the documentary, "Too Funny to Fail."

Joe Berlinger's film examines how Hollywood has depicted the Armenian Genocide, and how it has been pressured to ignore that story; a new USC study shows teenage girls are more likely to be sexualized in feature films; the Greenway Court Theatre survives through a partnership with Fairfax High School.

If Mel Gibson can revive his career, could Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K.?; Yuval Sharon turns Orson Welles' radio play into a multi-site opera; it's awards season in Hollywood, but there are some familiar names you won't be hearing, e.g., Harvey Weinstein.

The New York Times confirms the long-standing rumors of sexual misconduct by the writer and comedian Louis C.K.; director Ridley Scott will re-shoot Kevin Spacey's scenes in an already finished film; in “What Haunts Us,” director Paige Tolmach explores why so many male former students at her prep school alma mater had died by suicide.

Music industry veteran Bill Bentley pairs his stories with crowdsourced photos in “Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen”; the Weinstein Company is seeking buyers, but may not avoid bankruptcy; Rockabye Baby turns songs by artists like David Bowie, Rihanna and Coldplay into kid-friendly lullabies.

Meet Hong Chau, the actress from Alexander Payne's movie "Downsizing," who will blow you away; LA Times pop music critic Mikael Wood says that some performers use their music as "guilt laundering" for sexual harassment and abuse; and what power do Hollywood's guilds and unions have to shut down sexual predation?

Actor Sam Rockwell discusses his new movie "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," and his approach to playing George W. Bush in Adam McKay's forthcoming Dick Cheney biopic; Jon Robin Baitz's play "Vicuña,"about a Trumpian presidential candidate, premiered in L.A. before the 2016 election. Now it's on stage in Washington, DC.

The new movie from the director of "Boyhood" is about three Vietnam vets who reunite when one of their sons is killed in the Iraq War; talent agent Tyler Grasham has been accused by eight young male actors and industry workers of sexual misconduct while Grasham worked for the APA agency, which specializes in representing young actors.