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Exclusive: The Birch, Crypt TV’s Facebook Watch horror drama, has added a slew of cast for its second season as production gets underway.

The series, which follows a group of young adults whose lives end up entangled with a vengeful woodland tree monster, has added Amanda Brooks, who has starred in Aquarius and Nashville, Jordyn Dinatale, who played the young Connie Sheeran in The Irishman, Nikko Austen Smith, who starred in Queen Sugar, and Samuel Taylor.

They join Xaria Dotson, who is reprising her role as Evie Grayson, in the ten-part drama, which is based on the 2016 short film of the same name from Anthony Melton, Ben Franklin and Cliff Wallace. Dempsey Bryk, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Sheaden Gabriel, Jy Prishkulnik and Brady Romberg also return.

Jane Casey Modderno returns to write with John William Ross returning as director. Filming is underway in the Pacific Northwest. Crypt TV produces with Jack Davis,...

The Actors Fund has announced a star-studded lineup for the 2018 Looking Ahead Awards hosted by Garrett Clayton and Ashley Argota (“The Fosters”) on Sunday, October 28 from 4-8pm at the magnificent Taglyan Complex in Hollywood.

The fifth annual gala, which raises support and awareness for The Actors Fund’s Looking Ahead Program, features exciting “blue carpet” arrivals, cocktail hour, gourmet dinner, awards ceremony and live performances. Tickets are now on sale at www.actorsfund.org/LookingAheadAwards.

The Looking Ahead Awards celebrates leaders in the current and former young performer community who inspire the world by living the Looking Ahead Program’s core values of growth, education, leadership and community service.

The Judy & Hilary Swank Award for Parenting, honoring the parent of a former young performer, will be presented by actress Ari Graynor to her mother, Joani Geltman.

The Looking Ahead Award for Education, honoring a former young performer who has...

Talks of a prequel to Steven Spielberg’s 1991 film Hook centering around bad boy Rufio have been bangaranging around the internet since 2012 or so. Earlier this year, however, some forward momentum was made on the project when Dante Basco, the actor who portrayed Rufio, announced a Kickstarter for a short film that would tell the story of the character’s arrival in Neverland. Despite only seeking $30,000, Basco and director Jonah Feingold raised nearly $70,000. Now, you can see just how they put that money to use.

Aptly titled Bangarang, the 17-minute short stars Sheaden Gabriel as Roofus and Basco as the boy’s principal. Despite its cheesiness, the short’s a sweet, good-natured tale that should please fans of the original, especially those with kids they’re hoping to convert into fans. Watch the whole thing below.

Sure, it won’t blow anyone’s minds ...

After a successful Kickstarter campaign from earlier this year, actor/producer Dante Basco has unveiled his new Hook prequel short film entitled Bangarang, named after his Hook character Rufio's signature catch phrase. This 17-minute short film shows what happened to this young boy, before he became leader of The Lost Boys, when he was just an orphan like Peter Pan himself. Here's the official description of the 17-minute short film from the Kickstarter campaign page.

"This is the story about Rufio, before the mohawk, before Neverland, before he was The Pan. Roofus is a 13-year-old kid who is destined to be more than he is. After his mother is forced to put him into a foster home, he and his rag-tag group of best friends, a Jamaican boy named Julani and a bright-eyed latina force of nature named Ella, find a way for Roofus to escape his ill fate, find...

When ’80s babies and the young at heart think back on Steven Spielberg’s wildly inventive 1991 riff on J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, “Hook,” there is one character whose tough-guy bravado and eventual softening charm they remember: Rufio. While Robin Williams’ grown-up Peter and Dustin Hoffman’s wily Captain Hook anchored the classic, it was the flame red mohawk and mischievous smile of the young Dante Basco that captured the hearts of burgeoning young movie lovers the world over. With “Bangarang,” the de facto leader of the lost boys gets his very own origin story, and it’s fittingly adorable.

Read More: ‘Hook’ Prequel About Rufio Imagined as ‘Moonlight’ Meets ‘Jurassic Park’

The short film finds young Roofus (Sheaden Gabriel) hassled by a bully and anxious about his mother’s impending departure to the Philippines. Roofus will go into foster care while she is gone, and she has no set return date.