Directors gratified to see series spark movement
‘Quiet on Set’ team to continue telling child actors’ stories
“Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” the fourpart Investigation Discovery series that explores the toxic work environment on several Nickelodeon shows and the alleged abuse child stars endured while working on them, captured the attention of millions.
Following the premiere in March, many viewers who were raised on the network’s programs flooded social media with posts about the disturbing allegations brought forth in the documentary and the resurfaced clips of child actors engaging in jokes that were racially charged, had sexual undertones or were inappropriate in other ways.
Following the overwhelming response, Investigation Discovery ordered a fifth episode of the series, “Quiet on Set: Breaking the Silence,” now available to stream on Max. The new episode features previous participants, including Drake Bell; Giovonnie Samuels; Bryan Hearne and Hearne’s mother, Tracey Brown; as well as an interview with “All That” cast member Shane Lyons, who was not in the original episodes. The conversation is led by journalist Soledad O’Brien.
The episode continues the discussion about conditions on the sets of Nickelodeon hits such as “All That,” “The Amanda Show,” “Drake & Josh,” “Zoey 101” and “iCarly,” all of which producer, writer and showrunner Dan Schneider was involved in. The series explores Schneider’s behavior and management style on the sets of these shows. It also details allegations of abuse by former employees, including
Brian Peck and Jason Handy, who both worked on Schneider’s shows.
In recent weeks, several former Nickelodeon cast members, including Josh Peck, Kenan Thompson and Alexa Nikolas, have spoken out in support of Bell and other former employees featured in the documentary.
This interview with directors and executive producers Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: How has it felt to see this series take off and spark conversations about children in the entertainment industry? Schwartz:
You always do work and you hope that people will watch, people will learn, people will listen, and it’s overwhelming
and gratifying to see how much people have engaged with the material, with issues beyond just the stories that we told. They really seem to be sparking a movement to engage in reexamining and potentially changing certain conditions for the world of a child actor.
Robertson: It is gratifying and inspiring to see the ways in which the reception to the film has positively impacted the people who have participated. That has been one of my favorite parts of this process.
Q: What prompted you to want to release another episode of the documentary?
R:
When we released the trailer for “Quiet on Set,” it went viral almost immediately and questions started
swirling. The trailer itself ignited a fair amount of conversation, and I think it became clear to us at that point that there would be real value in engaging with some of the questions that the project was stimulating and to do so in a timely manner because it feels as though the questions themselves are evolving and changing day-to-day. So, we mobilized our incredible team, and we engaged award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, who, of course, brings great intelligence and sensitivity to these questions.
In the fifth episode, we (included) the account and interview with another member of the “All That” cast who was not featured in the original four episodes of “Quiet on Set.” Tracey, who’s the mother of Brian Hearne, and Brian
Hearne are featured in this, as well as Gio (Giovonnie Samuels), who were all in the original four episodes. They’re sharing some very honest assessments of some of the reaction material that has been out there in the world post-premiere and bringing us into their experience in the immediate aftermath of the premiere.
Drake Bell is featured in the fifth episode, as well, and he speaks candidly to some of the responses that have been tendered online since the premiere as to why he participated originally and what the documentary has meant to him.
Q: Did you initially reach out to some of the actors who have since spoken out about appearing in the documentary? Have any of them reached out to you directly since the release? S:
There’s definitely people who we’ve reached out to and then other people who have reached out to us since, and we continue to hear from more and more people about their experiences and experiences that they’re considering sharing. We are certainly dedicated to continuing to tell stories in that space if people have experiences that they’re ready and open to share.
R: We’re committed to continuing this work. We’re committed to continuing these lines of investigation, to providing a platform and a home to those who would like to share related stories.
Q: There has been more discussion in the media now about the abuse allegations against Drake Bell, which you touched on in the documentary. Did you feel like there was anything more to say in connection with the abuse he endured?
R:
He does speak extensively about his experience of the experience, both of participating initially (in the documentary), and the reaction to the project and how that’s impacted him and how others’ response to the project — including Dan (Schneider’s) video — how that has impacted him, and the letter writers, how their responses to the project have impacted him as well.
Q: Much of the conversation about the series is about how we need to do more to protect children on sets. What more do you think can be done?
S:
I know in the specific case of Nickelodeon, as a result of some of the cases that we looked at in the series, they did require more background checks for people who were employed at Nickelodeon, and that is certainly a shift.
I do know, as people point out in the series, after Dan was no longer at Nickelodeon, people expressed that being on set was a happier place. That being said, I think a lot of the issues of child acting in this world that people have started to talk about are much bigger than any individual or any institution. There are questions industrywide, as I think we previously discussed, about the potential to create more safeguards in that space.
Also, quite frankly, a lot of the content that is created today, beyond traditional broadcast and film and TV, there’s a lot in the world of social media, which you see kids creating, kids on that content, and that’s also an area that has very little oversight and regulation for how kids who are working are also treated. To the extent that these experiences in the world of children’s TV can be instructive and shine a light on how children in the workplace are treated more broadly in other spaces, perhaps that is an important conversation that people are starting to look into.