The Quiet on Set documentary documents the toxic, torturous, and traumatic environment that the Nickelodeon crew members and child actors had to be around. This docu series captures all of the abusive, torture, assault, and the mental and physical abuse that happened behind the scenes of these shows. There is evidence of scenes where on some of the most nostalgic childhood TV shows inappropriate actions are being committed by some of the most famous actors. To name a few: Henry Danger, The Thundermans, I-Carly, and Zoey 101. The episodes do a good job of getting input from people who actually had traumatizing experiences with Television producer Dan Schneider.
The big controversy started in the year 2018 when a news channel had taken the chance to interview many different people who appeared to have had bad experiences with Schneider. Many of the individuals had stated that Schneider was “controlling” and had “verbally abused them.” After those allegations were spread around and heard by many people in March of that year, Nickelodeon had told Schneider that he was going to be laid off from his job. There were many video recordings of how Schneider had been doing inappropriate things and making his crew members perform them. One of the inappropriate acts was with famous star Ariana Grande, who had liquid poured on her face while laying down. People have taken this as a very inappropriate act especially if it’s going to be posted on a kids Television channel simply because it has inappropriate context. Another inappropriate act was also involving Ariana Grande and she was “Trying to juice a potato” while making some odd disturbing noises. Many different news channels then had tried coming in contact with Schneider about him being on camera, but then he refused to be recorded or even be interviewed. On March 22, 2024 was the official date that the very first episode of the docuseries was released. There are currently five episodes that are out right now and they all have different aspects and stories behind them.
Episode 1 is all about taking a look at Schneider’s career from the very beginning and what had been going on behind the scenes with him. Christy Stratton and Jenny Kilgen who are both writers and producers both had brought up the fact how they even had to share paychecks when they got paid, which is incredibly unethical. There were many cases of sexual assault going on and Schneider even asked these two young ladies for “massages” while they were on set which is completely unprofessional for his title that he carries. It wasn’t easy for these individuals to speak up about these types of situations, they were very brave for speaking out to the world and letting their voices be heard. Episode 2 includes former child actors from the show “All That” speak on the behalf of Schneider’s hard treatment, physical and mental abuse. This episode also showcases and brings awareness on how two actors who were on Schenider’s shows had now been accused of becoming sex offenders and it was proven to be true. According to www.motherjones.com in 2004 Jason Handy who was a production assistant was sentenced to six years in prison after he had pleaded no contest to performing lewd acts on a child. This is so sick and disgusting because how could these actors that people looked up to were performing these acts on an innocent child. Episode 3 introduces when Drake Bell had finally spoken up about what Brian Peck had put him through and all the emotional damage he had caused him. Brian Peck was then later arrested and Drake Bell remained scarred with trauma. Later on Episode 4 begins talking about Peck’s court case, which involved many Hollywood individuals who supported him. This episode also mentioned how the abuse affected Drake Bell and his mental health. Dan Schneider’s career at this time saw him becoming a bigger person and role model to Nickelodeon, but he received backlash for his “sometimes inappropriate” behavior. Schneider would often make inappropriate sexual jokes towards people and some were even featured on the productions Zoey 101,I-Carly, and Victorious. Nickelodeon then decided to fire Schneider in the year of 2018. There was even an occasion where material that was later described as “child pornography” appeared on Schneider’s computer when beginning to work on a show. Some interviews were made during this episode and many of the interviewees stated how becoming child actors really affected their mental and physical wellbeing. In the very last episode, it’s a recap of the other four episodes and it even includes some unused clips.
Nickelodeon’s decision to cut off Schneider which was very long overdue was one of the best decisions that they could’ve ever made. So many people were okay with what was happening and it’s truly sad that they settled for this toxic environment.Individuals stated they hope this docuseries can change popular attitudes about how child actors are poorly treated and severely underpaid. Individuals are also hopeful it can change people’s views on sexual assault, harassment and verbal abuse. Jack Seale stated “Anything that makes child sexual abuse less likely to happen again is invaluable.” On social media platforms Josh Peck made many negative comments on his posts because he had remained quiet about the abuse Drake Bell had caused him. In the year 2021, Drake Bell had pleaded guilty to attempting child endangerment, which was connected to him having conversations that involved sexual topics with a 15 year old. According to “www.motherjones.com” the victim made a statement saying that she groomed her and sexually assaulted her many times. Many social media posts have been made showing empathy towards Drake even after what he did. It’s truly very disgusting to see how these child actors were treated. The former crew members saw this documentary as an opportunity to speak up about what they had gone through and they didn’t let the opportunity go to waste, they took it and did what needed to be done.
Oftentimes, it can be very hard for people to take the courage to speak out and seek help about problems that they have going on or have gone through. In this case it involves sexism, sexual assault and verbal abuse. These are some very serious topics and people can really struggle to ask for help. The “Quiet On Set” documentary helped people speak on their experiences with such topics. The title of this documentary really speaks for itself: they had to be “Quiet On Set” behind closed doors and stay quiet about what was really going on. Fortunately, this series finally gave them the opportunity to share their stories.
