The Quiet on Set: The Darkish Aspect of Youngsters TV administrators plan to proceed to research children leisure in Hollywood, even after dropping their newest bonus episode on Sunday with Quiet on Set: Breaking The Silence.
“We’re listening to requires federal laws,” sequence co-director Mary Robertson tells The Hollywood Reporter when speaking about subsequent steps. “In the meanwhile there is no such thing as a federal laws that governs youngsters who work in leisure, or that regulates youngsters working in leisure.”
The bonus episode, hosted by Soledad O’Brien, delves deeper into the claims surrounding Dan Schneider and the Nickelodeon sequence he created and ran. The previously prolific children TV producer has confronted allegations of abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate habits involving underage stars and crewmembers on his exhibits for the reason that launch of the two-part docuseries on March 17 and 18. (He responded with a 19-minute apology video.)
The added installment additionally featured Drake Bell returning after first sharing his story of sexual abuse by the hands of his Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck within the unique four-parter on ID and Max.
“I simply felt, possibly this was time to inform my story,” Bell defined within the bonus hour, whereas additionally commenting on former community stars like Rider Sturdy, Will Friedle, Ron Melendez, Alan Thicke, Taran Killam and James Marsden all writing letters in assist of Peck, which had been used to affect the choose throughout sentencing.
The bonus Quiet on Set episode touched on Friedle in a latest podcast expressing remorse that he wrote a court-directed letter of assist for a convicted baby molester. However Bell didn’t let Friedle off the hook.
“I labored with Will on Spiderman, and there was numerous alternative to apologize or speak about it and [he] by no means did,” he informed O’Brien. Bell added that not one of the 41 individuals who wrote letters of assist for Peck forward of his sentencing have reached out to apologize or simply talk. [On Friday, Bell took to X to say that he and Strong have now had a conversation: “I have nothing but love and forgiveness for him.”)
And he cited a lack of media coverage around the 2003 arrests, first of Jason Michael Handy — another child predator who worked as a PA on a Nickelodeon series — and then of Peck, for allowing Peck to continue work in Hollywood after serving time in prison for child molestation and being a registered sex offender.
“For those two cases to happen so closely together, and at the same network, on the same show, it allowed him (Peck) to go to work on other shows, on other kids shows, other kids networks… as a registered sex offender,” a still surprised Bell recounted.
He also reiterated that Schneider was alone in reaching out from Nickelodeon during the Peck trial, and afterwards to offer comfort and support. And Bell defended Josh Peck, his co-star on Drake & Josh, who came under attack on social media platforms for his apparent reaction to Bell’s story when first told publicly.
“I know what it’s like to have the Internet attack you for, really, nothing. He had reached out to me and we’d been talking,” Bell said in full praise for Josh Peck, who has no relation to Brian Peck, and who has since spoken out about Bell and the Quiet on Set doc.
Another revelation in the Breaking the Silence episode was All That alum Shane Lyons, for the first time, coming forward to reveal that he, too, was propositioned by Brian Peck while on set.
“There were certainly some passes, you know,” Lyons recalled, as he pointed to one green room conversation with Peck where he claimed the sexually suggestive topic of “blue balls” was raised by the dialogue coach. “I’m a kid — 13, 14 — and, as I think back now, as an adult, a 36-year-old, would I have ever had a conversation with a 13-year-old boy like he had with me? No!” Lyons said.
The Breaking the Silence episode also included All That cast member Giovonnie Samuels recalling a recent phone call she received from Schneider where he asked for a “quote of support” following her performances on his TV shows.
Schneider was rebuffed. “I told him I was terrified of him… I told him ‘you had the power to make people stars, and I was intimidated by you,’” Samuels recalled telling the prolific Nickelodeon series creator.
And fellow All That alum Bryan Christopher Hearne, who also appeared on the bonus episode, didn’t buy Schneider’s 19-minute apology video he released after the premiere of the original Quiet on Set four-parter. “Dan was an actor before all this, and so I think he brushed off some chops and gave us a nice performance,” Hearne said.
Bryan Christopher Hearne (center)
Investigation Discovery
Breaking the Silence struck an emotional note when Hearne was reunited with his mother, Tracey Brown, and recalled the Quiet on Set docuseries bringing them back together after his departure from All That at age 13 led to a long rupture in their relationship. “I can talk to 14-year-old Bryan and say, ‘this wasn’t your fault. This wasn’t her fault. These people had it out for you,’” Hearne said while looking at his tearful mother.
Ahead of the premiere of Breaking the Silence on ID and Max, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Quiet on Set co-directors and executive producers Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz, as well as Turner Networks, ID & HLN, linear and streaming president Jason Sarlanis, about what will come next, as their cameras continue to roll: “We really are sort of seeing a movement form about what should happen next in this industry.”
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Predicting how audiences react to new TV series is always difficult. When did you know you had a ratings sensation on your hands with Quiet on Set?
JASON SARLANIS You can never anticipate [the audience response]. Nonetheless, on the discharge of the trailer and it going immediately viral, we had a sense that the viewers would really feel about this undertaking the identical means we did.
MARY ROBERTSON I keep in mind watching on [the night of the premiere] March 17, in a room the place we had gathered with the crew and colleagues that had made the sequence. And as Jason mentioned, the response to the trailer was extremely giant and passionate. So there was a way others would possibly tune in, too. However you by no means actually know till it streams. We had been watching, as one does, the true time response on social media. And definitely chills went down my backbone. I couldn’t imagine the quantity of people that had been partaking with the premiere in actual time and who had been form of mimicking reactions we had had within the enhancing rooms. There was a way that individuals are watching and, holy cow, they get it. They actually get it.
EMMA SCHWARTZ I feel it was proper because the press began popping out simply a few days earlier than the premiere. There had been a bit on GMA after which I feel Nightline had carried out one thing, and there was an extra half the place rapidly, there have been folks speaking like it is a #MeToo motion for teenagers. And it’s not even out but, and also you’re already going a lot broader than the story that we even informed. To me, that’s a second the place I mentioned, “Oh wait, they received that there’s a complete system that’s even larger than our story.” And, little by little, you started to see increasingly folks form of elevate the dialog past simply the specifics. That’s once I started to really feel, “okay, this isn’t only a story. We actually are form of seeing a motion type about what ought to occur subsequent on this business.”
When did the greenlight come to do a fifth episode so quickly after the unique docuseries premiered?
SARLANIS The need to do extra was in all probability all the time aside of this, frankly. By way of particularly extending Quiet on Set in its first sequence to an episode that captured a few of the aftermath, I feel we first began speaking to Mary and Emma proper after the trailer dropped. And we labored along with them largely to have the ability to produce this extra episode after the present itself had been seen, in order that we might create this platform for our extremely courageous contributors to hitch within the very dialog that we had been alluding to. There have been lots of of media shops and content material creators who’ve developed this story. We needed to offer that platform again the a really folks whose story it truly is.
As soon as Quiet on Set launched, did you hear from different former stars of Dan Schneider’s sequence at Nickelodeon about coming ahead to share extra tales?
SCHWARTZ There’s lots of people who had been reluctant to talk publicly. You’re beginning to see even simply on social media folks reacting and coming ahead. And definitely one of many contributors to this fifth episode, Shane [Lyons], after he noticed the undertaking, these are questions and considerations that he had been holding for a lot of, a few years. He felt this had opened the door to making a stage of consolation about talking publicly in a means he had not been open to earlier than. He’s definitely not alone. We proceed to listen to from folks with extra tales and experiences who’re attempting to determine learn how to share and learn how to carry to mild.
The fifth episode sees Drake Bell returning for one more interview. Why did he really feel able to share extra about his story?
SCHWARTZ He had numerous trepidation about how the story can be acquired earlier than it was public. He wasn’t certain how a lot he was going to need to proceed to share afterwards. However he’s acquired numerous assist, and has additionally heard from individuals who’ve been survivors of various, however traumatic, experiences. I feel that’s given him a sure form of energy and feeling that there’s a energy in telling your fact, and in shedding mild and serving to different folks not really feel so alone in that have. As a result of I feel for a few years that was how he felt, very, very alone.
Quiet on Set was spawned partly by the proliferation of viral movies that had been compilations of clips from Schneider’s Nickelodeon exhibits. A number of that’s unverified, user-generated, social media-driven content material. How did this assist to open the door for folks to come back ahead?
ROBERTSON Numerous the people who shared their tales within the movie had been nervous earlier than collaborating, as one usually is and can be when going public with any private account. They had been involved with whether or not or not they might be mocked or taken critically, whether or not or not their experiences, a few of which had felt so horrible to them on the time, can be learn or understood as legitimately uncomfortable, inappropriate and arguably flawed by the general public that acquired the movie. And overwhelmingly, these contributors have been gratified by the response.
SCHWARTZ I really feel like a part of it’s that the web is a wild place. And there are numerous issues on the market, and there are numerous conspiracy theories; numerous issues that aren’t essentially based mostly in truth. However beneath a few of these questions had been actual info and an actual story. And so a part of it was sorting by means of info and fiction, and when folks can see that you’re sticking with the truths that folks know to be actual, there’s numerous energy in that. And never overstepping the boundary into wild conspiracy theories.
Are your cameras nonetheless rolling at present for extra Quiet on Set episodes?
ROBERTSON We’re dedicated to telling this story. We’re keen about telling this story. We don’t assume we’re carried out telling this story.
SARLANIS The themes that Mary and Emma are tackling with Quiet on Set are one thing that we’re dedicated to persevering with to shine a light-weight on, whether or not or not it’s extra of Quiet on Set, or different tasks we might do collectively. What was so unbelievable about Quiet on Set is that it was expertly crafted to offer a platform for this particular story and instance of systemic abuse. Sadly, there are different variations of that. And so no matter form that may take sooner or later, we at ID are dedicated to empowering filmmakers like Mary and Emma to inform these tales.
The Quiet on Set fifth episode is partly a dialogue of the place children TV ought to go within the aftermath of the Dan Schneider years at Nickelodeon. What ought to that future appear to be?
ROBERTSON What we’re listening to from the general public proper now could be that there’s a need to know what to do with their frustration, in some instances their anger, in some instances their befuddlement at earlier business situations, maybe present business situations. We’re listening to requires federal laws. In the meanwhile, there is no such thing as a federal laws that governs youngsters who work in leisure, or that regulates youngsters working in leisure. There’s a patchwork of state legal guidelines which are in place.
SCHWARTZ For lots of the members, a part of their motivation in talking was within the hope that issues would change. And now that they’ve seen such a response, I do know one of many main considerations is that there’s not a requirement that individuals who work on units have background checks. It’s on a case-by-case foundation. And there’s definitely concern that that’s not protecting sufficient of youngsters. Folks have referred to as for having social employees or psychological well being specialists working with children, simply to ensure they really feel like they’ve company in an atmosphere that has sophisticated layers of energy dynamics at play. And I’m certain that that’s just the start.
SARLANIS After we take a look at Quiet on Set, it’s the story of a really particular time frame 25 years in the past. I hope that the sequence can function a cautionary story to future rising platforms that work carefully with children and children leisure, and at the moment have zero oversight or regulation or construction round them, like social media and digital types of leisure that sadly may very well be susceptible to turning into the subsequent breeding floor for this sort of systemic abuse.
Dan Schneider put out a response video instantly after the Quiet on Set four-parter premiered. Assuming you watched it, what was your response?
ROBERTSON We’ve all watched the 20-minute video that Dan shared and is now extensively obtainable. We provided Dan a possibility to take part within the sequence and he declined. His assertion was included in Quiet on Set. Within the fifth episode, you’ll hear from contributors about their response to the video that Dan posted on-line, and there are strongly held beliefs.
SCHWARTZ And there’s new insights into a few of the present state of their relationships.
And your personal responses to the video?
SARLANIS I feel our job is to create the platform for the individuals who have that direct relationship to inform their story in response. And episode 5 does simply that fairly effectively.
Among the many contributors to Quiet on Set, we’ve but to listen to straight from different Nickelodeon stars like Amanda Bynes or Jennette McCurdy. Who would you continue to like to listen to from or communicate with most?
ROBERTSON We don’t need to exert strain on anybody who’s not able to take part or to share their non-public experiences with the world. I feel there are definitely different accounts. There are various individuals who labored on these units who we haven’t heard from but. After they’re able to share their tales, in the event that they wish to share them with us, we’d be so honored and we might take extremely excellent care of them.
Breaking the Silence and Quiet on Set: The Darkish Aspect of Youngsters TV at the moment are streaming on Max.