Former Nickelodeon showrunner Dan Schneider sat down for a video interview with BooG!e, who starred as T-Bo in iCarly, on Tuesday. Within the interview, he apologized for the gender discrimination, “neglected” actors of shade, therapeutic massage requests, and different allegations made by his former colleagues, in new docuseries Quiet on Set: The Darkish Aspect of Children TV.
“Watching over the previous few nights was very troublesome,” Schneider stated of the four-part Investigation Discovery sequence. “Me going through my previous behaviors, a few of that are embarrassing and that I remorse. I positively owe some individuals a fairly sturdy apology.”
Schneider joined Nickelodeon in 1993 as a author for the skit-based children present All That, and went on to create profitable slapstick classics on the community like The Amanda Present, starring Amanda Bynes, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious, and others. In Quiet on Set: The Darkish Sides of TV, former baby actors and Nickelodeon workers element the unsettling expertise that they had whereas engaged on Schneider-affiliated reveals.
Through the 19-minute video, Schneider instructed BooG!e he didn’t rent dialogue coach Brian Peck, who Drake & Josh star Drake Bell alleges sexually assaulted him, as he reveals within the docuseries.
“When Drake and I talked and he instructed me about what occurred, I used to be extra devastated by that than something that ever occurred to me in my profession to this point. And I instructed him, ‘I’m right here for you,’” Schneider stated within the new interview.
The Los Angeles police arrested Peck in August 2003 for lewd acts with a toddler. Peck later pleaded no contest to 2 costs of sexual abuse, was sentenced to 16 months in jail, and required to register as a intercourse offender. Schneider obtained emotional as he mentioned serving to Bell’s mom write her speech for the decide, amid the continued case.
“That was the darkest a part of my profession,” Schneider stated. “And right here’s the kicker I actually don’t get, after he obtained out of jail, to my information a registered intercourse offender, he was employed on a Disney present.”
Schneider additionally addressed his asking for massages from Nickelodeon workers: “It was improper. It was improper that I ever put anybody in that place. It was improper to do. I’d by no means do it at the moment. I’m embarrassed that I did it then. I apologize to anyone that I ever put in that state of affairs.”
The previous Nickelodeon producer additionally apologized for making jokes that “went too far” whereas within the writers’ room, and stated he was “immature” and an “inexperienced” producer. On Quiet on Set: The Darkish Aspect of TV, former writers Christy Stratton and Jenny Kilgen allege Schneider made misogynistic jokes within the writers’ room.
“No author ought to ever really feel uncomfortable in any writers’ room,” he stated. “Most writers, TV writers are conscious that loads of occasions there are inappropriate jokes made and inappropriate matters come up, however the truth that I participated in that particularly since I used to be main the room, it embarrasses me. I shouldn’t have carried out it.”
Schneider additionally addressed Stratton and Kilgen’s claims of sharing a wage whereas engaged on The Amanda Present, and stated it’s a typical apply for writers touchdown their first main gig. He additionally denied having any duty on issuing paystubs to writers.
“On this case, it was two girls writers,” Schneider stated. “I’ve carried out one other present the place that teaming was carried out with two male writers and so they break up a wage. I did one other present the place it was a male and a feminine author, and so they break up a wage.”
In Quiet on Set, former Nickelodeon workers stated that some on-air scenes felt referential to porn or felt evident of a foot fetish. Zoey 101’s Alexa Nikolas recalled filming an episode of Zoey 101 the place goo is splattered on the present lead Jamie Lynn Spears’ face and the boys referred to the scene as a “cumshot” throughout manufacturing.
“All these jokes that you just’re talking of that the present lined over the previous two nights, each a kind of jokes was written for a child viewers as a result of children thought they have been humorous and solely humorous,” Schneider stated in response to the inappropriate skits.
Schneider additionally stated that all the pieces from costumes to storylines needed to be permitted by community executives on each coasts.
“Now, we’ve some adults trying again at them 20 years later via their lens and so they’re them and so they’re saying ‘Oh, I don’t assume that’s applicable for a children present,’” Schneider added. “And I’ve no downside with that. If that’s how anybody feels, let’s minimize these jokes out of the present.”
Quiet on Set featured former baby actors who expressed the discomfort they confronted whereas conducting “On Air Dare.” (Former All That solid member Bryan Hearne described being lined in peanut butter and licked clear by canine.) Black actors additionally stated they felt remoted and “intimidated” by Schneider within the docuseries.
“Range has at all times been crucial to me in my reveals,” Schneider stated, sharing that a number of reveals he was concerned in had a lead Black actor.
To conclude the video interview, Schneider inspired children reveals to rent on-set licensed therapists and took accountability for his “over-ambitious” habits.
“The principle factor that I’d change is how I deal with individuals and everybody. I positively, at occasions, didn’t give individuals the most effective of me,” Schneider stated. “I didn’t present sufficient persistence. I may very well be cocky and positively over-ambitious, and typically simply straight up impolite and obnoxious and I’m sorry that I ever was.”
