“Quiet on Set” exposes reality of child stardom

A new documentary exposing Nickelodeon producers, titled Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, recently dropped on streaming platform, Max. Since then, the entire series has dropped, which features many actors and producers who worked closely with Dan Schneider and suffered from his alleged emotional and sexual abuse.

Throughout the documentary, many stories are told by former stars and their parents, all of which are genuinely horrifying and made me empathize further with everyone whose lives were altered due to the toxic environment created by Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon. A particularly egregious incident involves a young girl named Brandi who was sent an explicit photo from an adult man, Jason Handy, who was later arrested and charged with lewd acts on a child. Although I was obviously disgusted by the man’s actions, I was also confused as to why the mom never reported him to the police because she “didn’t want to be seen as a bad parent.” The man’s deplorable behavior impacted many other young girls, and it is sad to know that the mom could have intervened and protected other girls yet chose not to.

As I thought more about this incident, I realized that, sadly, Schneider knew exactly the types of parents to look for when choosing children to cast. Many parents would be shocked by the demands made by producers (such as the suggestive jokes made on air) and immediately choose to pull their child out, however it is clear that the exploitative nature of child stardom often begins with the parents.

Ultimately, many child stars within this situation were pressured by their parents and producers to perform well and do things they were not comfortable with. This clearly caused damage to their mental health, and it has unfortunately followed some of them throughout their adult life. My case in point is Amanda Bynes. Bynes grew up in the spotlight after Schneider saw her comedy routine one night, which led to her spotlight on Nickelodeon and finally, The Amanda Show. Everyone on set sensed an unnatural closeness between her and Schneider, as well as the fact that she tried to emancipate from her parents with his help. Although no one quite knows what caused her downfall, I can imagine that the pressure from seemingly every adult in her life who was supposed to protect her led to her mental deterioration. Bynes is only one example out of many former stars who are scarred for life by their time on Nickelodeon and are just now beginning to find the courage to speak up. Drake Bell spoke about his experience with Brian Peck and the trauma he faced as a teenager. What stood out to me about this, despite the obvious horrors of his experience, was the fact that Peck was jailed for only 16 months and returned to working with children immediately after his arrest, as he worked on Disney’s Suite Life. Although he was eventually kicked off of working on Suite Life, it is astounding to me that he was allowed near children again and faced such a short sentence.

Dare I say, so many child actors are traumatized by their experiences to the extent that they need much stricter protection by law or even a complete ban. It is detrimental to a child’s education to be constantly on set and not in school, as well as the mental strains of earning money for their family and being surrounded by adults that may not have good intentions. The documentary cast a light on this issue and made me re-evaluate if child actors are necessary in the first place, as they often experience more harm than good.