After watching “Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Children's TV,' A lot of repressed memories flooded in. Maybe they weren't so “suppressed” because they got lost in the chaos of my busy life, but now they're back. bold text…
As I prepare to move, I'm going through boxes of old items I've collected over the past 19 years in this house. I found a few binders full of old newspaper articles from my first journalism job, and there it was. Dan Schneider.
'TV show creators appeal to more than just teenagers'
In 2008, shortly after beginning my career as a newspaper reporter for the Eastern Pocono Community News, the Pocono Record's weekly newspaper, I had the opportunity to interview Dan Schneider, creator of “Drake & Josh,” “iCarly,” and more. Nickelodeon's hit shows were something my kids loved watching.
Especially because of my kids' love for “Drake & Josh,” I started interviewing him about his show and why it appeals to all ages. To my surprise, I easily succeeded in interviewing not only him but also his wife, Lisa Lillien, better known at the time as “The Hungry Girl.”
After hearing all the allegations revealed in the documentary, several people are now asking me what the interview was like. To be honest, I don't remember much of the content since it was a phone interview, but a few anecdotes come to mind.
One thing that stood out about that interaction was that my young sons were able to recite some of the sayings they had learned from “Drake & Josh” and used to quote to others, and Schneider was intrigued by them. Other than that, I don't remember it being a very long interview, and I had no complaints at the time.
Hindsight is 20/20. This now turns into a very valuable life lesson. You don't know what's really going on in someone's life. They can be sweet and kind in public, but behind closed doors they can be monsters.
What I felt after watching the documentary is different from what I felt in 2008.
After watching the documentary, it started to hurt me to think so highly of someone who was doing such horrible things and was completely unknown to the general public at the time. So I dug up my story and read it, and oh my! (This is literally all I could muster after reading the story.)
When I started skimming through the old ink on the page, own When I heard those words, the first few sentences, my heart sank…
The story begins with, “Children are very impressionable, and especially in the ‘tween’ age group, the people they idolize need to be positive role models.” It took me a moment to process what I had just read. The next line in the story is, “No one knows this better than Dan Schneider, creator of many positive ‘tween’ shows on Nickelodeon.”
Knowing what I know now while watching “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” it took me a few minutes to process this. The story goes about how he came up with the idea for “iCarly” and why he wanted his show to appeal to parents as well as children.
“We often hear from parents who watch shows like ‘Drake & Josh’ and ‘iCarly’ with their kids. I love the idea of providing family entertainment,” he said in an interview.
Nathan Kress and Drake Bell were also interviewed.
Not long after I started writing for the weekly newspaper, I was offered a position on the staff of the daily newspaper. It was there that I had the pleasure of interviewing Drake Bell and Nathan Kress at different times and for different reasons.
Bell was part of a festival in the Poconos in the fall of 2009, so we interviewed him ahead of his performance. He was 23 years old at the time. He was originally scheduled to be interviewed at the stadium before the performance, but he missed his flight the day before and was scheduled to arrive late, so he was interviewed over the phone.
I remember he gave an amazing interview. He was really kind, answered all my questions in detail, and made me feel like I was talking to a friend! It's surprising to think how calm and genuinely cheerful Belle seemed during the call. Especially when we reflect on the fact that he endured unimaginable abuse from Brian Peck years ago. He carried this burden quietly, unbeknownst to all of us…
The interview with Kress was also conducted over the phone, but his PR team arranged for me and my children to meet him during his appearance at the Steamtown Mall in Scranton, Pennsylvania in December 2009. What I remember about his interview was very similar to Bell's interview. He was also very friendly, willing to answer my questions and overall enjoyable to talk to.
My youngest son was a child actor for 7 years
Not only did I gain some insight into the world of child actors through interviews about my work, but I was also a 'momager' to my youngest child, Jessie, who started acting at the age of 7. In this context. , watching ‘Quiet On Set’ was very unsettling for me. Especially since my own children entered the industry at the same age when so many children faced abuse.
In short, he really enjoyed Halloween. He dressed up and played the role. After getting the opportunity to act one night at the Hotel of Horror, a local haunted house in Seilsburg, Pennsylvania, he realized that acting was something he really wanted to pursue. He asked me if he could be an actor and I told him it was okay for him to say no and that I would submit him for a background job if he didn't get upset if he didn't get the job. I gave him a whole speech about “he probably won’t get the first part he submits” etc. and he said it was okay.
I decided… Why not?
He had a good attitude about it and maybe nothing will come of it, but maybe something will come of it. I turned him in for background work on “The Mysteries of Laura” with Debra Messing and the very next day I got a call from casting asking if he could come on set the next day! This began a seven-year journey in television, film, runway, and music videos.
He's done a lot of background and indie roles, so you might not know him by his name or just by looking at his photos, but he's had quite a bit of influence in the industry. He was really taking off and it seemed like if we kept going he could possibly get closer to his big break. But it was hard. We lived two hours outside of NYC and had to give up everything to get in and out of the city for auditions. He also did a lot of work that required wardrobe fittings, rehearsals and long filming periods. But none of us complained. It was a fun trip.
There were a few things I noticed during Jesse's acting adventures.
Even people who don't know us well will know that Jessie is acting at such a young age and will voice their opinions out loud. One person told me to my face that I was a terrible mother for allowing my son to be in that environment and that she literally bet everything that he would develop a drug addiction when he got older.
Some people say I let him grow up too fast. Because if you're a working child actor, is Grow a little faster. There's no denying it. But that was what he wanted to do and I was very involved. For the most part, everyone around us is here for the adventure and has been really supportive.
Thankfully there were no real problems with any of the sets. We were always on different sets, but many of the production assistants were the same no matter what show he was working on. he is <언브레이커블 키미 슈미트>Because we filmed eight episodes of , we got to know their crew and crew pretty well.
I was told to leave my son on set…
The only time we ran into a problem was on the set of the TV show “Gotham” when he was playing a small background role. He was one of two or three kids on set that day. He was filming in an alley in Queens and the space was limited.
As I was getting ready to film Jessie's scene, a production assistant informed me that I had to leave and insisted I wait on the street. I refused.
They said there was no place for me, but I stood firm and would not leave my son's side, even if it meant hiding behind a plant. Another flight attendant, who had overheard our conversation, came over and supported my position, confirming my right to remain within sight and sound of my son at all times.
I took that whole exchange as a production assistant, and since I had never worked with children before, I didn't think much about it after that. I never thought anything interesting would happen, but it reminded me that I would never let my son out of my sight while on set because anything could happen. The docuseries since has proven that to be true, and I'm so glad I always followed my intuition.
My son's acting career came to a screeching halt in 2019. He was considered a “must join” SAG, and we were not prepared to join a union because that would exclude him from non-union jobs. The entrance fee was too high compared to what I had paid at the time, so I was at a crossroads. Then the pandemic started and everything shut down.
It was a fun trip so far. We've learned a lot, have great memories to share, and it's definitely helped him have the amazing work ethic he has now as a young man. After watching the documentary and hearing all the child actors tell the truth, I felt somewhat relieved that our experience was limited and ended on a good note…