The life of a child actor doesn’t seem as glamorous as the media portrays it to be. The recent hit documentary “Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV” revealed hidden challenges that were faced by the actors during their time on Nickelodeon that had many disturbing moments of exploitation and abuse that were going on behind the scenes.

During the start of the show disturbing actions of people like Brian Peck and Jason Handy were revealed while working for producer Dan Schnider on shows like All That, The Amanda Show, and Drake and Josh..

Jason Handy’s position was to look out and supervise the actors while on set, according to the actors, “He was a kind man and always made them laugh”. In 2003 Handy was allegedly caught preying on children like Brandi, an 11-year-old girl who acted on The Amanda Show. 

After her appearance on the show, her mother later revealed information on how Jason Handy and her daughter would email back and forth until one day he sent her an unsolicited photo of himself. Handy was later reported and police revealed how he was preying on multiple children.

Another former Nickelodeon employee was convicted of sexually abusing a child actor in 2004. 

Brian Peck was a dialogue coach and had an acting role in All That, throughout his time working on the shows he would use his role to manipulate and take advantage of young actors like Drake Bell who would later open up about what Peck did.

Dan Schneider, an important figure in Nickelodeon had creative contributions to shows like iCarly and Drake & Josh, however, the documentary shows a darker side of Schneider and how he treated those he worked with. 

Many cast members and co-workers expressed how fear, manipulation, and exploitation were used on set. Schneider’s use of inappropriate behavior and actions within his shows are visible but only for adults and parents to understand.

The show also expresses how Schneider’s mistreatment was big among the people he worked with, from sexualizing the women who would write for the show to him picking and choosing favorites between the young actors.

Schneider would also record behind the scenes and in many of the videos it’s visible that the actors were quite uncomfortable.

The documentary lets the voices of former Nickelodeon stars who have bravely come forward to share their experiences like Drake Bell for example. Bell courageously opens up about his struggles with addiction and mental health issues leading back to his time as a young actor on Nickelodeon.

Bell also opens up about the way Brian Peck treated him while working on set with him and the experiences he had. Bell opened up about how Peck assaulted him multiple times while they worked together.

It wasn’t until Bell’s girlfriend’s mother noticed something was wrong. 

Bell and his mother would later on create a sting operation with the help of the police that ended with Peck getting caught. 

“Quiet On Set” has made deeper conversations about the treatment of child actors and the responsibilities that the industry should take.

Adults are expressing the importance of creating safe and supportive environments for children to pursue their dreams of acting, and are hoping to focus on ensuring that child actors are fully protected throughout their career.