- Producer Dan Schneider has kept a low profile since exiting Nickelodeon in 2018.
- ID's new docuseries "Quiet on Set" alleged Schneider's sets were toxic work environments.
Investigation Discovery's docuseries "Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV" has put former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider back in the hot seat, painting a picture of sets rife with sexism, verbal abuse, and sexual harassment, all presided over by a volatile boss.
Schneider, who joined the kids' network in the '90s, made a name for himself as the creator of popular TV shows like "The Amanda Show," "Drake & Josh," "Zoey 101," and '"iCarly."
After parting ways with Nickelodeon in 2018, Schneider mostly maintained a low profile — until "Quiet on Set" prompted him to speak out about the allegations in the series and issue apologies.
Here's what Schneider has been up to in recent years.
Schneider teased a comeback in a 2021 interview
In an interview with The New York Times, Schneider said that his departure from Nickelodeon was a mutual decision and a welcome break from his intense work schedule. He added that it allowed him to prioritize new things, like losing more than 100 pounds.
At the time, he said he also was itching to get back into the world of TV and had a few projects in the works. One was a pilot that he wrote and sold to an unnamed network that he described as geared toward an adult audience. According to the Times, Schneider was also working on a family-friendly project.
Whether these projects are still currently in the works three years later is unknown.
Schneider resurfaced in March 2024 to apologize for his past behavior and address claims made in 'Quiet on Set'
On March 19, 2024, Schneider released a 19-minute long interview with BooG!e, aka Bobby Bowman, who starred as Groovy Smoothie manager T-Bo on "iCarly," in which he addressed the allegations made in "Quiet on Set."
"Watching over the past two nights was very difficult," Schneider said, "facing my past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret. I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology."
Schneider said that it was wrong to ask employees for massages on set and he's "embarrassed" that he did it at the time.
He also addressed comments made by Christy Stratton and Jenny Kilgen, the only two female writers who worked on season one of "The Amanda Show."
Schneider said that he was uninvolved with writers' salaries and that it was a "common practice" in TV for two first-time writers to share a salary. The producer also admitted that some of his own jokes and pranks "went too far.'"
Schneider apologized to the people who didn't have a positive experience working with him, some of whom participated in "Quiet on Set." He said that he let the pressure of his workload get to him, and watching the docuseries made him want to call some of the people he wronged and apologize.
"I would snap at people sometimes, I would be snarly when I could have given them a nicer answer, I would not give people the time that they needed, I would be in too big a hurry to get onto the next thing I had to do," he said.
Additionally, Schneider denied that jokes from his shows were intentionally meant to be inappropriate or contain sexual innuendos.
"Every one of those jokes was written for a kid audience," he said, adding that he's fine with such jokes being cut from his shows if they make people uncomfortable.
Schneider said he didn't have unchecked power as a producer, and there were "many levels of scrutiny." He also denied being barred from the sets of his shows.
Schneider concluded by sharing the things he'd do differently in hindsight, like asking for a licensed therapist for child actors. But mainly, the producer said that he would change his attitude and how he treated people.
"I definitely, at times, didn't give people the best of me," he said. "I didn't show enough patience. I could be cocky and definitely over-ambitious, and sometimes just straight-up rude and obnoxious. And I'm so sorry that I ever was."
"When I watched the show, I could see the hurt in some people's eyes, and it made me feel awful and regretful and sorry," he added. "I wish I could go back to the earlier years of my career and bring the growth and experience that I have now, and just do a better job."