After the premiere of the Silence on set In the documentary, which chronicles the supposedly toxic work environment that child actors were exposed to at Nickelodeon during the early years, a television writer has recounted her own experiences working with Dan Schneider, who was responsible for many of the most successful shows of the chain.
in a statement Shared on X, Amy Berg wrote: “I don’t talk much about my time there, but my first job in the city was as Dan’s assistant.”
“During my year with Dan, I was not aware of any physically inappropriate behavior,” she wrote, after noting that she worked with him “for less than a year” before he left the network. “What I can confirm, however, is that he was a fucking moron. A psychological tormentor. He introduced me to panic attacks and the stress of working for him caused me to develop a major cardiac arrhythmia.”
She continued: “I finally had surgery to [mostly] correct the problem, but by that time I had already wasted my 20s. “He stole those years from me.”
Berg’s statement is in line with what other former employees have said about Schneider, both in the Nickelodeon documentary and in previous reports made about the writer. A former Nickelodeon employee interviewed in Silence on set She said working for him felt like “being in an abusive relationship.”
Berg maintained that while his career was not “affected” by the traumatic experience, his personal life was.
My only comment is: Silence on the set. pic.twitter.com/VhTt6w1JYB
—Amy Berg (@bergopolis) March 18, 2024
Berg wrote: “I stayed inside for fear of having a medical crisis outside the home. I couldn’t cultivate relationships or cultivate friendships. And to this day I carry with me an anxiety disorder that fiercely rears its head when I confront other manipulators.”
Berg, who has since worked on shows like Law & Order: Organized Crime, warrior nunand Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan – later added in a follow-up statement, “As a showrunner, I also have high expectations of the people who work for me. But do you know what is more important than that? Treat them like human beings. Psst, here’s a secret… when you do that, they work harder for you.”
Schneider has also been accused of pushing to include inappropriate content on his shows, including accusations that he pushed for young actors to wear “revealing” clothing and wrote sketches that a former child actor described as “awkward.”
A spokesperson for Schneider dismissed the claims, stating that Schneider’s work was “carefully vetted by dozens of adults involved and approved by the network.”
“If there had been scenes or clothing that were inappropriate in any way, they would have been flagged and blocked for this multi-level scrutiny,” they said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Remember that all stories, dialogue, costumes and makeup were fully approved by network executives on two coasts,” they said. “A standards and practices group read and ultimately approved each script, and programming executives reviewed and approved all episodes. Plus, every day on every set, there were always parents, caregivers and friends watching filming and rehearsals.”
You can see Silence on the set: The dark side of children’s television in max.where all Silence on set The episodes are now streaming.
