All language subtitles for Quiet.on.Set.The.Dark.Side.of.Kids.TV.S01E04.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta

[soft music playing]

[Drake Bell] Back then...

It was a different time,
so I think it was

a little easier to go to
and from a courthouse

and not worry about Twitter

that night or TMZ paparazzi's
being there.

On the day of sentencing
for Brian,

I get to the courthouse.

[scoffs]

It was the most
unbelievable thing
I'd ever seen.

His entire side of
the courtroom

was full.

Full.

There were definitely
some recognizable faces

on that side of the room.

And my side was...

me, my mom, and my brother.

Brian had been convicted,
but getting all of
this support

from a lot of people
in the industry and...

Yeah, I was pretty shocked.

My mom got up.
She had a statement.

I wasn't going
to address Brian.

There was no reason to.

I addressed my statement
to everyone in the room.

I looked at all of them.

And I just said,
"How dare you?"

And I said,

"You will forever have
the memory of sitting in

this courtroom and defending
this person.

And I will forever have
the memory of the person

you're defending
violating me...

and doing unspeakable acts
and crimes.

And that's what
I'll remember."

[opening theme music playing]

[Kate] In the end,
Brian pleads no contest

to two charges of
child sexual abuse.

And the judge sentences him
to 16 months in jail

and ordered him to register
as a sex offender.

But we wanted to understand
who in Hollywood

was supporting Brian
through this.

So we petitioned the court
to unseal

the letters of support
in this case.

Letters of support are meant
to influence the judge

during the sentencing.

In this case,
most of them are asking

the judge just to give
Brian probation.

These 41 letters
have been kept under seal

for two decades.

Some are from family,
some are from friends.

Dan Schneider does not write
a letter.

Top executives at Nickelodeon
do not write letters,

but some are
from Hollywood insiders.

You have the actor
James Marsden.

He writes in the letter,
[reading line]

James Marsden writes that
he's known Brian Peck
for 14 years,

since Marsden himself
was a teenager.

Taran Killam also wrote
a letter of support.

He writes, "I've seen
the effects this situation

has had on Brian,
and I know for a fact that

he regrets any mistakes made."

Some other people who
wrote letters of support

include the famous sitcom dad,
Alan Thicke.

The X-Men producer,
Tom DeSanto.

Ron Melendez,
another very well-known actor.

Rider Strong wrote
a letter of support for Brian.

And Will Friedle from
Boy Meets World.

We don't know exactly what
these people were told about

Brian's crimes before
they wrote the letters.

And we don't know which of
these people, if any,

were in the courtroom
for Brian's sentencing.

But these letters show
how strong the support

for Brian Peck was with people
with industry connections.

Outside of these individuals,
there were over a dozen

other letter writers
who used similar language

to blame the victim,
saying that this

wouldn't have happened
unless Brian was tempted.

Joanna Kerns,
who met Brian
when she was acting

on Growing Pains, wrote,
"I can only believe that

there must have been
some extreme situation
or temptation

exerted upon him
to influence his actions."

Kimmy Robertson
is an actress.

She wrote,
[reading line]

This logic is just
victim-blaming.

When this minor suffered
at the hands of an adult

who was in a very senior,
almost parental position
to them.

There are people who worked
with Brian and Drake

on The Amanda Show,

like the director,
Rich Correll,

and the stage manager,
Beth Correll.

Rich says that,

"it would be my pleasure
to work with him again."

In fact, Brian Peck
does end up working
with the Corrells again

on the Disney Channel show,
Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

It shows that there are not
enough protections in place

to keep even convicted
sexual predators off
of kids' TV shows.

[Anne] In 2005,
there was another case.

Ezell Channel,
a worker at
the Nickelodeon lot

in Burbank,
he brought a child to the lot,

a boy, and was convicted of
abusing that child on the lot.

He actually had prior
convictions as a sex offender,

and Nickelodeon
didn't catch it.

Jason Michael Handy,

Brian Peck,

and then Ezell Channel.

These are three predators
who worked at Nickelodeon,

all in a short amount of time.

[Kate] Around this time,
Nickelodeon did expand
its policy

around background checks
to include freelancers.

When you look at
having multiple
child predators

who worked at Nickelodeon,
it raises some confusing
questions

on who to hold accountable.

I don't think that
you can blame Schneider

for hiring Brian Peck
because he was not

a registered sex offender
when he hired him.

Drake very explicitly does not
blame Dan for any of this.

But it's clear that the system
needs to look at

if it is doing enough
to protect children.

Oh, that's not so bad.

-It's not so bad?
-No, it's all right.

[Kate] After these arrests,
Nickelodeon only grows.

Hey. Thank you for being here.

-[indistinct chatter]
-[woman] Jamie, this way!

It was actually
my first time acting on TV,

so it's really fun for me.

The mid-2000s is somewhat of
a golden era for Nickelodeon.

There is a spate of
popular new shows.

Dan Schneider is helping
launch a new era of
breakout stars.

Jamie Lynn Spears in Zoey 101.

-Zoey!
-Hi!

Hi!

[Scaachi] Victoria Justice
in Victorious.

Just let me... [screams]

Ariana Grande,
who we now know

as a very famous pop star,
and Jeanette McCurdy
in Sam and Cat.

I am really smart.

This is also the time
that Drake and Josh
really takes off.

If you've got a tween
to a teen in the house,

then you know Drake and Josh.

People know you from
the Drake and Josh Show

on Nickelodeon,
hugely popular.

[Scaachi] Nickelodeon is
making a lot of money,

and Dan Schneider
is becoming even
more successful

and more powerful,
an even bigger name
in his own right.

His shows are
cultural juggernauts,

especially iCarly starring
Miranda Cosgrove.

I'm Carly Shay,
and this is our
very first webcast

of a little show
we call iCarly.

If you've got a child aged
nine to 12,

or even a daughter like mine
who's 14,

chances are she's watched
Nickelodeon's iCarly.

It is a ratings blockbuster.

-[all laughing]
-[man] And that's our show!

[all cheering]

It hit at just a particular
cultural moment.

It was the early years of
the Internet.

iCarly is this Internet show.

It felt cutting edge
to teenagers who saw it.

This is pre-YouTube
generation.

So there was also
this component of real life

that I think hit people
in a way that
his other shows didn't.

And because it did,
it just exploded.

At one point,
they did an episode

where Michelle Obama shows up
on it.

I'm on iCarly!

With the success of iCarly,
Dan is able to

consolidate power at
Nickelodeon in
a whole new way.

And this is around the time
that the Disney Channel

starts truly competing
with Nickelodeon.

They had massive hits
like Hannah Montana

and The Suite Life
of Zack and Cody.

So as Nickelodeon
is facing all of
this competition,

Dan is their answer.

It really launches Dan
into this whole new level
of stardom.

[reporter] He's Dan Schneider,
a man with a gift,

the gift of knowing
what is funny to people of

a certain age, say,
12 or nine.

What do you got going
that other folks
aren't figuring out?

For one thing,
I am always trying to outdo

the last thing that I did.

Fred Wad.

[Rick]
Dan Schneider was always
really tech-savvy.

He loves technology.

And so when the web started
becoming popular,

he was one of the first people
out there, you know,

doing videos.

[Dan] Oh, she almost sits,
but she fakes out
the cameraman, which is me.

[Rick]
Posting videos on social media
and original stuff.

Some of these seem
pretty innocuous,

where it's Dan recording
the editing bay.

[Dan] I'm in the editing
room of iCarly,

and we're working on
the next episode.

Okay, take one.

[Kate] Or the writer's room.

[Dan] Okay,
this is Dan Schneider.

I'm here with some of
the iCarly writers.

Hello, iCarly writers.

But in these videos,
you can really see
the power play

between him and his cast.

It's a lot of him getting into
people's physical space,

and you can see palpable
discomfort on people's faces.

[Dan whispers]
Trying to scare Jeanette.

[Scaachi] There's one video
in particular where Dan

creeps behind Jeanette

-[Dan yells]
-[screams]

[Scaachi] It scares her.

My gosh,
that scared me so much.

But she can't say,
I didn't like that,

or she can't not have
a sense of humor about it,

and she can't not play
with it,

because she has to.

-[screams]
-Oh.

You have to be nice,
because that's the only way

that you're gonna get through.

-Whoo!
-[all laughing]

For Dan, it was about power
at that point.

And when you are someone
who wants more and more power,

eventually you're gonna fly
too close to the sun.

One, two, three!

[Dan] The kid audience
is definitely my bread
and butter.

I mean, that's what
I'm paid to do.

I'm paid to get kids
all the way from six to 14

glued to TV sets.

That's my goal.
That's the sweet spot.

[Kate] By the late 2000s,
Dan had more control than

pretty much any showrunner
at Nickelodeon.

He had created his own
little fiefdom.

[Dan] All right,
we're getting ready to fly.

[Scaachi] But his style had
a little bit of edge in it.

It also really pushed
the boundaries of sexualizing

young girls.

It's so cold!

Wanna get slapped
with a sausage?

Sure.

[Kate] There are jokes about
being slapped with a sausage.

There's a joke about
being on the wood.

I want to be on the wood.
What's the wood?
I want to be on it.

You have actors shaking
weights in a way

that seems
very clearly sexual.

And these actors,
for the most part, are minors.

♪ Gonna make it on my own

Another of Dan's shows,
Zoey 101,

is this high school
boarding school,

California experience.

I was 12 years old
when I started Zoey 101.

Ooh, cute boy to the left,
green shirt, backpack.

When I look back at it,
my character

was there for the boys.

Nicole was the archetype
of male gaze female,

where she was girly,
very short,

short skirts and pink.

Like kid eye candy.

How about this top?
You like this top?

It makes me look chesty.

We don't need to be
hyper-conservative
of bodies,

but that didn't represent even
me as a girl at that age.

[costumer] Definitely Dan
liked cute, pretty, flirty.

I worked in the wardrobe
department on Zoey 101.

I always thought that Dan
had a little bit of

an arrested development,
and he was like that boy that

wanted the cute girl
to like him.

I cannot believe I have
two book reports due
in one month.

[Scaachi] You put
these girls in bikinis

and bathing suits,
which is fine.

I think teenage girls
should feel free to wear
whatever they'd like.

But when you are using
nubile sexuality

as a marketing tool,
that's where it gets sticky.

One of the most disturbing
memories that I have

would probably be
the backpack episode

with Jamie Lynn Spears.

You just bite the tip.

There are these goo pops,
and my character

can't get it open.

It's not coming out.

And it ends up...

squirting onto Jamie's face.

So the prop person comes onto
set with a syringe.

We all, like, stood behind
the camera to watch.

It lands on her face.

So first it was Dan roaring,
laughing,

and then everyone
kind of giggling.

We heard the boys saying,
"It's a [bleep] shot."

And I had no idea...

what that meant.

Once I saw it again
as an adult

was when that memory
came back.

I was like, "Oh, oh, oh, oh."

Wasn't funny.

It still isn't funny to me,
to be honest.

It's just like, that's a kid.

And she was on set that day
and...

Sorry.
Just as a mom, like,

If my daughter was ever put in
the... It's gross.

Like, there's just...

It's appalling behavior on
all the adults' behalf
that day.

In my mind,
a kids' show should be

exactly what it is,
a kids' show.

And sometimes there were
scenes where there was a prop

that was like...

What's he doing?

Hmm, that could be
a sexual innuendo.

Those are good ones.

Mmm.

[Alexa] Dan went overboard
and just zoomed in
too often on the feet.

Wow, they're really soft.

Zoomed in too often on
the tongue licking things

or something that
just went too far.

[woman] Was anyone able
to say anything
or is that like...

Oh, no, no.
This is, it's Dan's baby.

Dan was Nickelodeon's
golden boy.

And even if he and the network
were at odds,

he had the power to push back.

It was very hard to say
anything to him.

And his show, Victorious,
took this to a whole
new level.

With that show,
there were online extras that

the network did not fully know
how to deal with.

Time for your nap, tomatoes.

In some of them,
you see Ariana putting
tomatoes in a bra.

Check this out.

[Kate] There are several
scenes with Ariana Grande

that are really I think
almost difficult to see

as anything but sexual
watching them now.

Mmm, I'm thirsty.

[squeals]

-[grunts]
-[Scaachi]
She's effectively massaging

a potato.

Come on, give up the juice.

[Scaachi] That's a little...
[chuckles]

[bleep] shaped perhaps.

We're adults,
so we know what's going on,

but this is a show for kids.

So...

who is sexual innuendo for
on a kids show?

Help me up on this thing.

It's legal and there's nothing
actionable about it,

Just lift me.

...but there is a nebulousness
around it,

but it's morally murky.

At the end of the day,
I love it when the cast gets

sassy with me because I get
to write all the scripts

with some
very talented writers,

but I get to,
I can put them in

any horrible predicament
I choose.

You can touch their hair,
you can take a picture
with them,

you can ask them
personal questions,

inappropriate ones,
whatever you want to do.

Dan, he behaved in a way
that was pretty concerning

and problematic,
especially when it
comes to women,

and how he treated people
as a boss on set.

[costumer] Something that was
always really uncomfortable

was walking onto set
and seeing who Dan

had talked into giving him
a massage.

It was almost always
a female and it was often one

from the wardrobe department.

It was humiliating.

I remember one time
sitting next to a colleague

and she got a text
from him saying,

"Come and massage me
on the set."

and she said, "My God,
doesn't he know I'm doing

two shows?

I'm so busy,"
and I could see that

she was distraught,
but she went anyway.

It definitely felt like
a form of sexual harassment.

There was always someone
massaging him.

That's, like, all I remember
was some person on set

massaging that guy.

Dan was asking for
this incredibly
inappropriate thing

for almost two decades.

He was asking people
at work to touch him.

Everyone knew it,
from New York to California.

So who would we go to?

Who could we possibly go to
to complain about this?

[Rick]
Nickelodeon could
have been there

to be a buffer more
than they were.

And I don't think the network
was ever close to doing that.

Why wouldn't anybody
do anything?
Why didn't they stop him?

[indistinct chatter]

It felt like somebody
needed to rein him in,

and he wasn't reined in.

[upbeat music playing]

[Kate] In 2014, we have
the Kids' Choice Awards.

[all cheering]

This is Nickelodeon's
big night to celebrate
their stars.

[Ariana] As far as award shows
or anything goes,

Nickelodeon always does it
the funnest,
you know what I mean?

Nickelodeon is known for
being fun and messy and gross.

It's also the awards where
Dan is being celebrated.

I'm happy to be here
to honor Dan.

He's created so many
amazing shows.

Dan Schneider wins his
Lifetime Achievement Award.

[Kate] He is surrounded by
so many different people
from all his shows.

They're talking about
how great he is.

Thank you, Dan.

You're an inspiration!

Speaking about how key
he was to their careers.

You not only changed
all of our lives,

you changed Kids TV.

But there is one person
that does not show up.

And that is Jeanette McCurdy,

who was the co-star
on Sam and Cat.

People were just thinking,
"Oh, that's odd."

She's one of the primary
people on one of his shows.

She's been with
this guy forever.

Why is she not there?

[Scaachi] Eight years later,
Jeanette McCurdy publishes

a memoir about her life
as a child star,

about the abuse that
she suffered at the hands
of her mother.

But the memoir also answers
a lot of really complicated
questions

about working as a child actor
and about Dan Schneider,

who she began working
with around age 13.

You pull back the curtain
on child stardom.

-It is not a pretty picture.
-Not as I see it, no.

[Scaachi]
In Jeanette's memoir,
she writes about

an unnamed
television show creator,

and a lot of people
have speculated that

that person is Dan Schneider.

She writes,
"I feel like The Creator

has two distinct sides.

One is generous
and over-the-top
complimentary.

The other side
is mean-spirited,

controlling, and terrifying."

She's also talked in a podcast
about how this treatment
felt abusive.

There was a very abusive
producer on that show,

and that would not
have gone well

if I tried to communicate
that to him.

"He'll call people idiots,
buffoons, stupid,

dumb, sloppy, careless,
and spineless.

The creator knows how to make
someone feel worthless."

[indistinct on-set chatter]

[Kate] Dan's treatment of
people on his shows was
an open secret.

For the crew,
if you messed up,

even if it was
a minor mistake,

Dan would be someone
who would be willing
to humiliate you

or fire you on the spot.

[Rick] The description I got
from someone was
that everything

that Dan Schneider did
is a DEFCON 10 event.

Dan Schneider was convinced
that everything that he did,

the, quote,
"Passion of the way he reacted

and the way that
he approached people,"

that's what made
this magic happen.

That's what made these shows
a success.

[Scaachi] Culturally,
we are still doing
the tortured genius routine.

So if a guy's
a total piece of [bleep],

he must be so good at his job.
[chuckles]

[Jennette]
There's a lot of abuse
that happens.

I mean,
even talking about it now,
my face gets hot.

You know,
he'd say things like,

"You would work at Yogurtland
if you didn't work for me."

And he would just scream.

[Kate]
Jeanette's experience gets
a lot worse on Sam and Cat.

And this is happening at
the same time
Jeanette's mom dies.

[Kate] She took less than
a week break from filming.

And her quick return is
something that people on set

told us that
they were disturbed by.

[Rick] The situation got
so stressful on the set of
Sam and Cat.

Nickelodeon launched
an internal investigation.

[Kate] I learned that Dan
is seen as kind of
contributing

to this toxic culture
that is happening

and that is really making
this show a difficult place

for many people to work.

[all laughing]

[Kate] After
the investigation,
Dan Schneider

was no longer allowed
to really interact with
the cast anymore.

Dan has always been such
a hands-on showrunner,

so for Dan,
this is the biggest punishment
you can imagine.

[Rick] When you look at
the industry as a whole,
this never happens.

You would be hard-pressed
to find another show

where they're saying, "Look,
we don't trust the guy

running the show

to deal with people
in a humane way."

But they also don't want
to get rid of him.

He creates hits.

There's money to be made.

[Scaachi] Dan Schneider can
get away with it because
he's Dan Schneider.

And powerful people in
the entertainment space

will make allowances for
anybody who is successful.

Until something happens
that you cannot ignore.

[dramatic music playing]

In 2017, three years after Dan
is banned from working

directly with his own actors
on the set of Sam and Cat,

he's back on set
at Nickelodeon with
two new shows,

Henry Danger and Game Shakers.

I booked you a massage
with the massage squad.

But around this time,
something has shifted

culturally around workplace
harassment and toxicity.

[reporter 1] Millions of women
across the country

-using the hashtag MeToo.
- [reporter 2] MeToo.

[reporter 3]
The MeToo phenomenon.

[reporter 4] Several
allegations of
sexual harassment

against Harvey Weinstein.

[reporter 5 ] This morning,
Kevin Spacey,

-Undersire,
- [reporter 6] R. Kelly,
Bill Cosby.

[reporter 7]
The MeToo movement
exploding overnight.

[reporter 8]
And the accusations
just keep coming.

[costumer] I decided
I'd had enough when
the MeToo movement

made it okay to talk about
hostile work environments.

I felt like I could
finally call up my union

and let them know that
there had been some stuff

going on that
it was inappropriate that

he asked for massages
from females weekly

if not daily
and this is not right.

Something has to be done.

The union representative said
I wasn't the only one

who had shown my shock
and displeasure that

this was allowed to go on.

And that they were looking
into it.

A lot of rumors
were circulating around

Dan Schneider,
and these really
exploded online.

In 2017,
Nickelodeon launches yet

another investigation
into Dan Schneider.

It's not because they have
a smoking gun,

it's because the Me Too
movement has helped us

sort of rethink and reevaluate
what we think is appropriate

and not appropriate
in the workplace.

And then my supervisor
actually called me

and told me that...

yeah, Dan wouldn't be
coming back.

[Kate] For Dan to be ousted
from Nickelodeon is
a huge shock.

He did not see this coming.

[Rick] He issues a couple
statements, basically,

"Oh, you know,
I need some time off.

I'm just, you know,
I'm working on my life."

[Kate] But behind the scenes.

Nickelodeon literally changes
the locks of this place

that he turned into an empire.

[Rick] They gave him an amount
that was reported at the time

at about $7 million.

You know, it was just a really
quick, really sharp break.

[Kate] This investigation
did not find any evidence of

inappropriate sexual behavior,
inappropriate relationships
with children.

Jerry, I'm going to push--

But it did find evidence of
being abusive to others

in the workplace.

So to hear that he was gone
was a good thing.

It was a very good thing.
It was a happy day.

When everyone did come back,
it was a much happier
workplace.

I remember reading
that Dan was no longer

going to be under contract at
Nickelodeon,

and I can remember
exactly where I was.

It didn't surprise me.

They should have fired him
a long time ago.

[Kate] Dan is no longer at
Nickelodeon,

and he hasn't made
a new TV show
in a number of years.

In 2021, he told
The New York Times, kind of,

I'm ready to reemerge
in children's television.

I mean, I don't see how
he comes back from it.

I'm sure he wants to,
but I don't see
how it happens.

Let's please collectively
not let another Dan happen.

Like, he cannot happen again.

Like, this is not a joke.

[clicks tongue]

A lot of his shows
are still on the air,

and they're still
really popular.

But those kids who grew up
on Dan Schneider's sets

and in
the entertainment industry

are adults now,
and they are reexamining

the world that
they grew up in.

[Alexa]
Towards the end of season two
of Zoey 101...

I wasn't happy.

I actually could not show up
to set anymore without crying.

A lot of my self-worth
was deeply damaged

from that set experience.

Me as a person was, like,
altered for life.

Being let go from
The Amanda Show

really broke my confidence
big time.

That was a very young lesson
to learn in my career,

is that everyone
is replaceable.

And it sent me down
a really dark path.

I had to really, like,
pick myself back up

and keep it moving in
an industry

that showed me very early on
that it has no love for me
at all.

[Leon] Being a child star
hurt me mentally

and somewhat physically.

The alcoholism that
I've dealt with,

I believe,
is a direct connection
to the feelings that

I have after leaving
the industry

and not being able to maintain
the success that I had.

[Katrina] After All That,
I was burned out,

and I was excited for
the next chapter.

I was excited
to maybe try college,

being normal a little bit.

But, you know,
not everybody gets
to be normal afterwards

because you don't know
what that looks like.

[Bryan]
When I was on All That,
it was a sweet experience,

but the bittersweet,
the bitter side of the

bitter sweet
was pretty bitter.

There's a dark underbelly
to child stardom.

Children are just
a dollar sign when
they show up on set.

Nobody's taking anyone's
mental health serious,

and that's completely
unfortunate.

I struggled with
self-esteem issues.

I struggled with
beauty standards.

'Cause I didn't feel accepted.

There you go.

It was a toxic environment
and seeing how the show

just kept on rolling and these
people who were criminals

were disappeared,

it made me quite cynical
about the reality of

power dynamics and it made me
trust people less.

[all clamoring]

[photographer] Drake,
can you look right at
this way, please?

[Drake] Right after
Drake and Josh,
I was signed,

and then I released
my second album.

I made some really
cool movies,

but I would have stints
of sobriety,

and then I would...

You know,
the pressure would be
too much,

and...

all of these demons
that I had, um...

were very difficult to...

to work through.

And so I think a lot of
my self-destructive behavior

would always just be
a temporary fix,

and it would always creep
back up.

I went through this bankruptcy
and lost my house, and...

I mean,
it was absolutely devastating.

Hey, what's up, Glenn?

-Cory, can we get
a picture, please?
-Glenn, can we get a sign?

[Raquel]
We can go on and on and on
of child actors

or child entertainers
who had cameras

watching every single
downfall.

-Brittany.
-Hello? Did you have fun
in there, Brittany?

Lindsay, do you have anything
to say to Brittany?

Look at what happens
to these kids when
they're spat out.

-They end up quite sick.
-[indistinct conversation]

They have issues
with addiction.

[man] Eddie.

How are you?

Aaron Carter.

[man] One of those days,
Aaron, you know?

[reporter] Amanda Bynes,
arrested, hauled out of

her midtown
Manhattan apartment.

[reporter 2] Arrested,
allegedly smoking marijuana.

[reporter 3] You just wonder,
how low is the bottom?

[Raquel]
When I think of Amanda,

it's like so painful.

She was hospitalized for
a mental health evaluation.

[Raquel]
Because we are talking about
a very talented young woman.

Someone who had the entire
world at her fingertips.

Amanda Bynes is
a very prototypical
child star story.

As she entered adulthood,
it seemed like

she was struggling with
the transition.

She had a lot
of public mental health issues

that tabloids covered.

She ended up in
a conservatorship

with her parents,
and that was
very recently overturned.

Child stars' relationships
with their families often

are starting from a place of
discontent,

and then they get worse.
They don't have childhoods

like kids are supposed
to have.

-[photographer] And look up.
-Okay, ready.

[Drake] There was definitely
a slow decline

in my mental health
and sobriety.

I mean, DUIs,

um, behaviors that
were happening

because I was...

I... I was lost.

[reporter] Nickelodeon's
Drake Bell is arrested
in California,

accused of driving
under the influence.

Former Nickelodeon star
Drake Bell was convicted

and sentenced for
child endangerment.

[Scaachi] Drake Bell
pled guilty to charges related

to inappropriate text messages
he sent to a minor,

but he was not charged
for doing anything physical.

He was sentenced to
two years of probation

and 200 hours of
community service.

[Drake] I took responsibility
for that.

You know,
I did what was asked of me.

But the media grabbed
ahold of so much
misinformation,

and it absolutely
destroyed me.

And I started to spin out
of control.

[reporter] Actor Drake Bell
has been reported missing.

Police say they are
deeply concerned
for his well-being.

If I had continued down
that path, that...

could very likely...

be the end of my story.

[soft music playing]

[Drake] I was at rock bottom.

And so I checked
into treatment.

And I got to go through
a lot of trauma therapy,

a lot of grief therapy,

and be surrounded by

people who,

for the first time
in a long time...

[sighs] ...wanted to just
see me get better.

[Giovannie] For child actors,
if you're not protected,

it'll turn into chaos.

There's gotta be more support
in terms of counseling,

mental health,
wellness checks.

[Kyle] Kids are still at risk.

The law does not cover
everyone operating on a set

because that's an environment
where either a studio teacher

or a parent is legally
required to be within

sight or sound of the kid
at all times.

That's just not enough.

Someone who has
a criminal record
as a child sex offender

can find their way into
this position,

that loophole in the law
should be closed.

Most people actually
financially reward

these industries
without knowing
what's actually happening,

you know, behind the scenes.

It unfortunately takes
the people that witnessed it

and experienced it to speak up
to really change it.

My hope is that with
every voice that comes out,

something changes.

Maybe today's the day.

I don't know.

When people ask me,
am I going to put my kids
into acting,

I literally have zero,
zero thought

before my no.

[Drake]
I'm often asked the question,
"You grew up in the business

and is this a good place
for kids? And...

and, you know, it's such a,
a hard question to answer

because I wanted nothing more
in life,

but to get on stage.

There is so much
in this industry

that you have
to be cautious of,

but...

would I want the experiences
that I've had,

the good experiences that
I've had, ripped away from me?

I don't know what
the answer is

and I don't have the power
to do it,

but I would love to be able
to create an environment where

we're not so vulnerable

and susceptible to...

outside dangers.

[soft music playing]

It's just,
it's really hard going back

over these old memories.

[man] Oh, well, you know what?

There's better days
ahead of us.

[Drake] Yeah,
I keep hearing that.

[man] Yeah, well,
keep listening to it.

[soft music playing]

♪

♪