01x01 - Rising Stars, Rising Questions

[bunniefuu]

For
a certain generation,

the Nickelodeon jingle
is b*rned

into our brain.

Get some juice
in the glass!

In the early '90s,

Nickelodeon
was kid everything.

It was like the mecca.

- Nickelodeon is the place
where only kids win.

It was the starting point
of everything cool.

You come home.

You watch Salute Your Shorts.

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Have you lost your mind?

Everybody watched
Ren & Stimpy.

God, I sound so old saying...

You know,
before when I was comin' up

there were
no internet, like...

But there wasn't.

We didn't have
Netflix and Hulu.

We didn't have
ten things to choose from.

There was Nickelodeon

and there was Disney.

And that was it.

And you better hope
that your house had cable.

In the '90s and 2000s,

there was one producer who
was able to take Nickelodeon

to new heights.

It is our great honor
to present

the first ever Nickelodeon
Lifetime Achievement Award

to a man who's been
making all of us laugh

for the past two decades.

Dan Schneider!

The 2014
Kid's Choice Awards

showed that Dan Schneider

was Nickelodeon's golden boy.

He was their cash cow.

He created these shows
that were...

hugely, hugely
successful for them.

- He launched
the careers of child actors

who became major stars.

For 20 years,

he shaped
children's entertainment

and shaped children's culture.

When Dan accepted his award,
he was elated,

he was emotional,

and very few could have
predicted his downfall.

Whoo! Try not to cry.

Wow, thank you so much.

I will warn you...

if you were
a child of the '90s...

this is going to
ruin that for you.

What do we really know

about Dan Schneider?

For decades,
Dan seemed like he was untouchable.

But around 2017,

the internet videos
around Dan

really started
gaining momentum.

He made them do things
that were very weird.

There are all these setups
that referenced p*rn.

Like, squirting goo
on Jamie Lynn's face

when she's just


Feel these kids' feet.

Wow, they're really soft.

People were looking back
at old scenes and saying,

"Dan Schneider
is obsessed with feet."

Check this out.

It's all very gross
and foul things.

...impossible to escape
children's feet.

- Dan Schneider...
- ...absolutely disgusting.

He's a grown ass man.

What the
are you doing?

There's one video
of Ariana Grande

making a joke about a potato.

Sometimes I wonder

if you can get juice...

from a potato.

Did that air on Nickelodeon?

Come on!

Give up the juice.

Yikes.

I'm thirsty.

In another video,

Ariana is pouring water
on herself

in what seems like
a very sexual manner.

And people started saying

this feels
inappropriate for children.

- Looking
at Dan Schneider's stars,

some of them
became extremely famous,

some of them
really struggled publicly.

After her arrest last week...

Now some of them
are starting to speak out

about what happened
when they were on his sets.

I work with an incredibly
emotionally abusive producer.

I did not feel safe
around Dan Schneider

while I was working
at Nickelodeon.

All of this information

has made us wonder...

what was happening
behind the scenes.

As a reporter at Insider,

I wanted
to investigate further.

I've been waiting for someone
to question the climate.

It's been a long time coming.

I didn't feel safe
to say, "This hurt me."

The bad
just doesn't go away.

The bad stays for a lifetime.

It was
a toxic, unsafe environment.

I can't
sit on it anymore.

I can't watch it continue.

I want, uh,
people to be accountable.

I've been waiting


Nickelodeon was
a little wild.

- All right.
- All right, guys.

It was a little quirky.

Always funny...

but from a kid's view.

And in Nickelodeon shows,
parents are, like,

not really around.

It was, like,
the kid is the star.

You know, sometimes
parents are so dumb.

- Nickelodeon wasn't there
to educate you.

Put your hat on.

We were there
to have fun, to get slimed,

to be entertained.

I'll get you!

I was slimed more times

than I can care
to tell you about.

It was part of my job.

It's cold, it's wet,
it's gooey, it's sticky.

Oh, my goly!

Exactly how
did that feel?

Like my son threw up on me.

In the mid-'90s,
Nickelodeon is pushing the boundaries

of children's entertainment.

And this is when
Dan Schneider arrives.

He's young. He's ambitious.

And he has a lot to prove.

Dan comes
out of Memphis.

He describes himself
as sort of

a awkward fat kid.

He's coming from a father
who went to Harvard.

And his parents do not have

the highest expectations
for him.

He wasn't exactly someone

who they thought was going
to be massively successful.

So Dan is able
to find himself in drama.

Early articles
about Dan say

he went to Harvard.

But he never actually
attended the university.

He auditions
for this teen movie

that's sh**ting in Memphis
and he gets a job.

Hello, Pizzas R Us?

It's a small role.

But it eventually
leads to Dan

ending up on
a really big show.

He is
on Head of the Class

which is at the time one of
the biggest comedies on TV.

He was 19.

This put us
on the map, I mean...

This got us small homes
and this...

We... We get tables
in restaurants now.

As an actor,
Dan was cast as the fat kid.

You guys pick
on the blimp again.

Nice.

You could sing
"We Are the World"

all by yourself.

He seemed always
driven by this fat joke.

"I'm gonna show people
that that's not who I am.

I'm not the fat kid.
I'm this talented writer."

His first rip that he sold
in TV was Head of the Class.

He cowrote it with one of
the other cast members.

And everything else happened
because of that show.

Several years later,

Nickelodeon executive
came to him and said,

"Hey, we're working
on this idea

for a sketch show, All That.

Would you like
to write the pilot?"

And the next thing you know,

he is producing the show.

He's writing episodes.

All That
first launched in 1994.

The concept was,

it was a Saturday Night Live
for kids.

I wanted to make a show
for Nickelodeon

and I wanted to do
sketch comedy

'cause no one had
ever really done sketch comedy

starring kids for kids.

At the beginning
of his career,

Dan Schneider and his
early producing partner

Brian Robbins
got noticed by the press

for all of their success
for All That.

It's a special thing.

I mean, not many kids get
to go on national television

and play


Eat rotten cheese...

-We're doing highbrow stuff.
-Yeah.

All That was
a really edgy concept.

And it established
Dan Schneider

as this creative force
at Nickelodeon.

And he helped
launch the career

of some of comedy's
biggest names

like Kel Mitchell
and Kenan Thompson.

Is chocolate good
for congestion?

I have no idea.

All That quickly became

a pretty big hit
for Nickelodeon

where they went from, like,
a pretty scrappy production

to getting some of the
biggest names in entertainment

to be these guests.

I do.

My name is Leon Frierson.

I was on seasons
four to six of All That.

Quinn gotta showered

and knocked out
by a talking cheeseburger.

A lot of us got
our break on All That.

I am Katrina Johnson.

From the time
I was ten to 16,

I starred on All That.

Garty!

How are you, my darlin'?

Dan Schneider
was my mentor.

And I remember, my first
audition, he was there.

All of my callbacks,
he was there.

You wanna... Sorry.

You wanna
see something really gross?

Look at this.

I'm so flat, it's disgusting.

When we were
filming the pilot,

he came up to me
and he said,

"I chose you.

You are my choice.

And I know
you're gonna be great."

It made me feel like
a million bucks.

When I would say,

"Hey, I have this idea
for this character,"

he would always listen.

And we would usually
turn it into something.

One day, the network
called my parents and said,

"We want to see
how you would feel

if we created
The Katrina Johnson Show."

And that I'm already living
the dream life,

but it gets even better.

Dan, and he was
the head writer, so...

Dan kind of ran things.

I'm the producer.
Executive producer.

That's why
he gets the headset.

I have to yell.

In early
behind the scenes interviews,

you see Dan
presenting himself

as a self-deprecating
and really funny boss.

Dan just created
a really fun set.

Don't know what's taking
so long now.

Let me find out.

All right,
come on.

That could explain it.

Come on, not again.

Nothing humiliating
about that!

Dan was a big kid.

He was always doing
something to joke around

or poke fun at somebody.

I mean, okay,

These are the breaks, y'all.

He kept things pretty light
in the beginning.

On All That,
he would inspire you

to get whatever
it was that you needed

to get it done, you know?

But we were kids and
they were long days.

You know,
some would say

that he was trying to push
them towards greatness.

But there's also a...
another side.

A lot of these kids in the
entertainment industry are vulnerable.

The power balance
between a child and an adult

is so striking already.

And then on top
of it you add

that it's
an employment situation.

These are eight
to 15-year-olds...

and they are
often responsible

for the entire
economic success

of their families.

What are they gonna do
if they get in trouble?

What if all of this goes away
because they complained?

And so you spend
your time working,

hoping that people
don't poke the soft spots

on your body
and in your brain.

Dan! Dan.

Here, Leon, start to the green room.
They're there...

On All That,

what really made me feel

the most uncomfortable were...

the leotards.

I mean, I was just
a growing boy

trying to, you know,
fit into my body

and it was just out there

for everyone to kind of
look at and...

judge me or...

You know, I just felt
very exposed.

So one week
we get a script,

there's a new character for me
on All That named Nose Boy.

Naturally, I'm in
a superhero costume

which is just
tights and underwear.

You know, what was
different about this...

They... They gave me
a prosthetic nose,

like a enlarged nose...

and they put this same nose
on the costume.

I'm Captain Big Nose.

- What are your
special powers?

You can't help
but notice

that it looks like penis and
testicles on my shoulders.

This is a child
playing this role.

And he is playing it
for other children.

His audience is kids
as young as six.

I'm allergic to asteroids.

And the joke in that sketch
is effectively a joke.

It a joke
for children.

I'm just looking
back at it,

it's just very strange.

Frankly, it was
just uncomfortable.

In the...
the moments to myself

you would just
be thinking, like...

"Hey, this is what
we gotta do be on the show.

To stay in the cast
and stay in the good graces

of the people
that were higher up."

Some of the child actors felt
like they could not push back,

especially with
Dan Schneider.

And so I always did
my best to be a trooper.

Never complain.

'Cause we knew,

being close to Dan,

could mean an extra level
of, uh, success.

It was important to be...
to be on his good side.

And he made it known
who was on his good side.

One day, uh,
the producers called my house...

and spoke
to my parents and said,

"Hey..."

"Katrina's getting too fat.

We already have a fat one.
She can't be the fat one."

They go,
"Well, uh, she's a dancer.

She's in dance class, like,
six hours a day.

There's nothing more
we can do."

I mean...

That stuck with me.

"You can't be
the fat one." Like...

I still hear those words
in my head to this day.

And it's funny because...

shortly after that call,

I went through puberty.

And then
the producers freak out

because now
I look like a woman

and I'm not
little girlish anymore,

so then that
became an issue.

And then after that
I'm sort of like...

edged out...

by, like,
a younger version of me.

Please welcome
ten-year-old Amanda.

I remember one day
I was at the Laugh Factory.

It's a really famous
comedy club on Sunset.

They would have
workshops for kids.

Couple of Nickelodeon people
had gone to support Katrina.

Brian Robbins
and Dan Schneider came

and I said, "You gotta
check out this girl.

She's really amazing."

And the girl
was Amanda Bynes.

The other day,
I got a pimple.

I remember Amanda
doing a routine

about having a pimple
that she couldn't pop

on the inside of her nose.

I mean, what's the deal?

Is God sitting up there
in heaven

looking down at me
and saying,

"I think I'll give her
a challenge."

And
I remember thinking...

"You're like ten.
You do not have a pimple

on the inside
of your nose."

But that was
a really kickass routine

and it was...

pretty flawless.

Dan saw her
and, like, immediately...

knew she'd be a star.

Over the '90s,

Dan's star is rising
in Nickelodeon.

But what takes him
to the next level

is when he discovers
Amanda Bynes.

And he recognizes
her talent

and he wants her
in All That immediately.

- Hi, hi, everyone.
It's me, Amanda.

Amanda was
absolutely natural.

Her timing
was impeccable.

Uh, very physical.

Then my bully
kicked on me at school.

I discovered that music
could be used as self-defense.

Oh, well, how?

Hmm?

We had to go
to school on set.

I mean, I was allowed
to go to school.

- How many hours?
- Three.

- Three?
- A day.

- Can you share what--
- Go talk to the teacher.

Okay.

And so
there would be times

where Amanda
would just be missing.

And a lot of times
we would just hear

that she would
be with Dan,

pitching ideas and writing.

We've seen them
grow closer

- to each other on set.
- So, uh...

Leon is the man.

See what
we're doing here, um...

The law was that
a parent or guardian

had to be with us
at all times.

Parents on All That...

I would say they tried
to stay out the way.

Okay, guys. Ready for ya.

With us all being,
uh, novices...

With some of us,
this was out first job.

It was just in
our best interest

to kind of go with the flow.

But...

Amanda Bynes' parents
were very hands on

with her career.

Um, specifically her dad.

I think Amanda's dad
kind of treated her

like a wind-up doll,
like, she had...

really a lot of pressure and
high expectations from him.

Say, "Hands up."
- Hands up.

Say, "Kids, hands up."

His presence
was always felt.

A big part of that
was his relationship

with Dan Schneider.

They carefully crafted
Amanda's career.

It was enviable
for a lot of the cast members.

When Amanda
joined the show...

Oh, I had less
and less and less

and then no time with Dan.

So...

the new favorite
had arrived. I was out.

So I felt

now I don't need to do this
anymore, I can just...

go to college.

So I did.

And then maybe a year later...

someone told me,

"Oh, have you seen
The Amanda Bynes Show?"

And I was like, "What?

That makes sense."

Amanda! Amanda!

Amanda Bynes'
physical comedy really shines

in that first episode.

- Hey, it's Amanda!
- -And it was her big break,

and it was
Dan Schneider's big break.

And this is actually
the first time

that Dan Schneider's name
is listed as a creator.

This gave him
a whole new level

of control and power

and there would be
consequences to that later on.

-Hey! Look at you.
-Oh!

- I like your outfit.
- Good to see you. Yeah, I like yours too.

Dan Schneider's decision
to have Amanda...

be the star of the show...

is forward thinking
is a lot of ways.

A lot of adult
female comedians do not...

get their own shows

without jumping through
a million hoops.

There's usually two roles that
girls occupy in Hollywood.

One is super innocent,
really sweet.

Like Shirley Temple,
cute, young.

And then the other side is...

Hypersexualized,
built for male consumption.

Amanda Bynes
was like a new deviation

as a young actress
in Hollywood.

And I hereby sentence you

to be chased by
an unpredictable man

in a gorilla suit!

Really personality driven.
Really funny.

Get that done!

For Amanda it's a spotlight
on her comedic talent,

which is something
that is kind of rare to see.

Ah, that's good.

You would think
that for this kind of

strong female lead
to be celebrated,

you would have a lot of
women behind the scenes.

In reality...

female writers
on The Amanda Show

told us that this experience

was really one of
the most disturbing

in their careers.

Working for Dan was like being
in an abusive relationship.

At the time,

there weren't a lot
of positions for women

in sketch comedy.

It was very hard to navigate

when you knew
the opportunities

for women were fewer.

You knew you were
going in for the one spot.

This was way back in 1999.

There were forums where people
would talk about writing

and it was in
one of those groups,

a television-comedy
writing group.

Dan Schneider
was in that group

and he had said that
he was working on this new

television show
for Nickelodeon.

So I just took
a sh*t and I asked him

if he would read my work.

And the story
that he told me later

was that Dan gave them
to his Writer's Assistant

and said, you know,
"Read through these

and rate them
funniest on top."

He was surprised
to find that mine was on top

and that's
what prompted him to call me.

I was actually sitting
at my desk at work...

...when the producers
called me

and told me that, you know,

"Congratulations,
we're offering you

a Staff Writer position
on The Amanda Show."

This was, like,
a dream come true.

I had been
in LA for seven years

and so it felt
very satisfying

that, um, someone
was gonna pay me

to write comedy.

I remember
speaking to the line producer

and she said that
I was going to have to

split a salary with a writer
that I did not know.

So they were getting
two for the price of one.

They were going to
hire two woman

and have them
share a salary.

And I never saw it
happen to any of the men.

I was like, "Well, I'm excited,
I get to stop temping."

This was my dream job.

I mean,
this is what I wanted.

This is what
I worked so hard for.

I'm not about to turn it down.

I thought to myself,
"Don't be a complainer.

You know, do whatever you
have to do to get this job."

I remember the early
days being a lot of fun.

We were on the Paramount lot,
which was very exciting.

To get to walk around,

it felt like,
you know, Hollywood.

My first week
on the job,

I got to meet
my writing partner.

Christy's very easy
to get along with.

I mean,
I liked her immediately.

She was nice
and fun

and those
early days were great!

They were great.

It was early on,
when we first started,

that Dan said he didn't
think women were funny.

He said women
can't write funny.

He challenged us to name
a funny female writer.

And he said this

to the writers
in the writers' room.

And that was my first
indication of trouble.

That maybe this guy didn't really
value women in the writers' room.

And later he had said that,

"Hey, do you mind that I refer
to you and Christy as the girls?

Are the girls in the room?
Where are the girls?"

And we both
were, like, "No."

And he said, "Oh, good.
Because I can't stand girls

that are uptight
about things like that."

And when he said that,
I knew that next time

this guy asks me
if I mind something,

there's a right
and wrong answer.

And thank God
I answered right.

Dan
ran the writers' room.

He was there anytime
we were doing any work

and he was very playful.

We would laugh and joke around

and being dirty
was part of the silliness.

Hello, citizens.
My name is Penelope Taynt.

So Penelope Taynt,

um, is a character
that Dan created.

-My name is Penelope Taynt.
-Yeah, I know.

He came up
with the name Penelope Taynt.

The taint is
the part of the body

that's between
the penis and the anus.

It's that skin there,
that's the taint.

And Dan had said to us
in the writers' room,

"Don't tell
what this word really means."

He wanted us
to keep that a secret.

I remember someone
from Nickelodeon

sitting with us
and saying like,

"Oh, does this mean,
you know, this dirty thing?"

And Dan was like, "No.
Why would you think that's, like, tainted?

Like you've
tainted something."

And they were like, "Okay."

Man, that is power.

That is power.

That you can just
say you want something

and it's done.

That's what I thought.

So, it got on the show

and it's one of those things
where it's like, "Ooh."

You know, like, "Eh."

It's a young girl.

And bless Amanda
and bless The Amanda Show.

In one scene,
you know, she's praying

on a twin bed.

There's something so slimy
about connecting this, like,

sexualized genitalia joke

with a little girl who's
portraying a little girl too.

It was clear that
there was a permissibility

around these sexualized
jokes with children.

It was
par for the course.

Like, strange things
amused Dan

and that was just one of the
things he thought was funny.

He liked to play
pranks and jokes,

which at first seemed fun.

In the beginning, I would see,
you know, an instant message pop up.

Dan would send a message

for you to say out loud.

Scream "hammers."

And you scream it.

And then it would be
more degrading, like,

scream, "I'm an idiot,"

or "slut."

And if you didn't, he would
send you the message again,

caps, exclamation points,

he would scream out,
"Say it." until you did.

One time Dan said,

"I'll give you $300 to eat two
pints of ice cream in 30 minutes."

And I'm like, "Yeah."

I've got no money,
I've got half a salary,

I will absolutely eat two pints
of ice cream in 30 minutes.

And I did,

and I was throwing up
afterwards but it was fine.

Then the money didn't come

and I knew he must've
forgotten about it.

So one day he said...

..."Somebody k*ll
that fly for $30."

And I go, "Should I
add it to your tab?"

Dan took me into his office

and he said, "How dare you accuse
me of not making good on my bets?"

And I was like, "No, no, no, no.
I was, I was just kinda kidding around."

He had, um, fostered this
very casual, fun atmosphere,

but I felt that Dan
could be very volatile

and could turn any moment.

I was... I was scared.

In a lot of ways,
Nickelodeon was creating this

culture where it was
a mini Hollywood.

Like a Hollywood for kids

where all these actors are kind
of competing for the same roles,

they all know each other

and they are in their
own little ecosystem.

- Are you nominated?
-Yes.

How do you feel
about that?

Um, it's real exciting.

I'm honored
to be nominated.

I don't think I'm gonna win,
but it's still cool.

Something that
epitomizes that really well

is the Kids' Choice Awards,

which is almost like the kids'
version of the Oscars.

And the Kids'
Choice is Amanda Bynes!

Amanda Bynes gets
the Kids' Choice Awards.

She was hugely successful

and was becoming one of these
massive, massive A-list stars.

Thank you all! Oh, my God!
This is so exciting!

Okay. I want to say thank you to
Nickelodeon, Brian Robbins, Dan Schneider.

The Amanda Show
is on Nickelodeon.

She was giving interviews,
she was on talk shows,

she was everywhere.

Dan Schneider
was very responsible

for Amanda Bynes'
career at that point

and they were
very tied to each other

and I think she trusted him.

My name
is Raquel Lee Bolleau

and I was on the first season
of The Amanda Show.

Mrs. Shane...

The Amanda Show was huge.
It was huge!

We had fans coming and wanting
to, like, see us every episode.

As a 12-year-old girl,
I was over the moon.

I was so excited.

We'd be out
and people would say,

"Oh, my goodness. You're that
girl on The Amanda Show."

It was a pretty big show.

There was Amanda, of course,
and there was me and Drake.

Him and I were
so silly on this show.

Amanda was the star.

So, I think we both knew that we weren't
the stars of the show very early on.

She's the star
so she gets

the extra, extra
handy-dandy equipment.

On The Amanda Show,
Dan is the king maker.

He is the one who is deciding
who gets a spin-off,

who gets the most lines.

If you are on
Dan's bad side,

you kind of could
kiss your career goodbye.

You wanted Dan to like you

'cause if he didn't,
he was mean to you.

It's my 13th birthday.

People brought me
this big, big cake,

like, a massive cake.

It was great to be
able to share the cake

with the whole crew
and everyone else,

but it was told to me,
"Dan's really upset."

Like, "Why did you
get her that cake?"

Like, "That's a big cake.

She didn't need
that big of a cake."

And I was just like...

And I really...
I felt it.

Of course, as a parent
you want to speak up,

but then I just didn't want
Raquel to face any backlash

for any behaviors
that I had, uh, done.

I remember Raquel
saying to me

she felt that
he may have favored,

uh, Drake and Amanda
more than her.

I remember Dan and Amanda Bynes
being very close on The Amanda Show

and I think very few people
made Dan laugh.

You know,
and I think she did.

In rehearsal,
she would say funny things

and do funny things.

Uh, yes, this is your doctor.
Yes, Doctor...

I definitely
saw Amanda

being very close
physically with Dan.

There were many times
that I saw Amanda

sitting behind him,
hugging him

or giving him, like,
a neck massage or whatever.

Dan and Amanda
had a close relationship

and I didn't think
anything different than that.

The hot tub scene,

though, I thought
was always a little odd.

I am the executive producer
and I'm the headliner.

You actually wrote the words

we're saying
to each other right now.

Uh, yes.

When you watch the video,
it's Amanda Bynes,

clearly very young,
wearing a swimsuit

in a hot tub

and next to her
is Dan Schneider

fully clothed.

And he's kinda saying,

I created this situation.

I am the reason
we are in this hot tub.

I am pulling the strings.

Now since you're
the executive producer

of the show,
can I have a raise?

No.

Maybe at the time
people viewed it as comedy,

but I think now
some people

are very uncomfortable
with the implication.

For me, looking back
at The Amanda Show

is really a kinda sad
and strange experience.

Knowing that
as years went on

Amanda and Dan's relationship

would take
a turn for the worse.

It is also bittersweet
to watch knowing

what the women were dealing
with behind the scenes.

He became a worse
and worse person to work for.

Dan called me
at home

and he asked me if I was
conspiring against the company.

He said,
"If I find out that you did,

you're never gonna
work for Nickelodeon again."

Dan got worse and worse
as the season got on.

And because
I was a first-time writer,

I didn't know what was
acceptable and not acceptable.

And so Christy and I both did
things that were uncomfortable.

Dan was showing p*rn
on his computer screen.

He'd asked me several times

to massage him
in the writers' room

and in the studio.

And he would
say things sometimes, like,

"Uh, can you please
give me a massage?

I'll put one of your
sketches in the show."

And he would always present it
like a joke, you know?

And he would be laughing
while he said it, um, but...

You always felt like
disagreeing with Dan

or saying...
Or standing up for yourself

could result
in you getting fired.

One of the worst one was, was
we were in the writers' room

and Christy was talking
about high school,

which is relevant because

we're writing
for a young girl,

and Dan was just...
said, "You know what would be funny?

If you leaned
over the table

and acted like
you were being sodomized

and told that story
about high school."

She said no at first

and then he was kind of like, "Oh, come
on, come on. It'd be so funny. Just do it.

It'd be so funny."

And everyone
was kind of laughing too

'cause he's making it,
like, this big joke.

She couldn't get out of it.

You know,
he's begging her.

So she just
leaned over the table and did

what he asked her to do.

Do you remember
Dan asking you

to, um, act out
being sodomized?

Ah, I'd rather not.

I'd rather not. I...

I don't wanna
talk about that.

I mean, it's not that I'm not,

like, I'm not proud of it

and I'm also, like, ugh...

Thinking about it now,

yeah, it's like...

Oh, boy.
I just think of that

poor girl and what she
had to, you know, go through.

Um, yeah.

And I would not
do that today,

but I did it then.

Um, it was upsetting
to watch

because you know... I know,
I knew Christy at this point

and I didn't feel
at all comfortable

complaining to him about

anything that might make him feel
like, "Ugh, there's a girl in the room.

She's k*lling the vibe."

You don't want to be viewed

as the person
that can't take a joke.

It was probably
the wrongest thing

I've ever seen
happen to a woman in

a professional
environment ever.

And then all of a sudden I had
heard about mid-season,

um, that having
the writers split their salary

was against
the rules for the show.

So I called the Writers Guild
to ask them if that was true.

Can, can there be teams
on this show and they said no.

Jenny told me this

and I was going, like, "Wow.

They were trying
to pull a fast one."

Dan called me at home

and he asked me if I was

conspiring
against the company.

He had found out
that the guild was now

requiring him to pay
for our separate salaries

and he wanted to know if...

if I was the one
that made that happen.

"'Cause if I find out
that you did,

you're never gonna
work for Nickelodeon again

or for any Viacom project."

I was terrified 'cause I'd never
seen him quite that scary before

and also,
you know, angry too.

He had gotten caught doing
something ethically wrong

and said, "If I find out
you told on me,

I'm going to do something
even worse to you.

You're not gonna
work again."

I think things
started to change with Dan.

You could feel his presence.

When he walked on the set,
the crew could feel it.

He wasn't the happy guy
making jokes anymore.

There was a few times
when he came down

that he lit everybody up.

Dan yelled a lot.

Dan was like a tornado.

He'd come in
and, like, phew...

You'd be like, "Wow. Okay.
What just happened?"

Dan showed up.

The set would not feel the same
when, when he would leave

because, you know, I think

because everybody
was on their toes, scared.

He could
literally be nice

and then mean and then nice

and then mean, like,
throughout the day.

So one minute I'm like,

"I've got Dan wrong. He's really nice.
He's supportive."

and then, like,
an hour later I could be like,

"This guy is scary as hell."

We were all feeling,
near the end, paranoid,

uncomfortable, um...

It was just a bad...
it was just a bad vibe.

We all felt like, you know,
the axe could drop at any moment.

It was our last week of work

for Season 1
of The Amanda Show.

I had this meeting
at my manager's office

and, uh, by the time I got in
my car to go back to the office,

I had been fired.

Dan, basically,
owned all of your time.

Your weekends, after work,

and Christy had done two personal
things during the season, like,

she had gone to
a concert on the weekend

and she had
friends over one night

and she basically
got fired for that.

It just felt
very vindictive that, um,

it was three days, three more days
of, of, of being paid.

So I went back to temping
and I had nothing.

I went down
to the studio to meet with Dan

about Season 2.
He said, "Here's the deal.

We're bringing you back
for Season 2, staff writer.

We're offering you
a 16-week contract,

but you need to
work the whole season."

Which was,
I believe, 27 weeks.

He was telling me I had
to work 11 weeks for free

and I was devastated.

'Cause I'd proven myself.

I'd written well,
I'd paid my dues

and he said, This is
all the money that we have."

And then, meanwhile,
he hired a white male

at full salary.

No credits,
you know, first job

but he's asking me,

second season
on the same show,

"You have to work


I lasted four days
in Season 2.

Dan gave us this assignment,

asked all the male writers
into his office,

and left me out,

and then he called me in

and all the men
were standing

and Dan was
behind his desk.

And he said,
"Okay, pitch your idea."

I pitched my idea

and he said,

"Didn't you
used to do phone sex?"

Just like that, like,
out of nowhere.

I was like, "No, Dan."

And he goes like,
"Didn't you tell us?

Didn't you
say that last season,

that you used to have a job like
that, something like that?"

No.

I was destroyed.

I went outside,
I was crying.

I can't do this.

So, I did. I went home
and I quit.

And it was so devastating.

It was so hard
to let go of that job but...

I mean, I just
couldn't do it anymore.

There's no way I was
gonna be the only woman

in that
world with him. No way.

I was
at my temping job.

I get a call from Jenny,

"I'm suing Dan."

And I remember thinking...

Like, it just
took me by surprise

because we were all afraid.

We are all afraid. That's why just
me and Jenny are talking to you.

Like, people
are afraid of him.

The reason
I did it was because

I didn't want this to be happening
to other women in the future.

She said, "Hey, um, can,
can you write a letter on my behalf?"

And I said,
"Of course, I will."

And so then I hired...

I hired a lawyer
and started blowing whistles.

So my lawyer
filed complaints

against the
production company

for gender discrimination,

hostile work environment,
harassment...

Yeah, and in response

they did
an internal investigation

and they settled,

but it had a lasting
impact on my career.

I mean, I knew that.

I knew that this
was the end of my career,

so it had better be worth it.

Like, it had better stop.

And to learn
that it didn't stop?

That it was all for nothing?

The Amanda Show was
Dan Schneider's first show

and he had a complaint

against him
for gender discrimination

and creating
a toxic work place,

on his first
big show that he did.

So a lot of the seeds
of the issues that we see

throughout
Dan Schneider's empire,

were there
from the beginning.

How safe can any kids
be in that environment

if that's how
the adult women

are being treated
behind the scenes?

And on Dan's shows
there was always this,

kind of, murkiness in
what was appropriate

and what was inappropriate.

I don't like this.

But there would be even
bigger problems down the line

with actual pedophiles
on set.

Van Nuys division officers have
arrested a suspected child predator

charged with kissing

and touching
a nine-year-old girl,

but officers believe
there may be more victims.