Will the directors of Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV interview Amanda Bynes? It depends, they say.
In a new episode of the docuseries that aired Sunday, co-directors Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz invited former Nickelodeon child stars including Drake Bell, Giovanni Samuels and Bryan Hearne back to sit down with Soledad O’Brien for follow-up interviews about the impact of the series since it premiered on March 17. The episode also features a first-time interview with another former All That cast member, Shane Lyons, who spoke about his experience with Brian Peck, the former Nickelodeon acting coach convicted of sexually abusing Drake Bell as a child in the early 2000s.
But the docuseries has not interviewed Bynes, whose name has been brought up repeatedly throughout all of the five episodes. And while many former Nickelodeon stars have responded to the series, the All That and The Amanda Show star has not.
Dan Schneider, who co-created All That and created The Amanda Show, has been accused by several former child stars of creating a toxic environment on set. He has denied wrongdoing, but also said in a video interview with iCarly actor BooG!e, “I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.”
So Will Quiet on Set Ever Hear From Amanda Bynes?
Asked whether they’ve been in touch with Amanda Bynes, co-director Emma Schwartz told MovieMaker that she and Roberts had reached out to all of the “people that you would expect.”
“I’m speaking sort of generally about the people that we reached out to. You know, generally, we reached out to lots and lots of people, people that you would expect, and we had varying responses from different people, and some were ready in some weren’t,” she said.
“I think everybody has a different place in their process of whether they want to — whether they are sort of examining the experiences they went through, if they are a former child star.”
However, she said they would be open to speaking with Bynes in the future if she was open to it.
“I think we’re always interested in helping people tell and share their stories if they’re in a place where they’re ready and able to share that experience. And so we’re here to tell those stories when people are ready, and if they’re in the right place to do so,” Schwartz said.
Over the years, Bynes has dealt with mental health challenges. She stepped away from acting in 2010 following the success of films like She’s the Man (2006) and Easy A (2010), and in 2018, she opened up to Paper Magazine about getting sober after struggling with drug use and her mental health.
In June 2023, a year after her her nine-year conservatorship ended in March 2022, Bynes was taken into custody by the LAPD for a mental health evaluation, a law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times.
But in recent months, she’s been sharing her progress on Instagram about her studies to obtain her manicurist’s license. She also briefly started a podcast in December 2023 before deciding to cancel it.
“In the last several years, I have been working hard to improve my health so that I can live and work independently, and I will continue to prioritize my well-being in this next chapter,” Bynes told People in March 2022.
Regarding Bynes, Quiet on Set co-director Roberts said she felt a duty to separate “fact from fiction”.
“There’s a lot of speculation and conspiracy that surrounds this story, in the broadest sense, right — the Nickelodeon Universe, Dan Schneider and Amanda. And we think that our responsibility part as journalists and filmmakers is to do what we can to separate fact from fiction,” she said. “It’s so important that she be included in this project in the ways that we could respectfully, and while adhering to… while only including material that we could stand behind fully.”
In a previous episode of Quiet on Set, Bynes’ former Amanda Show cast mate Drake Bell came forward with allegations that he was sexually abused by Nickelodeon acting coach Brian Peck. Peck was arrested in 2003 at the age of 43 for lewd acts with a child that has since been identified as Bell. Bell testified at Peck’s trial, but has only just recently publicly identified himself as the minor whose family accused Peck of molesting him over a six-month period in the early 2000s during the making of The Amanda Show.
All five episodes of Quiet on Set are now streaming on Max.
Main Image: Amanda Bynes in 2009, Wikimedia Commons
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