Dan Schneider’s Ex-Assistant Says Nickelodeon Showrunner Was Her “Psychological Tormenter”

Kevin Dolak
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An ex-Nickelodeon writer and former assistant to Dan Schneider is adding to the toxic workplace claims that are being leveled against the man once dubbed “the Willy Wonka of television” by sharing that he was her “psychological tormentor” and allegedly caused her to have significant health issues.

Amy Berg, who wrote for Nick hits Kenan & Kel and All That, tweeted a brief account on Monday of her experience working for Schneider. Her post comes after the first half of the docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV debuted on Investigation Discovery and Max Sunday night, presenting tales of abuse, sexism, racism and accusations of inappropriate behavior towards underage actors who worked on Schneider’s Nickelodeon series.

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In her post, Berg placed the blame for her heart arrhythmia on the star producer behind hits like The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and iCarly, and wrote that Schneider “stole” her 20s away from her as she became a shut-in after working for him for just under one year.

Schneider parted ways with Viacom’s popular children’s network after three decades in 2018. The producer, who segued into behind-the-scenes roles after working as a teen actor, most notably on the 1980s sitcom Head of the Class, left Nick, where his work led Forbes to make the Willy Wonka comparison and the New York Times to call him “the Norman Lear of children’s television,” amid allegations of years of misconduct and “well-documented temper issues for years.”

According to several actors and others who spoke in Quiet on Set and who worked during his lengthy time with Nickelodeon, Schneider’s major temper issues could lead him to explode on sets “like a tornado.” He was also allegedly inappropriate to young females who worked for him, leaving pornography on his computer screen and according to one account, telling a writer under the guise of a joke that he’d put one of her sketches in the show in return for a massage.

In her note, Berg stresses that she never saw or was aware of sexually inappropriate behavior during the year she spent working for Schneider.

‘What I can confirm, however, is that he is a f**king a**hole. A psychological tormenter. He introduced me to panic attacks and the stress of working for him caused me to develop a significant heart arrhythmia,” she wrote.

‘I eventually had surgery to [mostly] correct the issue, but by that point I’d lost all of my 20s. He stole those years from me,” she added. “’While I don’t think my career trajectory was affected by my time with him, my personal life undoubtedly was. I became a shut-in due to the fear of having a medical crisis away from home.”

Relationships in her life suffered as a result, Berg asserts in her post, adding that she still has an anxiety disorder that “fiercely rears its head when faced with other manipulators” that she’s seen again twice in her career. She concludes her post by stating she will not watch the docuseries, as she will not place herself in a situation where she’d feel the need to defend Schneider.

In response to the first two episodes of Quiet on Set, which also contains accusations that he allegedly tormented and humiliated the cast and crew on his TV sets, a rep for Schneider released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter and other media indicating that “everything that happened on the shows Dan ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults, and approved by the network.”

On Monday, Page Six reported that a rep for Schneider said he is “truly sorry” for any negative experienced on the sets of his shows.

“Dan expected and asked a lot from his teams. They worked long hours and consistently made successful shows. In the challenges of production, Dan could get frustrated at times, and he understands why some employees found that intimidating and stressful,” the rep said, “But he also knows some people did not have a positive experience, and he is truly sorry for that. Dan knows he should have done better and feels awful about anyone who saw him at his worst, instead of his best.”

The concluding two episodes of  Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV will be released Monday night on ID and Max.

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