Drake Bell Doesn’t Blame Parents for Abuse Child Stars Experienced on Set
By Movieguide® Contributor
The horrors of child acting were recently revealed through the five-part documentary QUIET ON SET, and while the child actors in the expose lament the abuses they suffered, they don’t blame their parents for not protecting them.
“We hear a lot ‘Where were their parents? If I was there—where were their parents?’ And you have to understand—we’re kids. Some of these were our first jobs. Some of these were our parents’ first time on a set, and they’re just learning along with us,” Drake Bell said.
“To say ‘Oh it’s the parents’ responsibility’—they’re just learning along with us and don’t have the experience on these movie sets to be able to push and pull their weight,” he added.
The documentary showed how these child actors suffered emotional abuse and trauma, along with incidents of physical abuse. Rather than blame their inexperienced parents for not protecting them, the actors believe it was a failing of the system not to have trained experts on set to step in when things got uncomfortable.
“I don’t think it’s on the parents. I think that it’s important that there are people on set…who are tasked to give care and caretake to the emotions of the children on set,” said Bryan Hearne. “That’s the most important thing. The parents can only do so much.”
“It needs to be somebody that’s not just production,” added Giovonnie Samuels. “You need a liaison between production and parent and child.”
Samuels noted that a program like this exists—Looking Ahead—however, it is not widely known among those in the entertainment industry, and it needs to be opted into.
“There should be somebody who’s experienced that can see, oh you know what, this child seems uncomfortable, I’m gonna be able to take him or her with their parent and bring them over here, ‘Do you feel comfortable doing this?’” Bell added.
QUIET ON SET makes clear that children between 8 and 15 are extremely vulnerable and need to be protected from exploitation. Every aspect of this series is important for exposing the underside of Hollywood. QUIET ON SET has a very clear, strong moral worldview, with a few brief mentions of prayer. Although there’s very little visual sex or violence and practically no foul language in QUIET ON SET, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution because of the subject matter.
Movieguide® previously reported:
BLUES CLUES’ Steve Burns is reacting to QUIET ON SET: THE DARK SIDE OF KIDS TV, a documentary that exposes sexual abuse allegations within kids TV network Nickelodeon.
“I don’t have any particular insight into any of that. I’m coming to it much the same as anyone else, with horror and heartbreak,” Burns told TODAY.com. “It’s just terrible to watch it unfold. I don’t know what else to say, other than that it’s heartbreaking.”
BLUES CLUES aired on Nickelodeon’s preschool-oriented channel, Nick Jr.
“We’re in New York, they’re in L.A. There’s no overlap whatsoever between any of those shows and what we were doing,” he said about Nickelodeon and Nick Jr.
