The Big Picture

The
Quiet On Set
documentary exposes toxic environment for child actors.
Black child actors faced racial discomfort and pressure due to the scarcity of roles.
Bryan and Giovonnie advocate for child actors, and uses past experience to empower the next generation.

Headlines surrounding the upcoming NickelodeondocuseriesQuiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV have largely centered around sexual impropriety and inappropriate behavior. For Nickelodeon to be at the forefront of a salacious scandal is shocking because the network has been responsible for creating mega-child stars, including Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell,Nick Cannon, Raven Symone, Amanda Bynes, Ariana Grande, and many more. The kid-friendly channel that most parents consider age-appropriate programming for their children, many Nickelodeon sets under the direction of Dan Schnieder specifically, has been exposed as a toxic environment that left many beloved child stars with life-long trauma and painful secrets.

Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne enjoyed short-lived careers on the popular show All That. For Bryan, getting the job was a dream that allowed him to see the light at the end of the economic hardship tunnel for his family. “I thought the job was going to get his family out of poverty, but that didn’t happen,” he said in the docuseries, and re-emphasized during his interview with Collider. As one of the few Black children on set, Bryan recounts feeling extremely uncomfortable with several skits that felt racially motivated.

“My mother would speak up, but many times I didn’t want her to,” he says, “Because I was afraid of getting fired if we complained.” The docuseries shares several examples of Bryan being asked to do skits that were extremely off-color, including one where he donned a suit with shoulder pads that eerily resembled male genitalia. “The thing that made it most uncomfortable was feeling uncomfortable but turning around and looking at the adults around you and seeing they were laughing, so you try to just grin and bear it. As a child being 12 or 13 and already feeling uncomfortable in your body, and then you’re being asked to do things that you don’t feel comfortable with by adults supervising you, and you don’t get to say, I don’t really enjoy this, without being afraid of losing your job,” Bryan told us. Both Bryan and Giovonnie relate to often feeling ostracized on set because of their race and understanding there was only room for one Black boy or girl, and they detail their traumatic experiences in our candid interview with them.

Bryan and Giovannie Say Being the Only Black Kids on Set Came With Fear

For child actors there is always a threat of one’s self-esteem being affected when a contract isn’t renewed or when a role is written out of a script, but for child actors of color, that gauge is exaggerated by the scarcity theory. “We were painfully aware that we were the only Blacks on set in front of the camera and behind the camera. We were literally the only ones,” Giovonnie laughs. “So you understand that there is room for one and if you don’t exceed expectations you can and will be replaced.” She says being the only Black girl on set came with an unspoken burden that she didn’t realize she was carrying until much later, after she lost her role to the next Black girl. “We understood that was our role from the beginning, because we were the only ones on set. Often we don’t talk about it. It doesn’t get addressed. People don’t hear or see that because you don’t want to make waves or lose your job,” she shares. As a pre-teen, Giovonnie was aware that many of her white counterparts received preferential treatment, but because the opportunity was golden, she learned to focus on the positive despite often feeling overlooked.

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Before the docuseries was released, Bryan had started working through much of his past trauma in therapy. “I’m a proud member of the Black men in therapy club,” he laughs. He believes it’s important for people of color to normalize therapy, specifically Black men who are often taught to repress their emotions. He says being a child actor in itself can be emotionally overwhelming, but there are additional challenges that children of color will endure that their counterparts may not encounter. “Working in Hollywood this can be a problem. So many young black actors are treated poorly, and you shake it off and say that’s just the way business is for everyone. And then, if you get to a point as you age, that you do want to speak out, or take up for yourself, you are labeled the angry Black guy. Often you can’t win for losing because people say that’s just the way it is and therein lies the problem,” he explains.

Bryan and Giovannie Want to Use Their Experience at Nickelodeon to Help Others

Instead of playing the role of disgruntled Nickelodeon alumni, Bryan and Giovonnie are turning the negative backlash from the documentary into an opportunity to advocate for today’s child actors. Giovannie is an acting coach and loves the opportunity to work with young people. She is also excited about her upcoming podcast, The Tokens, which will hopefully initiate a much-needed conversation within the acting community about whether being the only one applies to race, gender, or sexual orientation.

Bryan created a non-profit titled Urban Poets Society geared towards empowering children with an interest in the arts. “I want to be an advocate for children. Someone needs to give children the language to defend themselves and identify when boundaries are crossed instead of just bypassing it,” he says.

Bryan and Giovonnie worked not to let the darkness they endured on the set overshadow their entire experience. “There are some things that have stayed with me, but I’m working through it. Therapy has helped a lot, and I am excited about the work I am doing with Urban Poets Society,” he explains. “It’s about 80/20 for me. There is still a lot of good that has happened. It was the start of my career, my first job. I got to meet a lot of great people in my lifetime. I am still great friends with many of my cast mates. We have this amazing 20-plus-year friendship that is special. Yes, the bad is there, but I choose to focus on the positive aspect of it. I won’t let the darkness take away everything that I’ve done,” Giovonnie says.

Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV can be streamed on MAX.

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