A former assistant to Dan Schneider has blasted the controversial showrunner as an ‘a**hole’ in a searing statement issued amid the release of Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.

Amy Berg, a screenwriter and television showrunner, slammed Schneider, 58, as she described her brief stint working for him in what was her first job in Hollywood. 

Berg – who went on to write for Kenan & Kel and All That – called the controversial showrunner a ‘psychological tormenter’ who ‘introduced me to panic attacks.’

In a statement posted to her X account on Sunday night, she wrote: ‘So apparently there’s an expose running right now called Quiet on Set about the toxicity of the Dan Schneider era on Nickelodeon. I don’t talk much about my time there, but my VERY first job in town was as Dan’s assistant.

‘I worked with him for less than a year. He left Nickelodeon to create a show on UPN while I stayed with him and became a writer on the final season of Kenan & Kel and All That under the leadership of extraordinary humans Kevin Kopelow & Heath Seifert. 

A former writer for Nickelodeon has blasted Dan Schneider as an ‘a**hole’ in a searing statement issued amid the release of Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV; Berg pictured 2018

Berg – who went on to write for Kenan & Kel and All That – said her assistant role with Schneider was her first job in Hollywood, but it left a painful memory; Dan Schneider pictured 2015

‘During my year with Dan, I wasn’t aware of any physically inappropriate behavior.

‘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. 

‘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.

‘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.

‘I was unable to cultivate relationships or nurture friendships. And to this day I carry with my an anxiety disorder that fiercely rears its head when faced with other manipulators. Fortunately I’ve only twice been in bad situations in my career where this trauma was reignited.’

Berg added she would not be watching the ID series, insisting she had no desire to ‘relive’ her time with Schneider or potentially be in a situation where she felt compelled to ‘defend’ him.

‘All that said, I will not be watching Quiet on Set. I’ve not interest in reliving anything, nor do I want to be in a situation where I’d feel inclined to defend Dan in any way.’ 

The Quiet On Set documentary has levied several allegations against dialogue coach Brian Peck and Nickelodeon show creator Dan Schneider leaving the television industry shaken.

On Sunday the first two episodes of the four-part documentary aired on Investigation Discovery, with the final two set to air today at 9pm Pacific Time.

The series unearthed disturbing claims regarding toxic workplace environments and inappropriate behaviour on popular Nickelodeon shows created and produced by Dan Schneider.

Berg posted this statement amid the release of the two-part documentary 

Brian Peck, who worked as a dialogue coach on Schneider’s shows such as All That and The Amanda Show, was sentenced to 16 months for child abuse in 2004.

For the first time ever, it has emerged that the John Doe involved in the case was child actor Drake Bell, who featured on the hit show Drake & Josh.

The directors of the bombshell documentary revealed they began to dig deeper into the man who created hit shows such as iCarly, The Amanda Show, Victorious, All That and Sam and Cat after disturbing videos began emerging online.

Director Mary Robertson said her curiosity was sparked after seeing compilation clips online that showed pop-star Ariana Grande – who featured on multiple Dan Schneider shows – pouring water on herself in a sexually suggestive manner.

She told Variety: ‘We also saw in those clips, girls appearing on Dan’s shows would receive a squirt of a viscous liquid on their face.

‘There were a lot of questions that were circulating online certainly around the conditions under which these videos were made.’

After being Dan’s assistant, she went on to write for Kenan & Kel and All That 

Following this, Mary and her co-director Emma Schwartz came across Business Insider’s article about Schneider’s prominent influence at Nickelodeon, detailing the experiences of 12 anonymous sources from behind the scenes.

After partnering with Business Insider journalist Kate Taylor, the directors dug further into the issue unearthing sources who had never spoken out before.

They said how there was a much ‘bigger story’ to be uncovered about the environment perpetuated on the set of children’s television shows.

Emma added: ‘Many people, even people who didn’t want to speak publicly would say, “I’m really glad you’re doing this. I think this deserves attention.’

Perhaps one of the biggest bombshell revealed on the documentary, was when Drake Bell coming forward as the John Doe victim in the Brian Peck child abuse case.

In 2004, the dialogue coach who worked under Schneider in shows such as All That and The Amanda Show, was sentenced to 16 months in prison for child sexual abuse.

Perhaps one of the biggest bombshell revealed on the documentary, was when Drake Bell (pictured) coming forward as the John Doe victim in the Brian Peck child abuse case

Peck, 63, who portrayed roles such as Pickle Guy on All That, pled no contest to apiece of lewd act upon a child 14 or 15 by a person 10 year or older.

He also pled no contest to oral copulation of a person under the age of 16, according to sentencing documents.

Following his conviction, he was also required to register as a child sex offender.

During the documentary, Drake Bell waived his anonymity and revealed he was abused by the acting coach as a child.

Sharing for the first time publicly that the dialogue coach sexually abused him, Bell told Quiet On Set: ‘I’ve never talked about this outside of therapy.’

The documentary details the abuse which occurred by documents from the charges filed against Peck.

The Drake & Josh star did not want to delve into detail about his abuse on camera.

‘The abuse was extensive and it got pretty brutal,’ Bell said.

When told by a producer not to feel pressure to share anything he would feel uncomfortable with, Bell replied:

‘Why don’t you think of the worst stuff someone can do to somebody as a sexual assault and that’ll answer your question. I don’t know how else to put it.’