Drake Bell has recently exposed the dark truth of Hollywood and child stardom.
The actor revealed he didn’t receive residuals as a child star on Nickelodeon while speaking to hosts Abby Howard and Matt Howard on July 2 episode of The Unplanned Podcast earlier this month.
Drake opened up that there is no financial security for child stars in the industry, calling it “flawed” as he shared his experience on Nickelodeon.
People think that we earn a lot but that’s the “perception of the world and it’s always been this way,” said the 39-year-old, who made his debut on The Amanda Show.
Drake, who starred in the hit series Drake & Josh for four seasons between 2004 and 2007, explained, “It's like, you know, ‘Oh, you made a Folgers Coffee commercial. You must live in a mansion in Hollywood. Like, I saw you on TV. You're rich.’”
“That's far from the case, and especially, which is the bummer for most of us on Nickelodeon, we don't get residuals for our shows,” he remarked.
All That actor opened up that the residuals most of the actors make are after becoming part of syndication.
“You wanna get to 100 episodes so that you can get to syndication, and then you wanna get into syndication because then you get your residual money, that's where you make your money,” pointed out Drake.
Reflecting on the industry, the Superhero movie actor further said, “It's a lot of evil, corrupt people. That's the only thing, that is the answer.”
Meanwhile, Drake added that common people “don't understand how the business works, the business side of this”.
“They just see what the perception is on Instagram and social media and all the glitz and the glamour of Hollywood,” he stated.
