Dan Schneider’s 44 years old but he’s never left high school.
A self-admitted “terrible student,” Schneider graduated in the 1980s, but he went right back, spending five years playing Dennis, the chunky science whiz on TV’s “Head of the Class.”
One failed series later, he started working behind-the-scenes in TV. Today, Schneider creates shows for teenagers and he’s one of the most prolific producers of TV — for kids or adults — in the cable world.
He’s responsible for a string of hits, starting in 1994, that includes “All That,” “The Amanda Show,” “Drake and Josh,” “Zoey 101” and the channel’s most-watched series (with 5 million viewers) “iCarly.”
“A kid came up to me recently and said, ‘You’re like the Willy Wonka of TV!’ ” he says. “My heart just melted.”
The writer-producer’s winning streak is paying off. Nick just signed the ringmaster to an eight-figure deal to keep him at the kids’ network for another three years.
His latest creation, “Victorious,” a musical sitcom set at a performing arts high school, debuts next Saturday, following the Kids’ Choice Awards — the ‘tween TV equivalent of premiering a show right after the Super Bowl.
What’s Schneider’s secret for making TV that kids crave?
He has a five-point checklist:
1. Like the people you cast. “You don’t want to hang out day after day with people you don’t want to be with.” Exhibit A: Victoria Justice, star of “Victorious.”
“With Tori, what you see is what you get,” says Schneider, who knows from over-trained child actors. “Not a Hollywood kid at all.”
2. Pay attention to the casting of the smallest parts. He’s built shows around actors who have had small roles on his other series. Amanda Bynes went from “All That” to “The Amanda Show” and the WB’s “What I Like About You.” Justice started on “Zoey 101.”
3. Stay young. “He’s kind of like a big kid himself,” says Justice of Schneider, who does not have children. At his home in Encino, Calif. — which he shares with wife Lisa Lillien, author of the “Hungry Girl” cookbooks — he has a vintage lunch box and a 1970s toy collection.
“I don’t want to wake up at 60 and have to call the neighbor who’s 12 to help me with my computer.” Little chance of that: Schneider set up 16-year-old “iCarly” star Miranda Cosgrove’s Twitter account.
4. Keep it kid-friendly but good for the whole family. “Writing network sitcoms is easier [than] writing for Nickelodeon. I’ve got to stay away from politics, sex and religion,” says Schneider.
“I don’t think there are any sitcoms on primetime network TV that you can comfortably watch with your 9-year-old anymore.”
5. Star in a sitcom yourself. “Having been on the other side of the camera gives me such perspective on what I’m doing,” he says. “I know what they’re thinking.”
He’s even wishes he were in their shoes.
“Sometimes they get to leave the set and go home and I’m still working.” That’s when he complains to his wife, “‘Man, I want their lives.’ And she says, ‘You had their lives!’ “