Who is Dan Plum in Primetime? The real Decoy Dan, Dan Schrack

Primetime’s Dan Plum, played by Skyler Gisondo, isn’t a real person. He’s a composite character, meaning a combination of several real people. But there’s clearly a primary influence: Dan Schrack, the real Decoy Dan. 

Dan Schrack: the real Decoy Dan and his time on To Catch a Predator

Dan Schrack was born in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1985. An Esquire article from 2007 details his backstory. 

“A couple of months ago, when Schrack showed up at an audition at the NBC studios in Burbank, California, he hadn’t really known what he was getting himself into. He had been in Los Angeles a few years, a twenty-one-year-old whose naturally rosy cheeks and guileless smile make him appear much younger. The biggest gig on his résumé was a Toys “R” Us commercial, and like many struggling actors, Schrack tried to squeeze in so many auditions that he didn’t have time to properly research the roles he was reading for. So though he had known that he was auditioning for Dateline, he thought Dateline was just looking to film one of those dramatic reenactments that other programs like America’s Most Wanted sometimes used. He’d never seen Dateline‘s “To Catch a Predator” series and didn’t have any idea how it worked. A producer at the audition brought him up to speed.”

Schrack was part of four sting operations: Fort Myers, Petaluma, Long Beach, and Murphy. Those stings totaled seven episodes. Esquire notes that Schrack’s time on the show ended because episodes airing meant a decoy’s cover was blown. Like in Primetime, Schrack was the decoy involved in the Bill Conradt operation. 

Esquire’s final paragraph about Schrack: “Dan Schrack, the actor, will feel terrible, as if he is somehow responsible [for Conradt’s death]. He will be at the decoy house when Frag phones in with the news. A few minutes later, Dateline will announce that it’s shutting down the operation right away. Schrack will be hustled to the airport early. After he boards his flight, he will mull over his feelings that the pursuit of ratings was behind what happened today, and he will decide that he won’t recommend auditioning for “To Catch a Predator” to his actor buddies. It’s too real.”

How much of Dan Plum’s character was real?

Primetime got a lot of the details right. During his audition, Dan Plum says he had been in a Toys “R” Us commercial. We know from the Esquire article that’s true. And Plum, like Schrack, auditions without knowing what Predator entailed. In real life, Dan found out at the audition. Plum, in the film, finds out once the predator arrives at the house. 

The Esquire article notes that Schrack’s “favorite roles had been in musicals.” That explains why Primetime has Plum sing “Seasons of Love” (525,600 minutes) from Rent. 

I was surprised to see that Schrack was the only consistent male decoy the show ever had. I couldn’t find any evidence of a personal relationship between Dan and Hansen. No mentorship like we see in Primetime. The accounts I found describe Hansen going over chat logs with the decoys before the predator arrived but nothing more. 

Schrack was one of several decoys who took part in a 2025 documentary called Predators that reflected on Hansen’s show. At one point, he says, “You could offer me $10 million dollars to film that episode in Texas, again, and I wouldn’t take it. I would not take it and be happy about that decision.” He’s referring to the death of Bill Conradt.

Like in the film, Schrack was the decoy for Conradt and one of the last people to speak with him on the phone. Schrack: “I know I blocked that out… It’s not a place I like to live. I don’t like knowing that I could have been the last person that this guy had a conversation with, outside of when police showed up. This was something I had started to pack up as nicely as I could and bury as far back as possible.”

So Primetime having Dan Plum grow increasingly disgusted by the Bill Conradt situation isn’t what happened that day but is an accurate reflection of how Schrack feels about it now. 

What happened to Decoy Dan after To Catch a Predator?

In real life, Schrack left acting and started a career in broadcast journalism. He was a producer for a news station in Buffalo, then a news anchor in Elmira, New York. In 2019, he joined the 13WHAM News team in Rochester, NY. He’s now their morning anchor. 

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That’s very different from where Dan Plum ends up in Primetime. The movie jumps forward one year and shows Dan Plum in Mesa, Arizona, receiving the SAG card he had wanted at the beginning of the film. Primetime leaves unanswered whether Plum returns to acting. I have an ending explanation that gets into the deeper meaning of that ambiguity. 

Schrack’s active on Instagram.  

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