Miranda Cosgrove talks iCarly, climate activism, executive producing

iCarly executive producer Miranda Cosgrove joins Yahoo Finance Live to talk about her partnership with "Girls Save the World" to motivate young girls and her role in producing the reboot of the iCarly show.

Video transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Again, Miranda Cosgrove. She is a familiar face in Hollywood, first hitting the big screen at age 10 in "School of Rock." Well, now at 28 years old-- hard to believe-- Miranda is an executive producer, climate change advocate, and she just made the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for the class of 2022. She joins us, along with our entertainment correspondent, Alexandra Canal. Allie?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Thank you, Alexis. And yeah, Miranda, as Alexis was saying, you're a very busy lady these days. The iCarly reboot doing so well on Paramount Plus. But I want to start with this. You're partnering with HP's Girls Save the World program to give young girls an opportunity to create environmental change. What inspired this passion of yours? And what are you hoping to teach the younger generation, specifically young girls, when it comes to fighting climate change?

MIRANDA COSGROVE: Well, I had a really amazing experience when I was about 13 or 14. I started working with Oceana. And I got to go to the Bahamas and swim with wild dolphins and learn all about seismic blasting. So that got me really into ocean conservation and marine life. And it was just an experience that always stuck with me. And I also just love animals. I'm a huge animal advocate. I foster animals. I have six right now.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: My god, six animals. That's amazing. And, you know, you've been a role model for young girls from since such a young age. When it comes to that visibility and responsibility that you have, how does that impact the partnerships and the deals and the campaigns that you put your name behind like HP's Girls Save the World?

MIRANDA COSGROVE: Well, I definitely think being in the entertainment business from a young age, as you get older, you're very careful what you attach your name to because you realize how important that is. So I'm really excited to be working with HP on something so cool and this Girls Save the World campaign. It's just all about getting girls from the ages of 13 to 18 into coming up with ideas to help the environment and their local communities. And all they have to do is go online to solve.mit.edu. And they can sign up and get all the information.

But it's pretty awesome. It's like, it's all about bringing girls together, letting them know that their voices can be heard, that they can make a huge difference in the world. And it's not just one person that wins. There are 10 finalists. So it's about all of them, like, meeting and working together. And I think that's a huge awesome thing to learn at a young age, too, that, like, getting to work with a bunch of other girls to change, to make change, that's amazing.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: So now I want to pivot now to the iCarly reboot. People were so excited about this. You guys are renewed for season two. What was it like stepping back into that role? And how was it different this time around? Obviously, dealing with the pandemic, I'm sure that came with its own unique challenges, along with the fact that this rolled out on a streaming service, instead of Nickelodeon. And this time around, you're an executive producer.

MIRANDA COSGROVE: Yeah, it's been an awesome experience. With the first show, with the first series, iCarly, I was 13 when I started. And I was nervous and excited. And it was my first time ever starring in anything. And now this time around, getting to be an executive producer now that I'm 28 has been such a new, exciting experience, too. So it's just awesome. Everybody on set, it's a really collaborative process. We all kind of have a say. And we get to talk about what we think our characters would be doing and what we like in the scripts and don't like. And I get to help cast all the roles. So I'm just getting to do a lot of things I never thought I'd get to do. And it's been a really rewarding experience.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: And I'm also curious from your perspective as an actor, there are so many streaming services out there right now, so many ways to access fans and viewers. What are your thoughts on the shifting media landscape? And does that impact the types of roles and partnerships that you do with everything that's out there right now?

MIRANDA COSGROVE: Yeah, that's true. There are just so many shows and so many things to watch. And I'm the type of person that likes to consume everything. Like, I love watching shows, so I pretty much have all the streaming services. And I watch everything. But yeah, I could definitely see where some people only have one streaming service, s they don't have one at all. And you really want your show to stand out. But I feel like with making iCarly, it's just-- it's been all about just trying to make people laugh and really trying to make the original fans of the original series happy. That's always kind of been our guiding light, like the thing that we focus on most when we're making this show.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: And Hollywood was hit super hard by COVID-19. We have this new variant now, just had the breaking news that the first variant case was found in the US. How has Hollywood responded to the challenges of COVID? And how do you think it really has shaped the industry moving forward?

MIRANDA COSGROVE: Well, working on iCarly, we started the first season right in the middle of the pandemic. And we were just also excited to get to come out of our houses and to get to all be together. But it didn't seem like too big of a deal, all the precautions that we had to take. But there are a lot. We test pretty much every day before we come to work.

We constantly-- we wear masks every single second we're not actually filming a scene. And we're constantly washing our hands. We wear shields over our masks. Like, there are just so many new rules because of COVID. But we've been really lucky and nobody has gotten COVID on the set yet during the first season or the second that we're filming right now. So that's been really nice.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Definitely, and finally, you've had some iconic roles. My personal favorite is Summer from "School of Rock." But you also have "Drake and Josh." I mean, there's so much nostalgia that's attached to you. What are some of your favorites? And why do you think that nostalgic factor with all these reboots coming out that consumers and viewers are really connecting to that?

MIRANDA COSGROVE: I definitely get it. I mean, when you're young and you watch a show or a movie, I feel like it really impacts you sometimes in a way that nothing else does. Like, when you're little and you're watching something, I feel like you just-- you see it for, like, the absolute best version of what it is. And it kind of always sticks with you. So I definitely get the nostalgia. And it's been really fun getting to try to bring the show back in the best way possible.

But yeah, I don't know, I think people just, they like to see something familiar that made them happy when they were young. And even, like, with the theme song to iCarly, I really wanted to keep it the same this time around, even though it's me at 13 singing a song because I know a lot of people associate that song with being young and coming home from school and, like, not having any worries. So I think that was nice that we just kept it the same.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: I agree. I remember that song very well. Miranda Cosgrove, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us about everything. Really appreciate it. Alexis, back to you.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Thanks so much to you both. I certainly feel like I've watched Miranda grow up with my three kids watching iCarly and now, of course, with the reboot.