Posted on July 5, 2006 at 2:05 PM in thoughts
Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.
Just a few minutes ago, one of my friends sent me a link to this video message from Amanda Congdon explaining that she'll no longer be part of the show.
Rocketboom is one of my favorite vlogs, and I've also come to know Andrew and Amanda personally after working with them on a series of EarthLink ads for the show -- I consider them both friends of Earthling. It's sad to see them apparently on opposite ends of a decision, and I really didn't know what to make of Amanda's announcement when I first watched it. When I'd met her at Syndicate weeks ago she explained that she was planning a move to LA, but at that time it seemed like things would work out with Rocketboom. Without much context to go on other than the message itself, I've e-mailed both Andrew and Amanda to find out the rest of the story before it took on too much spin. I'm hoping to hear from Amanda as well, but I just got the following e-mail from Andrew. He said it was ok to publish:
Amanda decided she was unable to stay in NYC and informed me, the Rocketboom business and the rest of the team via her videoblog post this morning that she was moving on.We wanted her to get to Hollywood to pursue her personal opportunities as soon as possible, but her demand to move this week without waiting any longer, without a justification, and without an adequate proposal for a plan for how the show itself would work, we were unable to uproot Rocketboom from NYC at this time.
I certainly wish she would have decided she wanted to stay and give it a little while longer and I also wish her the best and know she will fare well.
I'm nervous for the near term because this was an unexpected fork in the road, but I'm excited for the future once the new route is chosen.
Update: Lots of opinions on Techmeme.
And Video Podcasting News has provided a transcript of Amanda's video -- not sure if this is verbatim.
There's now an official announcement on Rocketboom.com.
Update: Amanda has written at length about this on her blog, Unboomed.
Update: No more updates. I'm not going to follow the aftermath on Earthling any more -- as Brian Oberkirch pointed out to me, the rest of this is none of our business and is best handled in private. I wish Andrew and Amanda the best and hope to see them both making great content again very soon.
Comments
Hmmm this sounds like someone is not telling the whole truth. From what we can gather from Amanda's vlogcast (is that a new word?), Andrew didn't want to keep her whatsoever.
This is fishy.
Hope things clear up.
Not that I really want to be nosy, but it's a bummer to all the fans of the show to be let down so suddently.
brem of martinbreton.com
Posted by brem | July 5, 2006 2:53 PM
It's a tough thing to go through for the fans *and* for A and A, and especially under the lens of the blogosphere and its echo chamber/hall of mirrors effect.
I didn't read the same thing into Amanda's video that you did. In mentioning that Andrew is the majority owner, I took that to mean in the end they couldn't agree but that it's his call and he exercised his position to break the deadlock.
I'm not really anxious to speculate further until I know more and they've both had a chance to reflect, knowing that these are two colleagues I respect. Amanda and Andrew have a long professional history together and if I were in their shoes I certainly would want to separate the facts of the situation from commentary until everyone has had a chance to think, absorb, and process.
Posted by Dave Coustan | July 5, 2006 3:18 PM
I too am sad to hear that Amanda is leaving. But the same rule applies for new media and old media -- the show must go on. It is also interesting to note that even with all the discussion about technology and new delivery applications and formats, personalities and the human element are still front and center.
Posted by Dan Greenfield | July 5, 2006 7:12 PM