Bob Broder, one of the most respected and experienced agents at ICM Partners, will leave the agency to run Chuck Lorre Productions, the eponymous company of Broder’s client, “Two and a Half Men” creator Lorre, the agency announced on Monday.
Broder has been an agent for close to 40 years, joining ICM in 2006 when the agency shelled out $70 million for Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann in 2006.
Broder represents a small but powerful group of TV clients, including Lorre, “Modern Family” co-creator Christopher Lloyd and “Mike and Molly” director James Burrows. All are expected to stay with the agency.
“Bob has served as a mentor for so many of us at ICM Partners, making enormous contributions to our agency and the Hollywood community at large,” the partners said in a statement. “Most recently, he helped guide and execute the historic management buyout that brought ownership of ICM Partners to the agents of the company. Bob forever will be part of our family, and we look forward to continue working closely with him.”
Lorre recently signed a massive new deal with Warner Bros. Television that will transform his company into a more ambitious production shop. Broder will help oversee all operations while Lorre creates new shows and works on existing ones like "Men," "The Big Bang Theory" and "Mike & Molly."
“I recently told Bob Broder that I wanted to start a production company that made all forms of television as well as feature films and stage plays,” Lorre said in a statement. “I said he should quit being one of the most successful literary agents in the history of the business and help me run it. To my amazement, he said yes. I was only kidding, but it’s a little too late to tell him that, so I’m just going to say how grateful I am to have such an incredibly wise, experienced and vaguely ruthless guy at the helm of this thing.”
Broder is the latest prominent agent to depart ICM Partners since the agency bought out private-equity firm Rizvi Traverse in May. Nicole Clemens, who represented clients like “Sons of Anarchy” creator Kurt Sutter, left the agency in June for an SVP position at FX. Her clients also remained with the agency.
Paul Alan Smith, a former Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann agent, said in July he'd be leaving ICM Partners to start a new entertainment venture. Again, his clients remained with the agency.
Though it would be natural to view the departures as a sign of weakness at ICM, those within the agency see them as a natural result of the partnership, whose goal was to stabilize leadership after months of debate over direction. These agents are not leaving for rival firms, they are moving to different sectors of the entertainment space.
Rather than prompt a feeding frenzy for the agency’s clients, the departures have had little impact on ICM Partners’ client list thus far. Some compared Broder's move to Lee Gabler and Jack Rapke leaving CAA to work with clients David Letterman and Bob Zemeckis, respectively.
Broder served as a mentor to many of ICM Partners’ top agents, including former colleagues Chris Silbermann and Ted Chervin.
He was a founding partner of the Broder Kurland agency, which later added agents such as Elliot Webb, Beth Uffner, Chervin and Silbermann as partners. Prior to its acquisition by ICM, Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann was one of Hollywood’s strongest boutique TV firms.
