Nellie Andreeva

This marks an end of an era for the newly minted ICM Partners — one of the most respected TV lit agents in the business, Bob Broder, is leaving the agency to join longtime client Chuck Lorre at his Chuck Lorre Prods. Under his huge new deal at Warner Bros TV that Broder negotiated for his client, Lorre is beefing up his banner into a full-fledged production company. Broder will play a key role in the expansion, assisting in managing all operations of the company as Lorre continues to develop, write and produce comedy series and venture out into feature films, as well as dramatic and potential longform TV projects and stage plays. Lorre said he approached Broder with the idea of quitting “being one of the most successful literary agents in the history of the business” to help him run his company. “To my amazement, he said yes,” Lorre said. “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, whose career as an agent spans more than four decades, represents some of ICM Partners’ biggest moneymakers including Lorre, director-producer Jimmy Burrows and Christopher Lloyd, creator of the hit comedy Modern Family. (Lorre is behind Two And A Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and Mike & Molly.) All of them will stay with ICM, while Broder also will continue to be involved in their careers.

Broder’s institutional knowledge has made him indispensable in complex negotiations. He had a hand in most major deals for ICM TV clients, including Ellen DeGeneres’ mega pact with Warner Bros. Additionally, Broder has been involved in grooming next generations of agents, going back to the Broder Kurland Agency, which he co-founded in 1978. The boutique TV lit agency over the years added Elliot Webb, Beth Uffner, Ted Chervin and Chris Silbermann as partners, and in 2006, the company was acquired by ICM. At ICM/ICM Partners, Broder continued to oversee the TV agent training program, spending time guiding assistants and coordinators and helping them get ready for agenting. Broder is a beloved figure at ICM. When the news of his departure was announced at a company meeting this morning, Broder was given two standing ovations by ICM staff.

ICM president Chris Silbermann and head of TV Ted Chervin are among those who got their start under Brode. In a joint statement, the partnership said, “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. 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.”

During his time at Broder Kurland and then ICM Partners, Broder represented and packaged such series as Cheers, Frasier, Dharma & Greg, The X-Files, The King Of Queens, Touched By An Angel, Two And A Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly and Modern Family. Additionally, Broder has been an industry force in all major labor negotiations, helping behind the scenes to broker deals between the writers guild and the TV studios.

Broder is not the first top TV lit agent to segue to producing in tandem with one of their top clients. For instance, in 2007, CAA co-chairman and partner Lee Gabler, also after more than 40 years as an agent, left CAA to join David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants.

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