Bob Broder obit

Bob Broder Dies: Giant Of TV Business Who Worked With Chuck Lorre & Packaged ‘Cheers’ Was 85

 

He was not on the list.

Bob Broder, a doyen of the TV lit agency business who co-founded The Broder Kurland Agency, later Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann, and worked at ICM before teaming with longtime client Chuck Lorre to be an executive at his company, died Sept. 23 from cancer surrounded by family. He was 85.

Broder had been hard at work until the end, putting together staffing and attending tapings for Lorre’s shows. His death leaves a major void in the community.

“He elevated the idea of what it means to be an agent,” Ted Chervin said. “He operated at a level of such sophistication and complexity and authority that he really changed the game. He had a real statesman-like quality to him in the way he led the agency, and the way he managed his clients, and the way he interacted with the rest of the community. And, through all of that, he inspired a lot of people, including Chris [Silbermann] and me.”

Broder had been a force in the TV business for half a century, going back to the Broder Kurland Agency, which he co-founded in 1978. The lit agency, which over the years added Elliot Webb, Beth Uffner, Chervin and Silbermann as partners, became a unicorn, punching way above its weight as a small boutique that represented the biggest names in the business. In 2006, the company was acquired by ICM where Broder played a key role in the management buyout that resulted in the formation of ICM Partners as an agent-owned company.

“Even now, when people refer to the agency, they just call it Broder, and that might be because his name came first on the letterhead, but I think it’s also because he really was the figure most centrally identified with that agency, he was the soul of that agency,” Chervin said. “And that agency had an incredible culture of both strong individuality but also of collaboration.”

Broder is considered “one of the real fathers of and and experts on TV packaging,” as Chervin put it, who helped reinvent the financial model of how shows are sold.

During his time at BWCS and then ICM, he 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.

There is no show Broder is more closely associated with than Cheers. He represented its three creators, brothers Glen and Les Charles and director-producer James Burrows, with the latter becoming a signature client for Broder throughout his entire career, even after Broder left ICM in 2012 to join Chuck Lorre Productions.

Broder was treated like “the mayor of Cheers” and was greeted by everyone, from the actors and the writers to the grips and the security guards, when he visited the set. In recognition for his outsized role on the show, Broder was immortalized with a cameo as the guy knocking on the Cheers bar door in the final seconds of the series finale.

 

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“When I started in this business 50 years ago I needed an agent,” Burrows said. “My mentor Jay Sandrich, had one and I asked if I could contact him. I called, and Bob Broder entered my life. I can’t believe I won’t be able to call him anymore. I will miss you, my dear friend.”

 

Broder’s legacy extends beyond his client list, which also included sitcom writer David Lloyd and his son, Modern Family co-creator Christopher Lloyd, and big packages. He was a mentor to generations of young agents. After moving to ICM, he continued to oversee the TV agent training program, spending time guiding assistants and coordinators and helping them get ready for agenting.

 

Broder was such a beloved figure at ICM that when the news of his departure was announced at a company meeting in September 2012, he was given two standing ovations by the agency staff.

 

“It’s a sad day for all of us,” said an agent who worked under Broder at ICM. “He was a legend in the TV business and such an amazing agent and teacher to us all.”

 

Broder was a rare figure that was impervious to the notorious agency wars, commanding respect across agency lines.

 

“He was a mentor to me and a tremendous influence on me and my career,” said WME’s Rick Rosen who now represent Burrows.

 

UTA’s Jay Sures remembered Broder as “the fiercest competitor one can ever imagine.”

 

“He was so smart and was a step ahead of everybody when understanding the nuances of the TV business,” added Sures who worked closely with Broder over the past decade as Lorre’s agent.

 

Silbermann also spoke of Broder as an “original thinker and an innovative deal-maker” and of his impact on others.

 

“People really respected him because he was smart and he was fair,” Silbermann said. “He was direct and he spoke his mind but he never was talking down to people.”

 

That directness earned Broder the nickname of “Darth Broder.”

 

“Through that gruff exterior, he really did have a heart of gold underneath it all,” Silbermann said. “If he cared about you and and if he believed in you, he was there for you through everything. He was a huge cheerleader for us and wanted us to do well.”

 

Broder also was an authority figure that top TV executives all sought counsel in on important matters. While at BWCS and ICM, Broder was also an industry force in major labor negotiations, helping behind the scenes to broker multiple deals between the writers guild and the TV studios.

 

With his move to the Warner Bros. TV-based Chuck Lorre Prods., where he assisted the prolific comedy showrunner in managing all operations of the company, he found “a second bounce.” Those close to him say he loved his second career, working with writers in a different capacity as Lorre concentrated on the creative side, shepherding such hits as Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, Mom, The Kominsky Method and Mike & Molly.

 

In that role, Broder still cared a lot about the business. His knowledge of the industry remained as deep, his takes on its present and future remained as insightful, and he was always willing to share his thoughts in many far-reaching conversations we’ve had over the years.

 

Outside of Hollywood, Broder was an avid skier and poker player, with his famous weekly poker games the stuff of Hollywood lore. He also was known for hosting cigar Fridays in his garden with his buddies and for doting on his Golden Retrievers.

 

Along with his wife Cindy, Broder was passionate about education, supporting multiple schools. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of The Center for Early Education and The Saban Free Clinic and also served as a Board member of the Park Century School. A devoted philanthropist, he received The Saban Free Clinic’s Lenny Somberg Award in 2012.

 

Donations may be made in his honor to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International or The Saban Clinic.

 

Broder passed away on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. A person who dies on this holy day is viewed as a tzaddik, a person of exceptional righteousness.

 

He leaves behind his beloved wife Cindy, his daughter Julie, son Greg and his cherished extended family.

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