Inside the Fight for ICM's Future (Analysis)

This story first came out inside the November. 25 problem in the Hollywood Reporter Magazine. our editor recommendsSecrets of Hollywood Agency MailroomsTALENT SIGNINGS: New Clients at CAA, ICM, Gersh, APA When stalwart TV lit agents Josh Hornstock and Mickey Berman left ICM in October, the blow for the agency was symbolic and severe. Leader Chris Silbermann had fought against against to aid the 2, whom he'd groomed at Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann Agency, the boutique that ICM bought in 2006. But he couldn't provide what UTA offered -- partnership -- as well as the two packed their bags. PHOTOS: Methods of Hollywood Agency Mailrooms ICM's failure to keep agents within the top-notch TV department, where you can A-list designers like Chuck Lorre and Shonda Rhimes, demonstrates the growing gulf between key personnel and Suhail Rizvi, the publicity-shy businessman who acquired a controlling fascination with ICM eight several days before Silbermann and company grew to become an associate of and increased being the organization's profit center. Silbermann and also the lieutenants Bob Broder and Ted Chervin are mentioned being frustrated with Rizvi, who appears being thwarting Silbermann's plan to transform the 150-agent ICM in to a partnership. Thinking about the truth that impasse, additionally to some chilled relationship with ICM's longtime chairman, Rob Berg, it seems likely the first sort BWCSA partners will leave the 36-years of age ICM to produce a new agency. According to an informed source, Rizvi, a co-founding father of Birmingham, Mich.-based Rizvi Traverse Management who resides in Greenwich, Conn., is ongoing to develop less taking into consideration the extended-term way ahead for ICM after concluding the company won't provide him with the working platform to produce an bigger impact becoming an investor on tv. He already has squashed an earnings in the $100 million investment his company and Merrill Lynch created in ICM, this source states, which is mentioned being quietly shopping his fascination with the organization. PHOTOS: 10 Showrunners to check out in 2012 With offices in La and NY, Rizvi Traverse has possibilities in Twitter, Facebook and Summit Entertainment in March, the business teamed with Hugh Hefner to think about Playboy Companies private. Rizvi, 45, is actually private that photographs of him are essentially impossible to discover. Although he seems within the Cannes Film Festival, sources say he's the antithesis in the usual Hollywood investor who want to attend parties and meet stars. He counts WME co-Boss Patrick Whitesell just like a friend: The pair carried out tennis at the begining of eighties inside their hometown of Iowa Falls, Iowa. Rizvi will be a staunch supporter of Leader Obama. He sits round the board in the College of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. One insider states ICM employees know little about Rizvi and also the dealings while using agency. Rizvi's apparent disinterest in restructuring ICM leaves Silbermann fighting a apparently losing fight. Meanwhile, his relationship while using chilly Berg, who rarely interacts with affiliate marketers which is mentioned being against changing ICM in to a partnership, has degenerated to the level where sources the 2 don't speak. PHOTOS: 9 Finest Paid out Entertainment CEOs Silbermann while others are mentioned to bristle inside a corporate structure that essentially ensures they are Rizvi Traverse employees. (An April report mentioned Berg, Silbermann and several agents hold ICM stock.) Sources say Rizvi hasn't nurtured ICM, rather focusing on cost savings. A 2006 Wall Street Journal story mentioned, for instance, that immediately after Rizvi Traverse bought its stake, it bought that ICM's flower budget be slashed. In May, Silbermann spoken about with THR efforts to exhibit ICM in to a partnership, saying, "For me that agents should be capable of reap whatever they sow." If Silbermann, Broder and Chervin depart, they'd likely avoid a regular flow of TV packaging earnings from such hit shows as Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory and Scrubs. However with no strong film group, the departure of the TV cash cow would devastate ICM, which causes it to be a great target for just about any takeover. Paradigm, which formerly acquired such agencies as Authors & Artists, is mentioned to own examined a deal, though an origin near the situation states Rizvi has become no credible offers. A Paradigm repetition states, "We don't discuss speculation and rumored deals." Rizvi Traverse and ICM declined comment. Email: Kim.Masters@THR.com Daniel.Burns@THR.com Twitter: @KimMasters @DanielNMiller Related Subjects ICM