If any of these shows or people are familiar to you, then your entertainment experience has been greatly impacted by Ted Chervin '85. Chervin and his company Broder Webb Chervin Silverman (named after its four partners) represent over 1,000 movers and shakers in the entertainment and sports industries-and they're only getting larger.
Television and film writers, directors, sportscasters and boxers all fall under the Beverly Hills-based agency's umbrella, and Chervin envisions a future in which unglamorous but vital niche-fillers like costume and set designers and composers will be represented as well. "We're responsible for managing their careers," Chervin said. "We give them advice about what jobs to take, we introduce them to people, gather information for them, make deals with networks." He was, however, equally quick to mention one responsibility the company will not burden itself with. "One thing we haven't done is represent actors, because they tend to dominate an agency. We prefer to focus on the writers and directors."
Law and order
Chervin's emphasis on Hollywood's less prestigious becomes less surprising in light of his track record as a servant for public good. Chervin spent his 20s as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. after graduating from Harvard Law School and clerking at the Manhattan Federal Courthouse in New York City. In his capacity as prosecutor, Chervin organized everything from wiretaps, to trials, to the appeals process and worked closely with the FBI and DEA in an endeavor to jail mafia members and white-collar criminals alike. Although Chervin enjoyed his time as a public prosecutor, he was soon ready to move on. "I'd tried over 12 cases," Chervin said, "and I felt like I'd achieved my goals. That chapter in my life was closing and I wanted a new challenge."
Go west, young man
That challenge, suggested by a former peer at Amherst, was in the entertainment industry, the nexus of which was 3,000 miles away from Gotham in Los Angeles. After one of his trials ended, Chervin headed west to investigate and a week later he had a new career. "It was a real risk," he recalled. "I had to borrow money from my best friend, and it was a huge pay cut … But it was also a great adventure, and it wound up working out perfectly." Chervin rocketed up the corporate ladder, and in 1998 he became a partner.
Past lessons
Even though Chervin's vocation had changed, the values he gleaned from his years as a public servant had not. Broder Webb Chervin Silverman is among Los Angeles' leading philanthropists, and the charity it has focused most of its energy on is The Wonder of Reading-a not-for-profit whose purpose is "to inspire in children the love of reading." "Our mission is to have a significant impact on reading in Southern California elementary schools," he said. Chervin's involvement in the organization was at first only monetary-he donated a library to Hancock Park Elementary School-but he quickly adopted a more hands-on role as a volunteer reader at Hancock Park once a week.
"Los Angeles public schools aren't safe or well-funded," Chervin lamented. "Only the parents who can afford it send their kids to private schools. Most of the public schools don't have libraries or resources, and the kids who are there are only there because they have to be." Broder Webb Chervin Silverman has donated dozens of libraries to the Los Angeles school system to solve this endemic problem.
Chervin's contributions go beyond the monetary; he spends untold hours in front of an audience of fourth-graders. The former English major takes his selection of reading material very seriously. "They all love Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," he said. "But I try to bring in a little of everything. For the kid who's only interested in sports I read Sports Illustrated, when there's a kid who loves science I read the science section of The New York Times." For Chervin, connecting with every child is one of the great challenges-and rewards-of his volunteer work. He's had the pleasure of developing relationships with the families of a number of his pupils, and has seen them blossom as both readers and people.
Chervin credits not only his years as a prosecutor for instilling his philanthropic bent, but also his time at Amherst. A hockey recruit from a diverse public school in New Rochelle, N.Y., he was so insecure about his academic ability that he promptly gave up hockey to focus on his studies. Although he regrets quitting the sport, he relishes his years as a student: "The values you're exposed to always involve thinking outside of yourself. You come to realize that there's a whole wide world out there that you don't always think about," he said. "That's the biggest part about the liberal arts education: that concern about the world. That's definitely translated into philanthropy for me."