But as a Warner executive, he said, he also wanted to please his new boss.

In early August, 10 top Warner executives were asked to read both scripts.

Two Warner executives pleaded guilty and a third was convicted of fraud.

The company commissioned a report on the role of various Warner executives in the theater case.

Warner executives have said they believed the film also involved a menage a trois.

She sometimes looked down at the Warner executives' commercial sensibility, according to people who worked with her.

In almost every merged department, a Warner executive was put in charge.

"It's tough, your second book," a Warner executive told me.

"There were some pitched battles inside the company over this one," a senior Warner executive said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Several Warner executives said the move was tied to internal politics.