This last complaint, which has very little support among independent film executives, is probably the most damaging to the festival.

Ladd had about 18 months left on his contract, film executives said.

In a board room, an absent film executive dominates his employees by means of a giant screen.

"People in this town have no lens on themselves," one film executive said.

Maybe the biggest difference, one film executive told me, "is that now there are probably a lot less drugs involved."

His work interested film executives who sent him to Hollywood.

They went there to meet with film executives about a possible movie project.

Some film executives say it was actually a shouting match, which is the way people often talk to each other in this town.

He eventually went on to become a film executive.