She turns to the synopsis and gets the broad strokes of the plot, then she reads the comments more closely. She is only wondering if she should spend an hour or more reading the script. Two minutes later, she makes her decision to read or not to read. If she dislikes it, Game Over. For the Development Executive, their first thoughts about your script revolve around the coverage report.
Coverage is a tool.
Like Cliffs Notes, coverage organizes the time-consuming experience of reading a script into sound bites so that the executive can spend her time strategically. You get to see the coverage report. Most of the time, a coverage report never leaves the desk of the Development Executive. She uses coverage as a guide for her reading choices, and later as a cheat sheet when she talks with an agent about why she is passing on his client's script. This can be frustrating for a writer.