THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 13, 1996 TAG: 9608130281
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 63 lines
When salvage crews raise part of the Titanic this month, only one film crew - from the Discovery Channel - will be on hand to capture the dramatic moment.
A federal judge on Monday halted an alternative production by NBC that also planned to film the event in the North Atlantic.
Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. granted a preliminary injunction against California TV producer John A. Joslyn, who was hired by NBC to make the documentary. The judge forbade Joslyn to take any pictures of the Titanic as part of its hull is raised from the floor of the Atlantic, where it has rested for 83 years.
In his ruling, Clarke said that photographic privileges are a significant part of the salvage rights that he awarded to RMS Titanic Inc. in May.
Calling the film business ``one of the greatest money-makers in the world,'' Clarke said that salvage privileges to the Titanic give RMST ``complete rights to exploit the vessel to regain its investment of time and money.''
The RMST expedition to recover the Titanic will cost an estimated $5.4 million and has been criticized for being carnival-like and overly commercial. Cruises to watch the salvage operation have been organized, and souvenir lumps of coal from the wreck site are being sold.
The RMST expedition was organized by George Tulloch, a former car dealer from Connecticut who has led three previous expeditions to the shipwreck.
The Discovery Channel, which specializes in documentaries about science and natural history, has paid $3 million to RMS Titanic for the filming rights. The documentary is scheduled to air in October.
Filming of the expedition, which involves two submersibles for underwater photography, began Aug. 2, said Brad Stillman, an attorney for RMST.
Clarke's ruling had Joslyn's attorneys howling that their client's rights to free speech and due process were being violated.
Larry Cohen, an attorney for Joslyn, said his client has already invested $2.5 million in the alternative film project. More than half of that, or $1.5 million, was paid to Joslyn by NBC for pre-production costs.
Joslyn has spent more than $900,000 for a chartered ship out of Nova Scotia.
``If Mr. Joslyn cannot produce the film, he still has to pay the charter,'' Cohen said.
But Cohen said the issue is not solely economic. It is also constitutional, he said.
``The court is saying, `Mr. Joslyn, you don't have the right to photograph an entity that lies in international waters and is owned by no one,' '' Cohen said. ``Mr. Joslyn's First and 14th Amendment rights are being abridged by this action.''
Cohen said he appealed Clarke's decision late Monday and has asked for an emergency ruling from Richmond's federal appeals court.
Clarke said he did not consider the issue to be a matter of free speech because Joslyn's motive was economic, not journalistic.
He said his earlier rulings made it clear that exclusive rights to the salvage site belonged to RMST.
He said Joslyn should not have invested money in the film project without first consulting the court.
``If Mr. Joslyn is going to lose any money,'' Clarke said, ``he has put himself in that barrel.'' ILLUSTRATION: Drawing by CNB