Footage of Tom Petty Allegedly Used Without Permission, Filmmaker Says in Lawsuit

Filmmaker Martyn Atkins has claimed in a lawsuit against Warner Music production that footage from the 2021 documentary Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers, was used without permission. Atkins states that he took the footage of Tom Petty in the 1990s, and director Mary Wharton allegedly got access to hours of 16mm archival footage through Petty’s daughter, Adria.

According to Atkins, he did not give Warner Music permission to use the “shocking 45 minutes” of footage in the film. Additionally, the lawsuit claims Atkins was “not compensated in any manner for the film’s unauthorized, brazen exploitation of the works Atkins created and owns.”

In 2021, Wharton spoke with Ultimate Classic Rock about the documentary, specifically how they chose footage for the film. “A lot of it was dictated by what was good and what we could find sound for,” she said, because “either the reels were not properly organized afterwards or properly labeled.”

This inorganization could have led to footage being used that was not authorized for use in the film. However, Atkins also claimed that he was “conned” into revealing the file locations of a majority of his footage from 1994 when Wildflowers was in production.

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Filmmaker Martyn Atkins Claims He Was Told He Could Direct a Film About Tom Petty in Exchange for the File Locations of His Footage

According to Atkins and the lawsuit, he was told he would direct a documentary film using his footage. In exchange, he shared the locations of his files with Adria and Tom Petty’s estate representatives. In the lawsuit, Atkins claimed he was “conned” into this with promises that did not materialize.

“Atkins had been conned into believing he would produce and direct the film so that Atkins would reveal the location of his footage to defendants,” the lawsuit states, per a report from Ultimate Classic Rock. The lawsuit also claimed that the makers of the documentary often and “repeatedly misrepresented” the origins of the footage. Marketing claimed the footage was “magically and unexpectedly discovered,” which, according to Atkins, wasn’t true.

“The film’s producers have systematically implemented this false narrative to manipulate the viewing public and bolster the marketing of the film,” the suit reads. “[Atkins] was then cut out completely — in every imaginable respect,” the lawsuit continues. “He was not even told as a courtesy that his works would be misappropriated and featured, let alone asked his consent.”

Martyn Atkins was a frequent Tom Petty collaborator, photographing him throughout the 1990s and notably during the production of Wildflowers. He was also Petty’s art director during the making of that album. The lawsuit was filed in June 2024 in Los Angeles federal court.

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