SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (SF) - WEDNESDAY October 26, 1988 Edition: FINAL Section: NEWS Page: A4 Word Count: 509
J.L. Pimsleur, Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writers

About 250 protesters blowing whistles and chanting last night interfered with the filming of the show at Lipps tavern at Ninth and Howard streets.

The target of the protest is one episode of the TV show "Midnight Caller," which debuted last night. The contested episode being filmed in San Francisco features a bisexual man who knowingly infects others with the HIV virus.

After filming was shut down last night, the two sides met for about two hours and agreed to resume negotiations on the script at 10 a.m. today.

Rene Durazzo, media relations coordinator for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said that focusing on an individual who knowingly spread AIDS amounts to "promoting fear and misunderstanding and exploiting the epidemic." Critics say the show also could incite violence against HIV carriers.

Protesters disrupted filming Thursday night, and the producer, Lorimar Productions, obtained a temporary restraining order Monday to prevent them from doing so again.

Lorimar officials yesterday afternoon offered to make a change in the script. Originally, the AIDS carrier was to be murdered, but the film company said it will have the show's hero stop the murder.

But protesters said that was not enough. An AIDS Foundation statement said the show's "basic premise" is still objectionable. "The reality is that in San Francisco, those affected by HIV have acted very responsibly and have altered their behavior to avoid infecting themselves or others," the statement said.

John Wahl, an attorney who represents gay groups, said: "It's a sad situation when some business organization comes into town and wants to exploit the AIDs epidemic by writing a god-awful, violence-provoking script like this. If NBC airs this atrocity it will lead to copycat actions where people murder people they suspect of spreading AIDS."

The episode's critics - including the AIDS Foundation, ACT UP and Mobilization Against AIDS - want to kill the script, or at least remove the AIDS carrier who knowingly spreads the virus and instead focus on a character who struggles with adopting responsible behavior. The film producer has said the script will not be killed.

The owner of the building housing Lipps said he asked the film crew to leave.

The building houses the Phillips Hotel upstairs, and landlord Frank Myers said he made the decision after his tenants protested the filming. He said permission to shoot had come not from him but from the owner of the Lipps tavern.

A representative of the film company said filming was finished at the bar anyway, but a crew member said shooting ordinarily would last longer.

The episode, which was scheduled to finish shooting tomorrow, is set to air later this fall.

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Chronicle staff writer David Tuller contributed to this report.

CAPTION: PHOTO

Protesters confronted a police tactical squad at Ninth and Howard streets last night/BY TOM LEVY/THE CHRONICLE

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