James LaVitola was a stuntman on Fast and Furious and Friday Night Lights, among many other films. Brian Pitt was a producer of several “successful enough” indie films. The two had come up with a guaranteed blockbuster, a movie about motorcycle racing. There had never been a movie about motorcycle racing and (they said) it is the second most watched sport in the US. All they needed was $5,000,000 to bring it to theaters near you.
They brought with them a “babe” in shorts to give out popcorn, candy and swag bags. They brought a trailer of their movie. The popcorn was really good. The trailer was really not. But what did they not bring? A script, for one thing. They knew in their minds the general tenor of the story, but . . . . They knew that they’d have a smash hit if Ryan Gosling starred, but . . . . They explained to the sharks there was no risk of losing their money. They explained that this was the way movies were made back in the Golden Days. The sharks explained there was no way they were investing.
As the aspiring filmmakers left the Tank, Mark told the other sharks that he had seen a deal like that before—in an email from Nigeria.
James and Brian tried Kickstarter, asking for $2 million, but received only $12,000 from 16 backers. The campaign was canceled early. It appears all notions of such a movie were also canceled. There is not a trace of it anywhere.
