Shark Tank: Why Did The Investors Immediately Turn Down & Trash-Talk Track Days?
Brian Pitt and James LaVitola weren't your typical "Shark Tank" entrepreneurs. Instead of pitching a conventional product or service, their vision could only be seen on the big screen. But what started as a hopeful endeavor to receive funding for a motorcycle movie ended up running them over when they appeared on Season 4 of the show.
Pitt and LaVitola came onto "Shark Tank" looking for a $5 million investment for a 34% stake in their motorcycle-centric film "Track Days." LaVitola, a former stunt actor and bike enthusiast, hopes that the movie will highlight motorcycle racing, which they claim to be the second most-watched sport in the United States. However, their funding strategy is bizarre, to say the least. With no script written or actor in place, the duo plan to take the sharks' money and place it in an inaccessible account until they secure sales and distribution. They consider it the "new way that films are financed" and a risk-free deal for the sharks.
Still, all the sharks agree that it's a bad idea. Both Mark Cuban and Daymond John are out before the pitch is even complete. Robert Herjavec can't get behind the film not having a script, while Barbara Corcoran is against her son using motorcycles and thinks it'd be hypocritical. The highly opinionated Kevin O'Leary gives one of his signature cold-hearted remarks, saying, "It is a horrifically bad idea. I forbid you to proceed." As can be imagined, there wasn't much fuel left in this engine after their time on the show.
LaVitola and Pitt's movie was halted in its tracks
The sharks may have seemed harsh when dumping on Brian Pitt and James LaVitola's motorcycle movie concept, "Track Days," but many of them come from a place of experience. Mark Cuban and Daymond John, who both dropped out before the presentation was even over, have had their fair share of producing credits.
John was an executive producer on the 2005 superhero sequel "The Crow: Wicked Prayer," which he described on the show as, " ... a horror movie in terms of getting my investment back." It's safe to say that if a superhero movie released a year after "Spider-Man 2" and the same year as "Batman Begins" had a hard time making money, a motorcycle flick wouldn't have had much of a chance of getting off the ground.
Revving up interest elsewhere also proved to be a bust. Around the time of their "Shark Tank" appearance, the team created a Kickstarter campaign for the movie. Their goal was now to raise $2 million for the production instead of their initial $5 million goal proposed to the sharks. However, they only managed to raise a little more than $11,000 from 16 backers. The campaign was canceled shortly after. Likewise, their website, Twitter, and Facebook accounts have also gone defunct.
Since then, LaVitola and Pitt have moved on to other endeavors. According to LinkedIn, Pitt is still the president of Vision Films while LaVitola works as the VP of sales for an Idaho-based wood company.