Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Tony Morris has issued an e-mail claiming that his 14K The Movie project is proceeding.

In his e-mail, Morris also announced a motocross movie project and blasted roadracingworld.com editor John Ulrich for writing a First Person/Opinion piece after reading the 14K script, which Morris had called up and volunteered to send him to review.

In his e-mail, sent to companies involved in the 14K project, Morris claimed that Ulrich had agreed not to publish any comment on the 14K script.

In fact, the e-mail to which Morris attached the script contained no restrictions on publication, and Morris did not mention any restrictions when he initially called and volunteered to e-mail the script to Ulrich.

Ulrich commented on the movie script in an opinion piece published on roadracingworld.com, in which he stated he couldn’t understand how running two race teams in two different untelevised racing series had anything to do with raising money to make a movie.

To read that piece, click here.

After Ulrich’s personal opinion piece was posted, Morris claimed he had sent an e-mail–subsequent to his e-mailing the script–asking that no comment be published on the script; that e-mail was never received by roadracingworld.com or Ulrich.

According to timelines published on the 14K website last year, filming was supposed to start last October. Morris’ new communication says filming will start soon, making the actual filming of the project about a year late.

Here, then, is the latest communication from Morris regarding his movie projects:


Greetings from all of us at Orion Marketing and “14K The Movie”!

I just wanted to drop you all a quick note to give you a better picture of what we are up to here at Orion Marketing and the “14k The Movie” project.

The Inception
I started working with a small team in the WERA National Endurance series and got the bug. I raised $50,000 in sponsorship for a race team, and bought a ZX6 R Kawasaki. Through Kawasaki, I was introduced to Eric Wood.

At that point, I started getting to know everyone in the industry both good and bad. I was asked by Mike Murphy of Formula USA if I would be interested in working with them to promote the sport of Motorcycle road racing. The movie idea was born.

I went to Hollywood and spoke to a studio. I put $50,000 of my own money down to get the script written. Draft 5 and 6 months into the project, we went to Suzuki to see if they would be interested. I was now approaching the industry to gain support.

Draft 9, and 3 months later I went back to Suzuki to give them an update and came away with 6 bikes. I started asking the sponsors what they thought of us building a race team to market the movie. They all, without exception, agreed that it was a great idea and all wanted to support the project. The 14k Media team was born.

Next, we went racing. Eric Wood in FUSA, myself, Dennis King and Mike Swank went Endurance racing in the WERA National endurance Series. And soon we found our biggest problem to be the Engine builder. We looked for a company that would be able to benefit from a project of this size, and be able to withstand the bulk of work that it would bring in at the time of the movie release. We located Mike Cox from White Tip Racing out of San Diego, California. Our agreement was that we would supply everything to them for the building of our engines, and they would supply labor free of charge in exchange for the exposure. We then sent them 4 engines.

About a month from the Daytona opening race, all panic was on getting the team ready for our grand unveiling of the 14k Media Team. Finally, the engines arrived 3 days before we were to leave for Daytona. The Team arrived at Daytona, with the bike all painted and looking good.

Day one of the FUSA Weekend.
Debbie Evens, a stuntwoman from Hollywood, takes out one of the GSX R600’s and it starts to make bad noises. Then, Jeff’s motor goes “Bang”! Next, Eric’s motor goes “Bang”! While we are all in the pits working on blown engines, the time comes to go out for the first race, a 200 Mile Challenge. Running around 5th place Dennis crashes the bike in a slow speed low side. About 7 laps from the finish on the race I catch a gust of wind while hauling butt around the “Dogleg”, and then take an off course excursion that ends at the Halifax Medical center. Not cool!

Day two of the FUSA weekend
Out of the 5 bikes we had there, we ended up with just one 600 still working. In fact, we had to borrow an engine to prepare a bike for Eric to race. All but one of the White tip engines had blown up once they were put into the frame. This gave White Tip a scare. But the only thing that they felt could be done is some sort of damage control.

Mike Cox, angry because all his engines had exploded, takes the three blown engines to repair them. At this point, Eric won’t ride another bike with a motor built by White Tip. Cox hears that we are looking for an alternative engine builder and our relationship with White Tip worsens. Mike Cox, realizing that his reputation is in jeopardy, decides to take action by submitting a press release to Road Racing World that we are frauds.

Additionally, he begins making calls to probably everyone he knows in the industry, attempting to save face by slandering our team. Soon, I find myself trying to defend my reputation, wasting important time on personal defense. In doing so, I call on John Ulrich to fill him in on the project and to see if he would like to become involved in the film.

John Ulrich, having not read the script, says that he would like to read it. I sent him the script on the understanding that he not publish anything negative, at which time he did just that. John Ulrich posts a statement saying that he feels that this is all just a scam. Now damage control was required on my behalf, and more valuable time was spent off the project trying to defend my position.

As a result of John Ulrich’s slander, we lost all of our web-based support associates (websites, links, etc). They all feared that John Ulrich would lash out at them as well. For some reason, people seem to be predisposed to believing the first thing that they hear, versus calling to confirm nasty rumors that tend to cost those of us on the receiving end.

The media race team has done well and many of you have told me to run the team again next year, it really depends on the response from this email to whether we do that. As it stands now, we have lost the interest of a few of our sponsors as a result of these slanderous remarks. And though this certainly will not cost us the production of this movie, it does stand to damage the reputations of those of us trying to better the industry through honest efforts and projects like this one. And be it known that I try to avoid negative exchanges, I felt it necessary to inform you of this situation to hopefully steer you from this type of negative influence.

Our Current Status
We sent the script to Ewan McGregor, and have had multiple discussions with his agent. If he agrees to get involved in the film, we have tentative agreements from 4 major studios to co-produce the movie. We now have the following in place:

Attorney
Producer
Writer
Director
Creative Director
Casting Director
Product Placement Group

I still believe that this project will be great for the racing industry and I will continue to look for support for 2003. There are many things that I can do to make this project a reality, but without the support of companies like yours, it will be very difficult and perhaps more than that disheartening as we are trying to promote and help the sport we love. We have had our share of problems along the way, but our biggest problem to date has been one of negativity from others. For some reason, people have gone out of their way to display their feelings against this film. Obviously some people do not want this project to succeed. I don’t know if it is out of jealousy of accomplishment, or if it is just the negative human nature. All that I can say is that I believe in what I’m doing, and have proven it by the amount of money and time that I’ve put into this project. I have literally worked full time on the project foregoing my normal income earning work as my heart and soul and dwindling resources are committed to its success. For those that don’t understand what I’m trying to accomplish, buckle your seat belts! It’s going to be a long ride!

We are looking to start production of the “Colorado Motocross” movie over the winter and many if not all of you will be included as just another way to get you the exposure you are looking at me to give your company, as you
are involved in “14K”. It too is a great movie and the benefit for me is we will capture both ends of the motorcycle spectrum. If you have any questions at all just reply to this email or call me. You should all by now have all my telephone numbers.

Thanks again for all of your support. It won’t be long now, until the filming begins and the movie will begin to take shape!