Risky Business SERIES

1999, Total Running Time 100 Minutes (4 x 25 Minutes)

A funny, fast-paced series that follows the fortunes of four small businesses and the people who run them, revealing the highs and lows behind modern entrepreneurial Australia.

Most small businesses hit the wall in the first three years. For those who tough out the turmoil, it’s a Risky Business. This real-life sitcom follows the fortunes of four small businesses and the people who run them. All take risks that threaten their future, their financial security and their family relationships.

The charismatic cellular cowboys, part of the rising breed of hip twenty-something business types, face a shootout with a large American telecommunications company in order to expand their mobile phone business into the fat end of town. A rich young Hong Kong couple and their Australian partners lose their cool as they meet obstacle after obstacle in a frantic race to open their upmarket Asian icecream cafe on time. Two hot new fashion designers risk economic survival and their relationship while preparing for the cut-throat catwalks of Australian Fashion Week, and a father's obsession to rule the roost and open yet another chicken shop turns up the heat on a family business.

The tension rises over four episodes to reveal the highs and lows behind modern entrepreneurial Australia.

EPISODES

1. It starts with an entrepreneurial dream. Not content with their suburban mobile phone dealership, the cellular cowboys Marcus and Francesco want to open a city store. Hot design duo Ian and Natasha hope to impress the buyers and critics with two separate collections at Australian Fashion Week, and Arthur is obsessed with adding another chicken shop to the Garbas family business.

2. The four partners in an icecream cafe are about to lose their cool as iceberg-size problems hit their construction site. Tackling the new shop is also taxing Marcus and Francesco’s working relationship. Arthur drops a bombshell that threatens to blow the Garbas family apart, and Ian and Natasha are feeling the financial squeeze as Fashion Week looms.

3. It’s make-or-break time as Australian Fashion Week arrives for Natasha and Ian, and Marcus and Francesco brace themselves for a shootout with a telecommunications giant. Christine finds out that her husband Arthur has bought the chicken shop behind her back, and the builder is still working on the icecream cafe.

4. The cellular cowboys, Marcus and Francesco, are ambushed at the opening of their new store. Meanwhile at the still unfinished icecream cafe, there’s only 24 hours to go before the expensive launch party and it’s all hands on deck. The stressed-out owners face a meltdown as all their freezers go bust!

A Film Australia National Interest Program. Produced in association with SBS Independent. © 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.