21-year-old Michael Sgro has been working towards his filmmaker dreams since he was a teenager. He started by opening his own videography company at 16 after studying media at school and realising he had a knack for it.
He built a portfolio making films for local businesses and musicians.
Flashforward five years, and Michael is about to release his own series, titled 'Slippery Business'.
It's premiering on March 29 and it's financially backed by the City of Mandurah's Creative Mandurah Partnership program, which aims to facilitate the success of young Mandurah creatives.
"Slippery Business has been a labour of love for the past two years," Michael told the Mail. "We'd been trying to make it on our own and realised it would be impossible without support."
Michael and his team began looking into financial support and grant applications.
"It was then I realised that I'm a Mandurah boy, I've grown up in Mandurah - why not reach out to the City?"
The team approached the City of Mandurah council and told them about their project, and that in conjunction, they wanted to provide opportunities and workshops for aspiring, young Mandurah filmmakers.
"We said that we were keen to take on young Mandurah filmmakers as interns and run workshops led by industry professionals," Michael said. "The City of Mandurah did more than decide to financially support us. They went above and beyond and we couldn't have done this without them."
The funding was secured in November 2019, but one day into filming, troubles arose for the cast and crew.
"We were literally one day into filming when we were shut down by COVID."
Michael explained that an hour before they were set to start the second day of filming, he received a phone call.
"It was pretty sad...my producer telling me we couldn't continue."
After two months of being locked down, Slippery Business filming restarted and wrapped up in August. The editing, colour, sound and visual effects are being finalised now.
"Slippery Business is a zany and ambitious miniseries about this quirky manager of an adult store," Michael explained.
"What audiences can expect is a lot of ridiculous situations, quirky characters and PG laughs."
Michael said with Slippery Business, he and his team tried to make it "as PG in an R-rated setting as possible".
Slippery Business will premiere, with the support of the City of Mandurah, at Reading Cinemas in Mandurah on March 29 and 30, with tickets on the 30th being open to the public.
"Ticket details will be out soon, so anyone wanting to follow along can keep up with us on our instagram."
Samantha Ferguson
Samantha Ferguson is a journalist at the Mandurah Mail. She is an entertainment, sport, crime, community and education journalist with a special interest in investigative pieces and human interest stories.
Samantha Ferguson is a journalist at the Mandurah Mail. She is an entertainment, sport, crime, community and education journalist with a special interest in investigative pieces and human interest stories.
