Forced to defend itself from cuts, Metro Screen created a fighting committee to explore options, and commissioned research to support the process. Screen Australia was expected to undertake its own research into the emerging sector, but instead made the blanket decision to withdraw from supporting the Screen Resource Organisations.
The research took Metro into one of the great mysteries of the sector. Most working practitioners grew up in an era when resources were scarce and well-financed shorts were a key tool in developing a career which led to small production companies. Since then, the landscape has changed utterly, with abundant technology, the internet and increasingly educated young graduates. One royal road had become a myriad of paths across an unmapped boundary.
