ABSTRACT
Drawing upon her professional experience across the screen production, policy and university sectors in Australia, the author describes the manner in which the lack of articulation between policy and scholarship has played itself out in the Australian context. She reflects on the reasons for this and proposes a model for conceptualising the breach between policy and scholarship and its effects. The author considers alternative approaches for screen industry research and advocates a reconceptualisation of the relationship between screen policy, theory and practice. The 'Thought Silo Model' visually represents the lack of articulation between policy and scholarship and the effects this generates, namely that public discussion remains at the level of officially sanctioned data. A formal programme of government assistance to the Australian film industry began in 1970, with the establishment of a public agency to deliver direct production subsidy, followed by the introduction of indirect subsidies and other regulatory measures to shore up local production.
