SASKATOON — The YouTube and social media worlds know him as gifted videographer Scott Woroniuk, but he was once also known as Scott Nicholls, former radio personality for Rock 102 in Saskatoon.
His popular YouTube series, 'Abandoned Saskatchewan', has caught the eye of many people. So many, in fact, that he has been nominated for the Governor General's History Award for Popular Media, also known as the Pierre Berton Award.
'Abandoned Saskatchewan' is a series of videos from Woroniuk's Crosscut Films that explores stories from the province's past. Combining on-location footage with historical context, helping to make it accessible and engaging for viewing audiences, some of the stories in the series include events from the Cold War to long-forgotten infrastructure such as railway lines and abandoned highways around the province. In addition to producing these compelling videos, Woroniuk also creates content on broader themes connected to Canada's vast history, such as "Canada's Last Carrier - The HMCS Bonaventure's Untold Story" and "Shadow Over the CFL: The Story of Flight 810."
Woroniuk also captured footage of the SkyTrail walking bridge by Outlook and produced a video on the former tourism hotspot last year.
Woroniuk, born in Uranium City before calling Saskatoon home ever since, has been involved in the media world since the late 1980s, beginning in radio in 1987 before becoming a touring musician on the road throughout most of the 90s, where his travels took him from Ontario to Alaska and seemingly everywhere else in between.
His life would lead him to what he does today with Crosscut Films and YouTube, where Woroniuk feels he has a sizable platform to be as creative as he wants to be.
"Well, I've always had to do something creative," said Scott. "Whether it be making music, being on the air, or now with this, with filmmaking. It just started out as just a fun thing to do on the side, and then it just kind of grew. Then people said, Oh, can you do this? Can you do this for me? I said sure. So after it got downsized at the radio station in 2015, I went, 'Well, let's take a go at this.' Let's see if I can make this work full-time."
With that, Woroniuk would establish Crosscut Films, which allows him to both provide people and clients with video coverage they're looking for and be creative with his own projects and outlets.
"My usual line is, 'Everything except weddings'," said Woroniuk, describing his business. "Weddings are good money, but it's also a lot of stress. And it's more event coverage than it is being allowed to be creative, you catch what I mean? So at least with the things I'm doing now, it allows me to really branch out in creativity. And shooting music videos is the same thing. But I also do corporate training, safety videos, that sort of thing. And those are good because they pay the bills. It allows me to, you know, I want to go visit this, you know, whatever in Saskatchewan. I want to go see this old train bridge or I want to go see this, you know, whatever. And this allows me to do that, so it's nice having that flexibility."
Touching on his Abandoned Saskatchewan collection of videos, he said that the inspiration for the series came from his family, namely, his father's incredible ability to remember facts and details about all manner of subjects in the province.
"My dad had an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Saskatchewan," he explained. "And when we'd be driving across the province and he'd say, 'Oh, there used to be a small siding here with two elevators, you know', and now you look at it and it's an empty field. And I think what started it, too, is we were driving up the highway one day and we saw this old airplane hangar sitting there, and Dad said, 'Oh, that used to be a World War II airfield.' I'm like, what? You know, so that kind of piqued my interest in a lot of Saskatchewan history. And Dad knew it all anyway; I'm not saying he didn't know it all, but he was very knowledgeable about Saskatchewan history. So it kind of piqued my interest and kind of went on from there."
Woroniuk's video on the SkyTrail by Outlook can be viewed just below:
It was when the series started gaining traction on social media that Woroniuk knew that he might have something with this project.
"People started sharing it more and more," he said. "And it started getting shared in Facebook groups like Saskatchewan History and those sorts of things. And then we get a little recognition for that, so it was good."
Now, with the Abandoned Saskatchewan series being noticed in one of the most distinguished ways possible with the Governor General's Award nomination, Woroniuk says he almost felt like he was being pranked and had to confirm that everything was on the up and up.
"At first, when I got the email, I thought it was one of my friends playing a joke on me, right?" he said. "So I had to look up the email address and I went, 'Holy man, that's legit!' Then I look up the website, and that's legit, too. So it's official. Yeah, so I was kind of like, 'Oh, wow.' It just completely came out of the blue. I had no idea what was going on until I got this notification. And I know it's cliche to say that just to be nominated is incredible, but it's true. That someone thinks highly enough of my work that they think I should be recognized is completely mind-blowing to me. It's a huge honour."
Woroniuk says that the work he's done so far with Crosscut Films and the Abandoned series has been a major highlight in his life and it feels incredible to know that such work is being recognized.
"It's nice because it's like a validation," he said. "People say, 'Well, why don't you do something on the 1885 Northwest Resistance?' And that's been done a lot by more accomplished filmmakers than I. So, let's start doing some of these more hidden, little-known stories. And I usually bounce it off my group of friends. They go, 'Oh, did you hear about that U-2 that had a forced landing on Rapa Gruta Lake in the middle of winter in 1960?' They're like, what? And I say, 'OK, that's one to cover.' And that sort of thing. These little-known stories of Saskatchewan, you know? Those are the things I kind of like to bring to light."
Woroniuk believes that his nomination may serve as a notification to other web-based filmmakers and content creators out there that they, too, could reach such achievements and heightened levels of success.
"Absolutely," he said. "There are a couple of other guys from Saskatchewan that do similar kind of things, and I encourage them. You know, it's not something you want to corner the market on or kind of like 'guard' all your secrets. It's public knowledge and it's Saskatchewan's history. I don't have a claim to that, right? So the more people that get Saskatchewan's history and little-known stories about Canadian history out there, the better."
What Woroniuk enjoys most about what he does is the fact that he gets to shed light on some of those often-overlooked and sometimes forgotten stories about the province. It's a part of Saskatchewan history with many layers, and he has a blast putting it front and centre with his YouTube series.
"I think it's just unveiling those little hidden stories of Saskatchewan history," he said. "There was a B-47 Cold War bomber that crashed in northern Saskatchewan in 1957 or something like that. People don't know about that, but it's a legit part of Saskatchewan's history. And also, too, with my Abandoned Saskatchewan series, I'll go and I'll find out about, say, the old SkyTrail, the old CP Bridge out at Outlook. Tell its history, you know? And, of course, you try to blend. I always go out at dawn because it's, with the drone, it's nice because there's almost no wind and you get the sun rising. You always get some really dynamic video to go along with it. So, it's just being able to share those stories of Saskatchewan. And I've also done some Canadian stories as well, like Canada's last aircraft carrier; a story about the HMCS Bonaventure. And just those little stories that you can bring to light and let people know that there's a lot more to Saskatchewan's history. I'm always on the hunt for new ideas and new stories and new ways to bring these stories to light. I'm far from a historian, but it's nice to be able to do these things and make people go, 'Huh, I didn't know that!' For me, that's mission accomplished."
You can catch up on Woroniuk's videos and adventures around the province by visiting his YouTube channel at THIS LINK.
