Streams Community Hub’s first screenwriting workshop features Tristian Barrocks 

Written By Danielle Williams 

Streams Community Hub hosted its first screenwriting workshop in Shelburne on Nov. 3. The event was co-hosted with the Dufferin Film Festival and led by Tristan Barrocks. 

The workshop ran for approximately one hour and a half with 13 applicants, eight of whom attended. This event provided a valuable platform for members of the community to connect with like-minded individuals right in their own neighbourhood, fostering a sense of community and shared interests. 

Tristan Barrocks, film and commercial director and leader of the workshop, stated, “I don't really go into this [the workshop] with expectations; I go into this knowing if I can inspire one person, I've done my job.” 

With this mindset, he embraced the opportunity to meet people with an interest in and love for what was being discussed. 

The partnership between the Dufferin Film Festival and Streams Community Hub was established through Tristan Barrocks' close friendship with Streams Hub. Barrocks explains that he has been with Streams Hub from the very beginning of their journey and compares working with Streams Hub to working with his “family.” 

“I look at it [the workshop] like a grateful opportunity because, at the end of the day, somebody gave me their time and their energy and gave me their knowledge, so it's really just a transfer of wealth, a transfer of power,” Barrocks explained. 

The workshop was faced with one sole challenge: time management. Barrocks emphasized that, for the majority of the time, “less is more.” He wanted to give the applicants more time to get feedback on their work, interact with other attendees, and spend a lot of time workshopping ideas. 

“They [attendees] don't really come here to hear you speak,” said Barrocks. “They come here because they want to meet other creators like themselves and they want to see if they have any chops.”  

“So I think for me the greatest challenge is to get out of the way and allow the chemistry to happen naturally with all the participants,” he added.

As Barrocks prepares for the next screenwriting workshop on Nov. 15, from 7 to 8:30 at Orangeville Public Library, he makes it clear that his goal is to work with more people and to be an inspiration.  

“I didn't even give them a foundation, I just gave them a spark to build their foundation to now drive their career,” Barrocks noted.