{{Production Info
|name=Checkmate
|genre=Romantic Drama
|broadcast=2012
|producers=[[Steven Perring]], [[Sanat Misra]]
|url=http://ystv.co.uk/watch/drama/Checkmate/
}}

Checkmate was the romantic drama written by [[Sanat Misra]] and [[Steven Perring]] that was an unlikely hit during the 2011-12 academic year. It was described as a "cult classic"and was even included within our marketing entry for [[NaSTA]] 2012.

==Production==

Checkmate was based on an incomplete short story written by [[Sanat Misra]]. During the first day of the 2011 [[YSTV Summer Camp]] Sanat decided that it would be a good idea to film the story for YSTV. He roped Steven on board as he was busy filming the [[Man Man]] spin-off Multiple-Personality Man with [[Michael Miller]. The script was written by Steven in one afternoon and after much argument about how gay the script was, and whether it should end with a kiss or not, the script was finalised.

Filming happened during the second week of the Summer Camp, with the main cafe scenes being filmed one the river balcony of the City Screen cinema after [[Sarah Pickles]] and [[Steven Perring]] talked them around to letting us film there. The filming schedule was tight, with much of the filming happening between 8am and 10am when the cinema opened. Other filming locations in the city of York included Coney Street, the Starbucks on Coney Street, the New Walk, and the York Designer Outlet (posing for a US mall). Montage scenes were also filmed at Bishopthorpe Palace, and in a cornfield near the A64.

Due to the complexity of the shoot, and the fact that the Steve as director did not have much experience of directing anything other than live and factual programmes, all the shots were planned in advance and [[Sarah Pickles]] wrote a tape log. The main cast was decided based on who was available with [[Michael Miller]] and [[Sanat Misra]] taking the two lead roles with [[Vivien Chung]] being reluctantly roped in as the narrator's girlfriend, Elisabeth. [[Marie Mills]] even had a cameo as a waitress.

Once the filming was over Steve and Sanat split the editing, with Sanat taking the montage scenes and Steve the rest. Meanwhile [[Marie Mills]] composed original music. In the end much of the editing was left to Steve and it took weeks of hounding of Marie to write the music. Checkmate was originally set for release during freshers week 2012, but it was delayed until the new year because of the lack of the music.

==Reaction==

The reaction was totally unexpected. Within a week it had been watched thousands of times and it soon took over from [[YSTV's Fresher's Guide to York]] as the most watched thing ever on the YSTV website. Due, largely to the efforts of [[Vivan Jayant]], it soon became an internet hit with its own Facebook fan page and reddit following. It also made stars of cast, including Sanat getting "exciting" offers from many girls, and being bitten in the Willow, and Viv becoming known as "Vivien Chung of Checkmate Fame".

The triple storyline confused many of those who watched it, and led to some very imaginative reasons why coffee cups kept appearing and reappearing in the shot. Similarly, the unusually long lift scene led to many suggesting that Vanbrugh College had a Empire State-sized tower block just out of view!

Checkmate became so famous that the 2012 YUSU Elections were themed around Checkmate with both [[Sanat Misra]] and [[Michael Miller]] presenting. Meanwhile at [[NaSTA]] 2012, many members of NUTS got thoroughly over-excited at meeting everyone!

Checkmate also sparked much imitation with a member of Filmmaking Soc creating a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9LKZ2L7HUQ theatrical trailer], and [[The Lemon Press]] suggested a follow up with the title 'King Me'. There was also a particularly cutting "Directors Commentary" with "Steve" and "[[Matt Johnson]]". Whilst interviewing the cast of Avenue Q a special shout-out/promo to 'Checkmate' was filmed and is available [http://vimeo.com/42779765 here].

2010-08-17T07:50:30Z

Steven.perring: Logo for YSTV's Fresher's Guide to York

Logo for YSTV's Fresher's Guide to York

YSTV's Fresher's Guide to York

2010-08-17T07:47:54Z

Steven.perring: Created page with 'YSTV's Fresher's Guide to York was the brainchild of Steven Perring who, in Easter 2010 decided that it would be great if YSTV could produce a guide to York, showing typical ...'

YSTV's Fresher's Guide to York was the brainchild of [[Steven Perring]] who, in Easter 2010 decided that it would be great if YSTV could produce a guide to York, showing typical rooms and telling the freshers what it's ''really'' like at the University of York.

Unfortunately Steven did not realise that the university were not all that happy about showing what the university was really like and he had to convince several people in the university that it was a good idea. He pushed on, and after a mammoth 17 week production schedule, and Premier Pro breaking several times, the guide was completed and put online the manual way, and the website encoders just happened to be down.

After several complaints from Langwith and Derwent Colleges that their part of the guide wasn't exactly the same as all the other colleges, despite their lack of support in the project. New interviews were conducted with the Derwent JCRC and Sam Asfahani, the then YUSU York Sport Sabb, and a Langwith Alumni. This newer video was launched on the site with the tagline "now with 100% more Langwith and Derwent" - this video quickly became the forth most watched video of all time on the YSTV website.

Steven Perring

2010-08-17T07:41:58Z

Steven.perring:

File:Windowvision2010.JPG

2010-07-01T21:21:59Z

Steven.perring: The very first broadcast of windowvision in 2010. Picture taken by Steven Perring.

The very first broadcast of windowvision in 2010. Picture taken by Steven Perring.

Steven Perring

2010-06-24T18:37:00Z

Steven.perring: