Oxygen Picks Up BEST INK

By: Dec. 16, 2010
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Oxygen Media has green lit development for "Best Ink" (WT) which will expose viewers to the artistry of tattooing in a competition reality series showcasing this unique art form and the artists behind the living art.  Additionally, the network has renewed "Hair Battle Spectacular" for a second season.  Its inaugural run on Oxygen became the most watched freshman series in the Network's history.  The announcements were made today by Amy Introcaso-Davis, Senior Vice President, Original Programming and Development, Oxygen Media.

In making the announcement, Introcaso-Davis commented, "Many of our viewers choose to express themselves through the ever-growing phenomenon of body art.  We hope to capture the best and brightest tattoo artists and celebrate this unique art form." She added,  'Hair Battle Spectacular' also offers a peek behind the curtain of a different kind of artistry -- fantasy hair design -- and last season our audience couldn't get enough.  We're excited to bring it back to the schedule in 2011."

Capturing the drama and culture of the tattoo scene, "Best Ink" will feature 12 top tattoo artists as they compete for a cash prize and bragging rights.  These unique artists will produce bona fide masterpieces on skin -- something rarely seen in the competition world.  The permanent artwork will be created for, and on, real people in a variety of challenges to showcase the artists' talents. The drama continues after hours once back at home, where viewers see the artists fight to stay in the competition each week as the stakes get higher and the challenges become more difficult.  Only one artist will win the ultimate prize of BEST INK.

Bunim-Murray Productions will produce "Best Ink" with Jonathan Murray and Gil Goldschein serving as executive producers.

"Hair Battle Spectacular" pits 10 of America's hottest stylists against each other to see who can deliver the biggest and best in fantasy hair design.  Part sculpture and part pop art, each challenge requires The Stylists to create outrageous hair designs that resemble everything from multi-layer wedding cakes to toys with moveable pieces.  But in the end, only one hairdo will be left standing.  The Stylists present their hair creations in classic "Hair Battle" mode: live and out loud with a fully produced, dramatic and stylized performance. After each challenge, the judges critique the designers on creativity, execution and overall presentation. In addition to spectacular blow-by-blow drama on the hair battle runway, there is also the day-to-day drama between the cohabitating stylists who fight each week to stay in the battle and win the ultimate prize of $100,000.

"Hair Battle Spectacular" is produced by 3 Ball Productions with JD Roth and Todd A. Nelson serving as executive producers.

Bunim-Murray Productions is the leading producer of innovative entertainment content.  The company is widely credited with creating the reality television genre with its hit series The Real World (now in production on its 25th season for MTV).  BMP continued to innovate with the first reality game show, Road Rules, in 1995, the first reality sitcom, The Simple Life, in 2003, and the first reality soap opera, Starting Over, in 2003. Bunim-Murray's current programming includes The Bad Girls Club and Love Games (Oxygen), Keeping up with the Kardashians, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, The Spin Crowd and Married to Rock (E!), The Real World/Road Rules Challenge (20th season on MTV), and Project Runway (Lifetime). Launched in 2006 to better reach the Digital Generation, Bunim-Murray's M Theory Entertainment is a spin-off entity focusing on new media initiatives.  In 2007 Bunim-Murray launched BMP Films, a film division, which premiered its first documentary, Autism: The Musical, at the 2007 Tribeca  Film Festival, and its first scripted film Pedro, at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, which made its television debut on April 1, 2009 on MTV. Autism: The Musical premiered to rave reviews on HBO on March 25, 2008 and won 2 Primetime EMMY awards. The company's second documentary, Shadow  Billionaire, premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. In 2008 Bunim-Murray Productions formed M Music, a music management division, with its first band, A Cursive Memory, signing with Vagrant Records. Bunim-Murray Productions is based in Van Nuys, CA.  It was founded in 1987 by Jonathan Murray and the late Mary-Ellis Bunim and joined Banijay Entertainment in 2010.

3 Ball Productions/Eyeworks USA is one television's most prolific producers of reality and non-fiction programming, both for broadcast and cable, including NBC's hit franchise The Biggest Loser, premiering its 11th season in January 2011, and Beauty and Geek, which airs in multiple markets worldwide. In addition to Hair Battle Spectacular for Oxygen, shows produced by 3 Ball and Executive Producers JD Roth and Todd A. Nelson include Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition for ABC (to air in 2011), MasterChef for FOX, What's Eating You for E!, Flying Wild Alaska for Discovery, I Used to be Fat for MTV, Forever Young for TV Land, OCD and Dad Camp for VH1, and Friday Night Feud for Discovery.?

?Oxygen Media is a multiplatform lifestyle brand that delivers relevant and engaging content to young women who like to "live out loud." Oxygen is rewriting the rulebook for women's media by changing how the world sees entertainment from a young woman's point of view. Through a vast array of unconventional and original content including "Bad Girls Club," "Hair Battle Spectacular," and "Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood," the growing cable network is the premiere destination to find unique and groundbreaking unscripted programming. A social media trendsetter, Oxygen is a leading force in engaging modern young women, wherever they are, with popular, award winning features online including  www.OxygenLive.com, the real time social viewing party that is also available as an app for the iPhone and iPad, as well as innovative tools shopOholic, makeOvermatic and tweetOverse. Oxygen is available in 76 million homes and online at www.oxygen.com, or on mobile devices at wap.oxygen.com.  Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/OxygenPR.  Oxygen Media is a service of NBC Universal.



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