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WTFN chronicles Tattoo Tales for ABC2

Shooting has started on the new ABC2 factual series, TATTOO TALES. Across 8 x 30 minute episodes, this cutting edge documentary series offers a unique, entertaining and often poignant insight into contemporary Australia from inside the walls of a tattoo studio.

Where once tattoos were badges of honour for the more marginal groups in society, getting inked is now an exploding social phenomenon with one in seven Australians now sporting a tattoo.

To explore the prevalence of tattoos in Australia, ABC2, in conjunction with WTFN Entertainment is conducting its own social experiment inside a busy tattoo studio on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach tourist strip.

12 fixed rig cameras will record the day-to-day antics and artistry inside the studio and capture the stories behind each tattoo, such as: a young mother who has survived three open-heart surgeries and wants her tattoo to illustrate her story of survival; a divorcee who wants her ex partner’s name covered up for good; and a hairdresser, who has one of the world’s biggest collections of Spice Girls memorabilia, and won’t be happy until his obsession is marked in ink.

Whatever you think of tattoos you’re bound to be intrigued by the motivations behind inking when you take a peek at TATTOO TALES.

WTFN’s Director of Content, Steve Oemcke said: “As the interest in tattoos is exploding globally so are the number of overseas television programs dedicated to this rampant social phenomenon. And now, WTFN Entertainment is excited to announce a first for Australian television. In conjunction with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, we are producing an eight-part series revealing just what sort of Australians are getting inked and why. With the use of fixed rig technology, TATTOO TALES will provide a raw and very poignant insight into a world that polarises opinion.”

“The stories we chose to write upon our skin give special insight into who we are. What’s particularly impressive with this new series is the way the producers are using something as commonplace as a visit to a tattoo studio as a means of exploring some extraordinary Australian lives”, said ABC TV’s Head of Factual, Phil Craig.

TATTOO TALES will screen on ABC2 in 2015.

TATTOO TALES is a WTFN production developed and produced in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Directed and produced by Anne-Maree Sparkman, Executive Producer Steve Oemcke, Creative Director Stephen Rees, ABC TV Commissioning Editor Andrea Ulbrick.