User blog:LexiLexi/EP Todd Millner: Grimm is "Police Procedural with a Hint of Fairytale"

In terms of television and film, one thing is pretty obvious: fantasy is in. Between True Blood, Twilight, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and Red Riding Hood, one can assume that imaginary creatures of fairy tales are the latest trend in entertainment. But EP Todd Millner of Grimm says the EPs are steering away from making the show a "fairytale" and leaning more towards "police procedural with a hint of fairytale". Instead of setting "Grimm" in a fantasy world, "Grimm" is placed in real-life, modern-day America, viewing the characters of fairytales as if they actually existed today. However, there is a fine line between fairytale and reality in a show like this, and Millner wants to set the record straight, that Grimm is less of a fairytale, and more of a modern-day police drama: “It is odd,” Milliner says, “There’s a lot of movies and shows about fairy tales, but ours is so not about the fairy tale. It’s a police procedural with a hint of fairy tale.” Millner and fellow EP Sean Hayes (of Hot in Cleveland and Will and Grace) came up with the idea for Grimm when trying to find a subject matter for a television show that was in the public domain. Grimm's Fairy Tales ended up being the perfect subject for the show. Millner and Hayes have decided to choose one fairytale per episode, so that the mystery is solved by the end. Think short-term mysteries like in Law and Order, instead of long-term mysteries like in Dexter. The main characters of Grimm are Det. Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli), who discovers he is a descendent of the Brothers Grimm themselves and has inherited their keen perception and ability to see mystical creatures, and Lt. Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby), a traditionally-trained police officer. Together, they solve mysteries based on the original fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, including a Cinderella story, where the Cinderella character is named "Finderella", and alternative versions of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "The Three Little Pigs". Grimm is sure to grow as a series, and it is up to the producers and reception which way it will swing--will Grimm continue as a police procedural drama, inspired by fairytales, or will it transfer to the fantastical? Only time will tell.