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By Suzanne

Interview with David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf of "Grimm" on NBC 1/26/12

NBC UNIVERSAL
Moderator: Akiva Griffith
January 26, 2012 12:30 pm CT

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen thank you for standing by. Welcome to the NBC Universal’s Grimm Press and Media Conference Call.During the presentation all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards we will conduct a question-and-answer session. At this time if you have a question, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone.If at any time during the conference you need to reach an operator, please press star, 0. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Thursday, January 26th, 2012.  I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Akiva Griffith. Please go ahead sir.

Akiva Griffith: Hi. Thanks everyone for joining us today. We are joined by our Executive Producers David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf. They’ll be speaking to you about what’s coming up in February on Grimm and what we have to look forward to.

I now turn the conference back over to the operator to start questions.

Operator: And ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to register for a question please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone at any time.

Our first question comes from the line of Erin Willard of SciFiMoffia.com. Please go ahead.

Erin Willard: Good morning gentlemen. Thanks so much for being on the call.

David Greenwalt: Thank you. Hi.

Jim Kouf: (Unintelligible).

Erin Willard: Hi. Great. Congratulations on your terrific show, and on the ratings for this last week. I hear it was the highest since early November.

Jim Kouf: Yes.

David Greenwalt: We’re pretty excited. People came to the party. It was very fun.

Erin Willard: It was great. It was a great episode too.

Anything you might be able to announce about a Season 2 today?

Jim Kouf: I wish.

David Greenwalt: Well, we’ve got plenty of mythology waiting for Season 2, and we’ve got plenty of good things to happen. So you know, as soon as we get it we’ll know.

Erin Willard: Good. Well, we’re very excited to hear about that.

How many more episodes do we get this season?

Jim Kouf: We got a back nine.

David Greenwalt: We have a back nine, so we’ll do 22 total this season, and we’re shooting one - the 16th episode as we speak.

Erin Willard: Great.

So last week we started hearing about the group of those who do not approve of Monroe helping Nick. Is there - are we going to be hearing a lot more about them?

David Greenwalt: There will be some issues with that coming up for sure.

Erin Willard: Anything you want to tell us about?

David Greenwalt: Well, it’s going to fold over into the next year, some of these troubles that haunt him.

Jim Kouf: This is - yes, it’s a pretty deep mythology, so it - there’s - we’re just cracking the surface right now. Some of that will become more apparent in the episodes that are coming up here very soon.

Erin Willard: Okay, great. Great.

Real quick. I have a friend who lives in Germany who loves the show but totally cracks up at the names you give the creatures.

David Greenwalt: We hope so.

Erin Willard: Yes. Yes. He says they don’t always work, so he was wanting me to ask you where you come with the names.

Jim Kouf: We make them up.

David Greenwalt: We make them up, but sometimes we use a dictionary. But we make them up sort of.

Jim Kouf: And sometimes they’re not supposed to be a direct translation of what the creature is. Sometimes it’s a direct translation, and other times we’re just putting together what we think the personality of the creature is.

Erin Willard: Right. Okay, good.

Jim Kouf: It’ll be odd combinations.

Erin Willard: Yes, they can get - I’ll pass that along to him. Be assured that you're tickling the people in Germany.

Jim Kouf: Yes.

Erin Willard: Thanks a lot.

Jim Kouf: Yes, I think it opens in Germany pretty soon, but I’m not sure. Do they have it already?

Erin Willard: No. Somehow or another they’re - yes.

David Greenwalt: Oh, I see.

Erin Willard: (Unintelligible) actual transmissions, yes. Absolutely.

Jim Kouf: iTunes.

Erin Willard: Yes. Yes.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of Marsia Powers from Whedonopolis. Please go ahead.

Jim Kouf: Whedonopolis.

David Greenwalt: Whedonopolis.

Marsia Powers: Good morning David and Jim. This is Marsia. Hi. Thank you for being (unintelligible)...

David Greenwalt: Hi Marsia. How you doing?

Marsia Powers: Doing well. Usually (Livia) is the one who calls in. For the first time I’m doing, so please be gentle.

David Greenwalt: Okay. We’ll be gentle.

Marsia Powers: We’re very, very thrilled with the show. In fact, when I saw it at Comic-Con, I knew it would really do well, and I’m very pleased that the ratings are holding up.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

Marsia Powers: In fact we - yes. We’re just - we’re thrilled, and the fans are of course. So the Whedon-based fans are very thrilled. They love seeing new - every new show, and that it is - the writing is extremely good. It’s very important to us.

In fact, we opened up questions to our readers, and the first person to post a question was from (Wendy Garvin) asking about - since (Josh) has done so much directing and writing episodes for other shows, have you thought about seeing if he’d like to do a one-off for your show?

David Greenwalt: That son of a bitch! He’s got to come do one for us. And you know as soon as I saw (Josh) at - this is David. I saw (Josh) at Comic-Con and didn’t even think to - I mean, of course we would love to have him write, direct, or do craft service you know.

Jim Kouf: He’s done a little bit (unintelligible)...

Marsia Powers: I think if you can get him on, I’ve got a few people who will do the craft service for you for free.

Jim Kouf: He’s free. He’s pretty good with a bagel, I’m telling you.

Marsia Powers: Well, that’ll be lovely to know that you're going to try.

And then we have from (David Mellow), he asks, “Do you - did you guys expect Monroe to take off as a break out character he’s become?”

David Greenwalt: Yes.

Jim Kouf: (Unintelligible) has done good.

David Greenwalt: I think yes, we kind of did. Because when we first wrote it and we realized we were on to something tremendous, and when we got Silas Wier Mitchell to play him - he’s just such an interesting character with a different slant. And in a way, he’s more human than the human characters, you know, because he’s fighting his inner demons so forcefully.

Jim Kouf: Yes. He also gets exactly what we’re going for with the character. Silas is just on the money.

David Greenwalt: So we like to think of them all as break out characters, you know.

Marsia Powers: We understand that.

And then my last question, to allow some other people to ask, is will it - and also it’s again from (David). “Will it turn out that Nick has not been a true Grimm as he approaches the job like a police detective rather than as a Grimm is supposed to be, which is the Boggie Man?”

David Greenwalt: As a - what was the last word?

Marsia Powers: Okay. Well a Grimm is (unintelligible) the Boggie Man of the monsters.

David Greenwalt: Oh, a Boogie Man. Oh, a Boogie Man. Okay.

Well, it’s a really good question, and Nick will develop into some - he is not your average, everyday Grimm, and he does operate differently than some Grimm’s have traditionally operated. And, we’ll learn more about that as - this very season.

Marsia Powers: Great, because that’s what we’re looking forward to is back story. After all, we’re all - we - all your fans have been trained to always know that there’s back story, and the back story can always change.

David Greenwalt: That’s true.

Marsia Powers: Thank you very much for taking the time. Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you so much.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line (Chuck Barney) from Off-Color TV. Please go ahead.

Jim Kouf: Hello.

Christina: Hello?

Jim Kouf: Hello?

David Greenwalt: Hi.

Christina: Hi. Sorry. You said the wrong name. I was confused. My name is Christina.

Jim Kouf: Hi Christina.

David Greenwalt: Oh, hi Christina.

Christina: I - well first of all, all of us at Off-Color TV, we love the show. We rave about it. We rated it as one of the top shows in our year-end wrap up...

Jim Kouf: Great.

Christina: ...for last year.

David Greenwalt: That’s great.

Christina: So we have a question. The show seems to be moving from a monster of the week format to a show with a larger mythology. Was this the plan all along, or did you work it out as you went?

And this seems similar to the way Buffy and Angel developed. Did you have these shows in mind while planning the story, or - and/or how has working on supernatural shows influenced your work on Grimm?

Jim Kouf: That’s a lot of questions.

David Greenwalt: That’s three questions. I can barely hold my coffee.

Let me see if we can answer and then you remind us if we don’t answer.

Christina: Okay.

David Greenwalt: It was kind of the plan all along to bring in more mythology as we get deeper in the series, but we don’t want to bring in so much that your average everyday viewer can’t just watch a show and have the - so there’ll certainly be a case of the week if not a monster of the week every time. But in these back nine, you're going to see a lot more of the personal and back stories of everybody.

Jim Kouf: We’re going to start revealing stuff.

David Greenwalt: And I can’t even remember what the plan was on Buffy and Angel. But, I’m sure there was a plan.

Christina: And do you find that your experience working on other supernatural shows influences the way that you work - approached Grimm?

David Greenwalt: This is David. Kind of yes and no. I mean obviously those were great experiences with great people, but you know working with my old partner Jim again - and when I say old - we do it a little differently. We do it one inch at a time you know. We just start at the beginning and move forward you know.

Although, we do have a little bible of the overarching mythology and where we think we’re going in years to come. So the answer to that question is kind of a yes and no thing. It’s just - you know, Grimm is its own creature and has its own kind of set of rules. But I love it when there’s an emotional resonance in the stories.

Christina: Oh, definitely. And we’ve been getting that in so many episodes.

I have one last question. Are we going to see any of the creatures that we’ve seen already? Like perhaps Holly, who was the wild child, or Roddy the Reinigen? Will we see any of them come in later episodes - come back?

Jim Kouf: We hope so.

David Greenwalt: Yes, we certainly hope so? And if not this year, next year.

Jim Kouf: Yes.

David Greenwalt: We’d love to do like a Dirty Dozen episode.

Jim Kouf: You'll see there’s some recurring characters coming up in the next episode. Not necessarily those, but from other episodes they’re recurring.

Christina: Well excellent.

Thank you so much.

David Greenwalt: Thank you so much.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of (Nadia Glassoff) from Deadbolt.com. Please go ahead.

Nadia Glassoff: Hi fellows. Thanks so much for taking the time today.

Jim Kouf: Sure.

David Greenwalt: Thank you (Nadia).

Nadia Glassoff: Great to talk to you. We’re really excited about the show. We just love that it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Every time you're expecting one thing and then you get - you know, a big surprise and you just can’t - you just kind of want to shake your fist at the TV. What can you do, right?

And also, we also love that - you know, the introduction of the female characters in the supernatural theme. I think like not since Buffy we haven’t really seen that. And you know, so we really want to focus on like how important was it to you to bring in a female character with Brie Turner on the show?

David Greenwalt: Really important to us, and she’s got a great role. And you know, she’s going to help balance out the power table there.

Jim Kouf: We also have some great female actors coming up too.

David Greenwalt: Yes. There’s an episode coming up in February called (Terentella) which - where Amy Acker has a great role. Amy Acker from Angel days.

Nadia Glassoff: Angel. Right.

David Greenwalt: I mean, excuse me, in Dollhouse. And we’re really excited about that.

And then you know, Valarie Cruz is in a show called Organ Grinder, which is coming I think a week from Friday.

Jim Kouf: Yes.

David Greenwalt: So we - we like to have Nick fight those women.

Nadia Glassoff: I love the fact that Amy Acker is you know, so tiny and petite. That’s - you know, the way Sara Michelle Gellar was, but you know don’t let that fool you kind of mentality is what they bring to the show.

Jim Kouf: Yes. Don’t let it fool you.

And also the female characters in the Grimm Fairy Tales, and all fairy tales, you know, some of them are some pretty bad women.

David Greenwalt: Pretty formidable opponents.

Nadia Glassoff: Right. Exactly.

And then in following in that vein, you know, there’s been subtleties planted with Julia all season long, and you sense some type of foreshadowing. Is there a clear direction with her, since she’s been - you know, so mysterious, and on a different level than a lot of the other characters.

David Greenwalt: Well there’s something pretty darn big coming for her for sure. And we - you know, we watch the - some of the blog site and Twitter and all this, and every - a lot of people have opinions of what she might be or what’s to come. But we think we’re going to surprise them.

Nadia Glassoff: That’s great. You always got to keep them on their toes you know, and that’s what we love about these kinds of shows, especially you know what Grimm brings to the table.

David Greenwalt: Yes.

Jim Kouf: Yes. That’s our job.

David Greenwalt: That’s the fun.

Nadia Glassoff: That’s what you do, right?

And the final question. What’s the biggest challenge In keeping Hank in the dark as to what’s really going on?

David Greenwalt: You need to have two explanations in most of the episodes of something that could’ve happened in the real world and something that, you know, is - has a Grimm story. So the biggest challenge is to have two explanations for everything.

Nadia Glassoff: Right. Okay, well thanks a lot guys.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: And Hank’s got a big thing coming this year too.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of Earl Dittman from the Wireless Digital Journal. Please go ahead.

Earl Dittman: Hey guys. How are you all this afternoon?

David Greenwalt: We’re good. How are you?

Earl Dittman: Doing great. You know, it’s wonderful to hear you're doing 22 episodes this year. I’m so sick of series that do 12.

David Greenwalt: Yes.

Earl Dittman: So it’s great to know you've got 22 in the bag, or going to have 22 in the bag, because it just makes it exciting and not watching reruns all the time.

Hey you know, two of the best shows this year have been shows based in science - in fantasy and in science fiction. Not science fiction, but fantasy and out worldly from Once Upon A Time to your show Grimm. What do you think it is about shows like that that still appeal to the normal TV viewer?

David Greenwalt: Well two words from a business point of view; public domain.

Earl Dittman: Oh.

David Greenwalt: And - but from a you know consumption point of view, people love these stories, and there’s a reason they’ve been handed down, you know both in a written and in oral form for all these, you know, hundreds and hundreds of years and they still have an appeal. And we’re you know not only taking old fairy tales and kind of fracturing them - for example, it’s coming up in February where we’re fracturing Hansel and Gretel and a very little known Japanese fairy tale, and a - what’s that one with the lion? What do you all that?

Jim Kouf: Androcles and the Lion.

Earl Dittman: Oh, yes.

David Greenwalt: But, we’re also making sort of new fairy tales of what’s going on today and putting it in a fairy tale context.

Earl Dittman: Wow. So you're going from several sources?

Jim Kouf: Oh, yes.

David Greenwalt: Yes. Our - yes. Our conceit is that all the writers of fairy tales were in fact some kind of profilers.

Earl Dittman: How many stories did the Grimm Brothers actually write?

David Greenwalt: It’s about 205 that they wrote down, and you know they took them from various peasants and people. But, some of them are you know a little hard to adapt, like the Sausage and the Donkey, you know.

Earl Dittman: I don’t even want to ask.

David Greenwalt: They’re just like sausage and Donkey go to town and play music. So you know, they don’t - not every single one lends itself to a great big episode.

Earl Dittman: So you do have a - I’m very excited. I’m just excited that people are watching intelligent television (unintelligible) for a change, and they’re actually keeping it on the air. And you all are doing a great job getting people to do that, and I really can’t thank you enough.

David Greenwalt: Oh, thank you.

Earl Dittman: And I just wanted - and when will they (mention to you all) about a second season?

David Greenwalt: We don’t know. Sometime between now and May, you know, but it looks not unpromising at this point.

Earl Dittman: Right. Right. Right. Well good. Well thanks a lot guys. I appreciate it, and keep on with the great show. I love it.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of (Megan Ward) from TVIsMyPacifier.com. Please go ahead.

Megan Ward: Hi guys. Thanks for taking the time today.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Jim Kouf: Sure.

Megan Ward: Okay, so Grimm’s definitely one of our favorite on the site. It’s made - it made our top for 2011.

David Greenwalt: Great.

Megan Ward: That’s - we watch a lot of TV, so that’s a good thing.

Jim Kouf: Yes.

Megan Ward: I was wondering, we - my favorite episode so far has been the one with the Tree Little Pigs because it was such a reverse on the actual, so are we going to see more episodes similar to that? Where you kind of dirty up the original?

David Greenwalt: We are. We will see episodes in which you know, the kind of critters - we’ll see a couple of those. As a matter of fact, the kind of critters who are generally you know downtrodden and have been you know, beaten down by stronger, badder critters you know will get their day in court.

Megan Ward: Excellent.

And are we going to address the whole Captain with his Grimm royalty and stuff? Like are going to get that this season?

David Greenwalt: We’re going to get some of it. We’re definitely getting some of it. You'll be seeing more of him up to all kinds of things.

Megan Ward: Okay.

And in general, just about you guys, like what is it about this genre that you enjoy writing about the most?

Jim Kouf: The freedom of it. We’re not locked into you know reality. We can play with reality a little bit, which makes it more fun to write.

David Greenwalt: And I love taking a procedural show and just having a guy turn into a Blutbad, you know, or a Bauerschwein. It’s just so much fun because it feels like I’m watching a regular kind of procedural show and then suddenly there’s critters.

Jim Kouf: We can also - it gives us the opportunity to explain human behavior in a very bizarre way.

Megan Ward: Okay. And my final question...

David Greenwalt: You know, the child molester is a Big Bad Wolf, et cetera.

Megan Ward: Yes.

David Greenwalt: We’re going to explain war and famine and all the ills of the world. It’s all because of these crazy critters out there.

Megan Ward: If only it was that easy.

I have a question coming from Twitter actually. People are wondering is Juliette officially Nick’s fiancé yet?

Jim Kouf: Well, (unintelligible).

David Greenwalt: Stay tuned.

Megan Ward: Okay, great. Thank you guys so much for your time.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of Darlene Long from TheVoiceofTV.com.

Darlene Long: Hi guys.

David Greenwalt: Hi.

Darlene Long: Hi. Darlene from Canada up here.

David Greenwalt: Oh, good.

Darlene Long: We love the show. It’s great.

Listen. You know, I was really impressed with the pilot. Just the whole style and look of the show. Who’s responsible for that? Did you guys decide on a certain style? Sort of that ethereal, yet lush kind of feel to the visuals?

David Greenwalt: Well, we...

Jim Kouf: Yes.

David Greenwalt: Yes. We picked Portland for that reason, but we had great help from our Producer Steve Oster and the Director of the pilot Marc Buckland.

Jim Kouf: And Clark Mathis who shot the pilot.

David Greenwalt: And Eades, who did the...

Jim Kouf: Construction design.

David Greenwalt: (Unintelligible).

Jim Kouf: (Unintelligible).

David Greenwalt: Who did the production design. So there was - it was pretty carefully thought out to get that look of the moss on the trees and the moss on the roves.

Jim Kouf: And Portland played a big role in that.

David Greenwalt: Yes.

Darlene Long: Okay. Well, it certainly does set the mood.

Now you talked - you spoke earlier about back stories. Are we going to get any more information about Marie’s back story? What kind of situation she found herself in? I just always want to know more about that character.

Jim Kouf: Yes. It’s coming up.

David Greenwalt: You're going to learn more about her and the whole history of how this came to be, and - yes, on both sides of the Grimm’s and the critter sides.

Jim Kouf: We’re being careful how we...

Darlene Long: Okay, now you call them the critters. Is that how we’re supposed...

Jim Kouf: Well, they’re called that...

Darlene Long: ...what are we supposed to call them.

Jim Kouf: They’re called Wesen (unintelligible).

David Greenwalt: (W-E-S-E-N) and that’s all the different creatures - all the different Grimm creatures are called Wesen. But people don’t know that so I call them critters.

Darlene Long: Can you spell that again?

David Greenwalt: W-E-S-E-N, and it’s pronounced (Vesen).

Darlene Long: Okay. All right. Well, that gives us a name to call them other than the bad guys or the creatures.

David Greenwalt: Right. But they’re not all bad.

Darlene Long: Okay.

David Greenwalt: Some of them are good.

Darlene Long: Yes. That’s very true.

Now you both of course got a history of working in genre TV. Is that something you favor in your own personal viewing habits? Like, what do you guys watch?

David Greenwalt: I watch - we watch ourselves going to sleep at night after a long, hard day.

Jim Kouf: We like (John Stewart).

Darlene Long: Right. Okay. So no time for TV for you guys then, right?

Jim Kouf: Not really.

David Greenwalt: Not much these days.

Darlene Long: Okay.

All right, well thank you very much for taking the call and continued success, and I look forward to hearing about Season 2. Thanks.

David Greenwalt: Thank you very much.

Jim Kouf: Great. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of Sheri Block from CTV.ca. Please go ahead.

Sheri Block: Hey guys. How are you doing?

David Greenwalt: Fine. Good.

Jim Kouf: I’m fine. How are you?

Sheri Block: Good. Yes. I’m from Canada as well, and we really love the show up here.

David Greenwalt: Good.

Jim Kouf: Right. Where in Canada?

Sheri Block: Toronto.

Jim Kouf: Okay. We love Toronto.

Sheri Block: Now - okay, good.

I’m really loving the dynamic between Nick and Monroe. I find it so entertaining and so funny. Now did you guys always know that they’d have such chemistry, or was that kind of a pleasant surprise?

Jim Kouf: It was a pleasant surprise as we created the character in the pilot. We knew that we could - if they gave us a series we could really do something with that relationship.

David Greenwalt: And we knew Monroe would be a regular from the get go.

Sheri Block: Okay. So what’s next for these two? Will we see Monroe giving like Nick Pilate’s lessons or anything?

Jim Kouf: We’ll see them helping one another, you know, and sometimes Monroe will even come to Nick for help.

Sheri Block: Okay.

Now we saw a little bit - someone asked about the danger that Monroe seems to be in. And Nick and Juliette also seem to be in danger. Do you think this is all going to come to a head as the season comes to a close? Or...

Jim Kouf: Yes.

David Greenwalt: Yes.

Jim Kouf: It is.

David Greenwalt: It is. And bad things are going to keep happening to them as they try to live their lives.

Jim Kouf: This will be a many-headed beast.

Sheri Block: Okay, awesome. Well thanks so much.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of Allison Ebner from PopCultureMadness.com. Please go ahead.

Allison Ebner: Hi guys. Thanks for speaking with us today.

David Greenwalt: Hi Allison.

Jim Kouf: Hi.

Allison Ebner: Hi.

So music seems to be a pretty powerful asset with this show. You know, it always fits the scene, and then of course there’s those stand out moments like Sweet Dream in the pilot and the dance music in the episode with the rats.

So you know as Executive Producers, how important do you find it that the element of music is involved? And is it something we’ll continue to hear?

David Greenwalt: Yes.

Jim Kouf: Yes.

David Greenwalt: We loved music. We have a great composer, Rick Marvin and we get terrific songs when we need them. The ones you mentioned.

And we loved that episode with the rats where we had classical and techno music in the same episode. We thought that was kind of neat.

Allison Ebner: Definitely. Definitely.

And the show has a great fan base that is really loving this show and letting people know what they love about the show. So do you listen to what they’re saying as you know, a congratulation and a compliment, or as something you know to keep in mind and consider from moving forward and determining what they react best to?

Jim Kouf: Well, we listen to everything they say.

David Greenwalt: Yes. We try to do all of the above, you know, and see what people are responding to and what people are liking.

Allison Ebner: Great. Thanks so much.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of (Lynne Hackett) from Sci-FiVision. Please go ahead.

Lynne Hackett: Hi guys. Thanks for doing this and thank you very much for enlightening my Friday night TV for a change.

David Greenwalt: Oh, thank you.

Jim Kouf: Oh, good.

Lynne Hackett: My TV was kind of biting on Fridays until you guys brought that show along, so I’m very, very grateful.
Just got two or three short little questions. On Eddie, do you think that maybe as he becomes more connected with Nick that maybe the other community will shun him totally and maybe effect his effectiveness to help out Nick?

Jim Kouf: No. Because not all the Wesen are bad, so some will think what he’s doing is actually a good thing.

Lynne Hackett: Okay. So - okay.

David Greenwalt: But he will have to pay for his sins.

Jim Kouf: Yes.

David Greenwalt: And there are the powers that be that will not - (unintelligible) upon him.

Lynne Hackett: Yes. I was just kind of wondering on that because it’s like how do you help him destroy the rest of us, so...

Also, is he really the last Grimm or could there be a hidden descendant that could step up? Like maybe to help with your Dirty Dozen creature reappearance?

David Greenwalt: Sorry. Can you say that again? I kind of lost the question.

Lynne Hackett: Well is Nick actually the last Grimm, or could there be a hidden descendent?

David Greenwalt: Oh, are there other Grimm’s?

Jim Kouf: Oh, no. There will be more.

David Greenwalt: There are other Grimm’s in the world. They’re - it’s a rare thing, but there are other Grimm’s in the world, and...

Lynne Hackett: On his line? Wasn’t he the...

David Greenwalt: In his line? Well, they’re all descendent from the Brothers Grimm. But yes, there may be somebody even in his line.

Lynne Hackett: A little hidden child.

Last one. Any designs maybe to do some graphic novels just to fill in some back story? I know some shows are kind of doing graphic novels to fill in some of the back stories so - because they can’t (unintelligible)?

David Greenwalt: (Unintelligible). You know, young adult novels. Graphic novels. We hope video games.

Jim Kouf: Yes. We hope to fill in the back story on the show.

Lynne Hackett: I hope. It’s been really interesting. I do like the twist you guys have been giving it. It’s a really well put together show. And, I thank you so much for putting some quality stuff out.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

Lynne Hackett: Thank you guys for taking time to do this.

Jim Kouf: Sure.

Lynne Hackett: And hopefully somebody will get you a bagel.

Thanks a lot guys. Have a very good weekend.

David Greenwalt: And thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of (Tim Holquin, Jr.) from (TV Overland). Please go ahead.

Tim Holquin, Jr.: Hi. I’m a massive Buffy-verse, so it’s a great honor to get to speak with both of you.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Tim Holquin, Jr.: Be that as it may, believe it or not, I had never watched an episode of Supernatural until the recent event casting - stunt casting -- call it what you will -- of Monster and Charisma in the same episode.

And - so I was wondering if there’s any chance of a - any possible of a Buffy-verse event casting in Grimm’s future that - such that would compel even reluctant viewers such as I was to Supernatural to just have to give you a chance? Because now I’m a Supernatural fan. Been watching it every day on TNT and everything trying to catch up because they did in their seventh season.

So I was just thinking maybe if you did it early you could secure a renewal or such?

David Greenwalt: Well we certainly have Amy Acker coming in February in a couple of weeks to play a - kind of a Black Widow like you've never seen before. And you know, I’d love - I mean, I’d love to work with Charisma again and any of the old gang. And when there’s an appropriate part, you know, we would definitely make that choice.

Tim Holquin, Jr.: Well perhaps paired with Amy - I had read that (Tony Head) lead the Comic-Con panel for Grimm this past year. If he can...

David Greenwalt: Yes. We’d love to have (Tony) - we’ve actually been thinking of what - how we could get (Tony) into the show if he’d want to do it. We’ve actually thought quite a bit about that.

Tim Holquin, Jr.: Excellent.

Okay, and then one last casting question, or more of a plea. I’m just a massive fan of Jamie Ray Newman, and so I would lobby you guys to bring her (Angelina) character back as often as possible.

David Greenwalt: Well, there’s a reason she went off into the night, you know.

Jim Kouf: We didn’t kill her.

Tim Holquin, Jr.: Right. Well, she’s been one of my favorite aspects of the show so far. Just her little guest appearance there.

And then I guess my last question is Syfy Channel is also an NBC Universal network, and they have a show called Face Off which focuses on creature design and makeup. And I was wondering if your two shows might have some sort of cross over deal that allows one of the creatures that you guys would oversee being designed on Face Off become part of your show?

I was personally disappointed because I missed the recent Q&A that took place with your show’s makeup designer. I wanted to attend that but missed it. Is there any chance of that happening with Face Off?

David Greenwalt: You know, anything is possible. You know, we’re so busy with just getting the creatures into the show you know as they are and with our great Edward Irastorza and all the people who design and build these terrific looking monsters.

But you know maybe down the road somewhere, that would be a good idea.

Tim Holquin, Jr.: Okay. Thank you very much for your time. It’s been great getting to talk to you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

And ladies and gentlemen as a reminder to register for a question, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone.

Our next question comes from the line of Steve Eramo from The Morton Report. Please go ahead.

Steve Eramo: Hi David. Hi Jim. Thanks for your time today.

David Greenwalt: Hi. How are you?

Jim Kouf: Hi.

Steve Eramo: Very well, thank you.

Listen. Before I ask my question, I want to echo everyone else’s sentiments. Absolutely loving the show.

David Greenwalt: Oh, great.

Steve Eramo: When the credits role at 10:00 Friday night I look at the TV and I say, “I want another hour. I want another hour now.” You guys are doing a great job. A great job.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Steve Eramo: My first question, I wanted to find out what - out of all the episodes you guys have shot so far, is there one that you found especially challenging perhaps to pull off from a production standpoint would you say?

Jim Kouf: All of them.

David Greenwalt: All of them. There is a couple coming in February sweeps here. One - it’s called - one is called The Last Grimm Standing and it’s coming in about three weeks and change, which is a...

Jim Kouf: It was a monster to shoot.

David Greenwalt: A monster to shoot. A monster to write. It’s a gladiatorial kind of big fighting episode, and our great team in Portland just pulled out all the stops for that one.

Steve Eramo: The look of the show - again, someone else has already mentioned it. The look - shooting in the Portland is giving - it’s almost like when they shot the X-Files in Vancouver, it gave it its own unique look. And Portland, you guys did a great job picking that place.

Jim Kouf: Yes. Well we’ve always - it was actually our first choice.

Steve Eramo: Right. Well, well worth it. Well worth it.

Jim Kouf: Yes, we agree.

Steve Eramo: And I also wanted to ask a casting question. I’m really enjoying David in the Nick role. And I was wondering perhaps if you could tell us a little bit about casting the Nick character and finding David to fit those shoes.

Jim Kouf: It wasn’t easy.

David Greenwalt: We saw a lot of people.

Jim Kouf: Yes.

David Greenwalt: It’s a hard guy to find as you know in television - a guy in that age range who is kind of fresh faced and new, and yet seems to have - you know, has all the talent and the work history to be able to...

Jim Kouf: That can shoulder it.

David Greenwalt: ...shoulder a whole show like that.

And we’ve just been so lucky with this cast. They’re all really, really good and really fantastic people.

Jim Kouf: And very nice people.

David Greenwalt: We’ve been blessed.

Steve Eramo: Well listen guys, again thank you so much for your time and your hard work on the show. Look forward to many more episodes.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of Emily Gagne from TV Guide, Canada. Please go ahead.

Emily Gagne: Hey guys. I’ve got two questions. One sort of picking up on a lot of what a lot of people have been talking about with the cameos from Buffy-verse. I heard that you have Azura Skye coming on the show.

David Greenwalt: Yes.

Emily Gagne: Can you tell us a little bit about that?

David Greenwalt: Yes. She plays a bird-like creature with many hidden talents and gifts. And she - Nick and Juliette are trying to get out of town, get away from all the madness and they end up helping...

Jim Kouf: Helping madness.

David Greenwalt: ...with more madness and helping her in her life.

Emily Gagne: when do we - is this episode going to air? Is that sort of more of a later down in the season?

David Greenwalt: That’s a little down the line. That’s probably April.

Jim Kouf: We start shooting it (unintelligible)...

Emily Gagne: Okay.

And now I know you guys had sort of a trial on Thursday nights and you did pretty well. If NBC asks you to change nights, would you? I mean, you're doing pretty well on the Friday night slot.

David Greenwalt: Well it’s a very interesting the way our life works. If Mr. Greenblatt says you're changing nights, we say, “Yes sir.”

But I think rightly so, and certainly we have lobbied, we love this 9:00 Friday slot. It’s the old X-Files slot. It’s the right place to be. We’re doing a good number, and I think they have no plans to move us that we certainly know of at this point.

Emily Gagne: Okay. Okay, awesome.

Well I’m really enjoying the show as is everyone on this call obviously, and everyone that’s watching, so thanks so much.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you so much.

Operator: Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of Anita Nicholson from CliqueClack TV. Please go ahead.

Anita Nicholson: Hi. I just had a quick question about Russell Hornsby. I love that actor and I loved him when he was on ABC Family. How did you go about casting him as Hank Griffin?

David Greenwalt: He was the best guy who came in and we had a lot of great guys that came in and read for that role, but Russell was - there’s something really special, really cool but warm at the same time about Russell. And we just fell in love and he - you know, he won it in the casting process.

Jim Kouf: Yes. He brings an authority to the role which is great.

David Greenwalt: Yes.

An ease and authority. And we’ve got some really cool stuff coming for him, and he’s - his world is going to get rocked by a woman.

Anita Nicholson: Will it be the creature that he does not know is a creature?

David Greenwalt: Say it again? Will he see the creature that he does not know is a creature?

Anita Nicholson: No. Like a creature that he does not know is a creature? The one that the Captain set him up with?

David Greenwalt: Might be.

Anita Nicholson: Okay.

So I have another question then as well. I like the current formula where you currently have a covert reveal of the monster at the beginning of the episode. But, will you eventually change that or actually have a human as the perpetrator for the crime?

David Greenwalt: Well, we did it initially in the episode last week in this Of Mouse and Man in which the man, not the mouse, was the perpetrator of the crime. So - but you know, we’ll do all kinds of different things. And sometimes there’ll be a good - what we call a Wesen. You know, a good creature. And sometimes yes - sometimes the bad people are just normal humans and it’s the Wesen or the Grimm creatures who are in trouble. We’ll mix it up.

Anita Nicholson: Okay.

And my final question is - again, I love (unintelligible), and I love his originality. I think he’s heard almost of us say that. But do you ever watch Once Upon A Time and hope for or a fake cross your fingers that they won’t cover a similar story right before you cover it? Or that they...

David Greenwalt: You know, we don’t really have time. We’re not watching any other shows. We - you know, we’re kind of living here in the office and doing this show. And you know, we wish them the best and we wish ourselves the best.

And you know, I think there may be some fairy tale characters that are similar, but our - the shows are so incredibly different that I don’t think it matters.

Anita Nicholson: All right, great. Thank you very much. I look forward to seeing more.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

And our final question, which is a follow-up question, comes from the line of Erin Willard from Sci-FiMafia.com. Please go ahead.

Erin Willard: Hi again guys. I presume you've heard about Beauty and the Beast thing that’s going on with a few pilots (unintelligible) given green light from ABC and CW?

David Greenwalt: Yes.

Erin Willard: For (unintelligible) - you know, I’ll take them all. I’ll take every single one of the fantasies (unintelligible) want to put on as long as it’s written well like yours is. But from your standpoint, is that a good, more the merrier good thing, or does it kind of dilute the pool?

Jim Kouf: I don’t think it really matters.

David Greenwalt: I think it’s a neutral move or something like - because like you say, the - you know if a show is good is what matters. The rest doesn’t really you know matter.

Jim Kouf: Yes. Our job is to keep the writing strong and the shows strong, and hopefully we’re delivering good entertainment every week. So that’s our job.

Erin Willard: Well, you're clearly doing that. That’s not an issue with any of us on the call.

But the third question I wanted to ask you guys both is what’s been the biggest challenge and what’s the most fun about this show for each of you?

Jim Kouf: The biggest challenge is producing the shows because we’re writing actually what we feel are movies that they’re producing on a TV schedule. So hats off to our production team in Portland who actually is you know given the task of making these things, and they’re difficult. They’re physically challenging to make. That’s the hardest part.

The most fun for me is the mythology that we’re getting into and the chance to explore some fun stuff coming up.

David Greenwalt: And for me the most challenging thing is to get to the office before noon. And the most exciting thing is seeing these shows on television and when they come out really good and they really work, and they’re dark and psychological and kind of funny. And that feels very satisfying and encourages me to get up in the morning and get in and work with Jim.

Erin Willard: Great. Well thanks so much for such a great show.

David Greenwalt: Thank you so much.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And it appears we have no further questions at this time.

Akiva Griffith: Great. Thank you everyone for dialing in today.  And please tune in next week for our newest episode of Grimm, Organ Grinder, on February 3rd. Thank you everyone.

David Greenwalt: Woo-hoo. Thank you.

Jim Kouf: Thank you.

David Greenwalt: Bye.

Akiva Griffith: Bye guys.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen that does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

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