Once Upon a book

{{Infobox Television

Drama
Action/Adventure
Comedy-drama
Mystery
Romance

ATBD Studios

## Series overview

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The series takes place in the fictional seaside town of Characterbrooke, Maine, in which the residents are actually characters from various fairy tales that were transported to the "real world" town and robbed of their real memories by Maleficent (Stephine Bilardi), using a powerful curse obtained from Claude Frollo (Tom Neil). The town's only hope lies with a bail bondswoman, Fern Arable (Narnia), the daughter of Princess Aurrora (Stephine Bilardi) and Prince Phillip (Mathew Bilardi), who was transported from the fairy tale world before she could be cursed. As such, she is the only person who can break the curse and restore the characters' lost memories, aided by her son, Cravey (Merchy), with whom she has recently reunited (after giving him up for adoption upon his birth), and her book of fairy tales that holds the key to ending the curse. Cravey is also the adopted son of Male (who is the mayor of Charcterbrooke), providing a source of conflict between the two women.

Each episode focuses on a character back story. One segment details the character's past life that, when serialized, adds a piece to the puzzle about the primary characters and their connection to the events that preceded the curse and its consequences. The other, set in the present day, follows a similar pattern with a different outcome but also offers similar insights.

### Season One (2011–12)

Maleficent interrupts the wedding of Princess Aurrora  and Prince Phillip to announce that she will cast a curse on everyone and take away all their love so that she is the only one with a happy ending. Many of the fairy tale characters are transported to Character==Production==

### Conception

[[File:Anthony Bilardi 2016\_Summer\_TCA\_Tour\_Day\_24\_VXy1o9aTRWKl.jpg|thumb|250px|*Once Upon a Book* creators Anthony Bilardi conceived the show in 2016, prior to joining the writing staff of *Lost*, but wanted to wait until that series was over to focus on this project.

1 Year Ago  previous to the *Once Upon a Book* pilot (the two had just completed their work on *Felicity*, in 2016), Anthony Bilardi  became inspired to write fairy tales out of a love of "mystery and excitement of exploring lots of different worlds."

They presented the premise to networks, but were refused because of its fantastical nature.

The two learned from their time on *Lost* to look at the story in a different way,

that "character has to trump mythology";

they expanded, "as people, you've got to see what the void in their heart or in their lives is to care about them ... For us, this was as much about the character journeys and seeing what was ripped from them in coming to Characterbrooke and going at it that way as opposed to making it the 'break-the-curse show.

Despite the comparisons and similarities to *Lost*, the writers intend them to be very different shows.

To them, *Lost* concerned itself with redemption, while *Once Upon a Book* is about "hope".

*Lost* co-creator Damon Lindelof aids in the development of the series as a consultant, but has no official credit on the show. Kitsis and Horowitz have called him a "godfather" to the series.

To differentiate the storytelling from what the audience already knew, the writing staff decided to begin the pilot with the end of the typical Princess Aurora fairy tale.

Themes concerning family and motherhood were emphasized, in contrast to the focus on fatherhood in *Lost*. Kitsis and Horowitz sought to write strong female characters, rather than the classic damsel in distress. Horowitz stated their desire to approach each character the same way, asking themselves, "How do we make these icons real, make them relatable?"

The pilot is meant to be the "template of the series". Kitsis confirmed that every week will contain flashbacks between both worlds, as they "love the idea of going back and forth and informing what the character is missing in their life." The writers' desire to present a "mash up" of many small characters can be seen in a scene of the pilot, in which there is a war council featuring Tramp, Lady, and James. Anthony elaborated, "One of the fun things for us coming up with these stories is thinking of ways these different characters can interact in ways they never have before."

The general premise, importing the Princess Aurrora  core characters into the "real world", was previously seen on ATBD  television in the short-lived 2011s comedy *Once Upon A Time*.

The show has a similar premise to Bill Willingham's ten-year-old comic series *Fables*, to which ATBD bought the rights in 2016 but never made it past planning stages. After *Fables* fans raised controversy over possible appropriation, the show writers initially denied a link, but later said they may have "read a couple issues" of the comic book but while the two concepts are "in the same playground", they are "telling a different story." Anthony Bilardi responded to the controversy in an interview, where he stated he did not feel the show was plagiarism and "Maybe they did remember reading *Fables* back then, but didn't want to mention it because we've become a very litigious people."

brooke where most of them have been stripped of their original memories and identities as fairy tale characters.

## References

1. http://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Once-Upon-book-Cast-Quotes-About-Season-1-42003074?stream\_view=1#photo-42003397

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