Once Upon A Time - Adam Horowitz Interview

What started this project for you? Where did the idea come from?
ADAM HOROWITZ: The idea for the show really started over eight years ago, when Eddie [Kitsis] and I had just come off of working on Felicity. The seed of it was that we were trying to figure out what it is about storytelling that we really love, and what we love is the mystery and excitement of exploring lots of different worlds. Fairy tales clicked with us because they were so much in the DNA of what made us storytellers, to begin with. If we can go between two different worlds and see two different sides of these characters, for us, as writers, that was a new way to explore characters and what makes them tick, and come at them from different angles. What you always want, as a writer, is to find different ways to explore the characters, and that’s what got us excited about this idea.

When you were developing these two worlds, was there any point where you wondered how you were going to balance the story between them?
HOROWITZ: Oh, every day! That’s the challenge. Right now, we’ve got 12 episodes to try to do the best we can, to tell the coolest stories that we know how to tell, and it is an incredible challenge. In coming off of Lost, we didn’t want to try anything that was easy. So, we’ll do our best and, if we succeed, great. If we fail, at least we’re doing something that’s challenging to us, as writers.

Source: Full interview @ Collider