Nobody Wants This Writer Weighs In on TV Shows Based on True Stories

Hollywood writers are not concerned about what viewers will think is true when creating a TV show based on their life — at least that’s Bruce Eric Kaplan’s expert opinion.

“Every show I have been on, every writer is really focused on making the best possible show they can,” the writer told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting his new book, They Went Another Way: A Hollywood Memoir. “We all assume audiences will understand it is not a documentary or a docudrama, so [we] feel comfortable with the truth and are not worried that the audiences will assume all the things are real.”

Kaplan, 60, famously wrote for Girls, which was “deeply intertwined” with creator and star Lena Dunham’s life.

“Lena is such a great artist that she is completely focused on what is her truth and how she would like to express it,” Kaplan told Us. “She is good intentioned, so I believe she thinks that if she tells something from real life with good intentions, it can’t help but be OK that she is using it.”

However, the writer recalled one Girls script that never made it to air — and shared details about how true-to-life Dunham’s show was.

“It was based on her relationship with someone else from her life, and it was so hilarious and specific and strange and wonderful,” Kaplan recalled. “Although this person would have recognized themself in the episode, I think Lena felt it would be OK because her intentions were pure.”

While Kaplan didn’t share who said person was, he did admit to meeting them years later.

“I felt like this person was an old friend, who I loved fondly from all our conversations about this person in the writer’s room,” he recalled. “By the way, this person was exactly like Lena described — to a tee.”

However, the writer did tell Us that viewers should never assume that what’s on TV is 100 percent what happened in real life.

The question of what’s real and what’s fake on TV comes amid the popularity of the Kristen Bell and Adam Brody-led Nobody Wants This, which is based on the love life of show creator Erin Foster. Kaplan is one of the showrunners on the hit Netflix series.

“On the show I am working on now, Jenni Konner [who also worked on Nobody Wants This and Girls] will say when a writer tells a story from their life, that is only believably in real life, it couldn’t possibly be seen as real on a TV show — or words to that effect,” he explained. “On some shows, you take it down a notch so it wouldn’t be unbelievable.”

They Went Another Way: A Hollywood Memoir is out now.