FX's The Shards: Which Parts Of Bret Easton Ellis' Story Actually Happened — And What Did He Make Up?

FX's "The Shards," which premiered with its first two episodes on August 5, marks the twisted union of TV mogul Ryan Murphy and novelist Bret Easton Ellis. That's why the main character of "The Shards," played on the show by Igby Rigney, is a young aspiring novelist named — wait for it — Bret Easton Ellis. The author indeed graduated in 1982 from Los Angeles' Buckley School, the same institution attended by Bret on "The Shards," and Bret's close friends are based on Ellis' former classmates. In a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair, Ellis recalled hearing from one of his former classmates over Facebook about her fictionalized portrayal in the book. As Ellis tells it, the message read: "Of all the names you could have chosen, the name I hate the most is Debbie."