American Story is an American anthology media franchise consisting of several television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Each series follows a different genre of fiction, with each individual season conceived as a self-contained miniseries, following a different set of characters and settings, and a story line with its own "beginning, middle, and end." Some plot elements of each season and series are loosely inspired by true events. Many actors appear in more than one season and series, often playing a new character.