Have you watched American Horror Story? Its creator is Ryan Murphy, our birthday boy today and “the most powerful man in modern television”.
He was born in Indianapolis in 1965. He graduated in journalism from Indiana University Bloomington, then did an internship at The Washington Post. The Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times and others were next. His destiny changed in the late 1990s. He wrote the screenplay for Why Can’t I Be Audrey Hepburn ?, about a woman obsessed with an old movie star. The movie did not materialize, but Murphy caught the cinematic bug.
As a writer, director, and finally producer, he started working on a long list of titles. From the debut series Popular, through Nip / Tuck and Glee , to American Horror Story. He put his hand to the film Eat, Pray, Love, which was criticized by critics and praised by the audience. He produced the horror film The Town That Dreaded Sundown and the satirical slasher Scream Queens . Perhaps best known from the American Horror Story (AHS) horror anthology ,where each season is a mini-series, with completely different characters, often played by actors from the previous project. So far, nine seasons have been created, and the tenth is currently being created. As a director and producer, he also creates a sister project – American Crime Story . In 2018, he left 20th Century Fox Television to sign a $ 300 million (300 million!) Deal with Netflix. So we can expect other unique projects.
He has won countless nominations (and many awards) to incl. Emmy, Grammy and Tony, and this is probably not the end. His working methods?
I don’t write regularly, especially for TV shows. I have to think about something for a really long time. I’ll think what the episode is about for a week or two and then it just blows up on me.
I think people think I’m cynical and dark – that’s not true. I think the key to success on TV is doing something no one has tried to do, or reinventing a genre that hasn’t worked or is dead.
His personal life is in order. He has been married to David Miller since 2012. Together they raise three sons born by a surrogate.
To the life of Ryan, never to leave him with ideas for good movies and series. Are you joining?