Is Adults a True Story? Are Billie, Samir, Anton, Issa and Paul Baker Based on Real People?

Created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, FX’s ‘Adults’ is a sitcom that follows the story of five 20-something friends in Queens, New York, who are trying to navigate the challenges that come with adulthood. Over the course of eight episodes, the show has the group— Billie, Samir, Anton, Issa, and Paul Baker—go through the ups and downs of personal and professional lives while trying to be there for one another to the best of their capacity. Despite the comedic elements of the story, what sets ‘Adults’ apart is its realism, and there is a very good reason why it might feel so relatable to the audience.

The Fictional Adults Draws From the Stories of Real People

‘Adults’ is a fictional series with five characters made up to reflect different personalities and how they co-exist in a shared space. The idea for the story germinated in the minds of Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold following their own graduation, which brought them face to face with some compelling realities of what adulthood means. At the time, Shaw was living on the Upper West Side, while Kronengold was on Long Island. Both felt a strong sense of longing for their college life and their friends. Kronengold also talked about the identity crisis where he felt that, with adulthood, no one seemed to care about the “autonomy and independence and this beautiful sense of self” he’d cultivated.

Tapping into these emotions led the couple to create a group of friends whose stories reflect that of the writers as well as their friends. Considering that the core group forms the soul of the story, Shaw and Kronengold looked towards their own friends to borrow parts of their quirks to create the fictional characters for the show. While Billie, Samir, Anton, Issa, and Paul Baker are not based on any particular people, they are the amalgam of the people the writers have known in their real lives. This drawing from real life continued as more people joined the writers’ room, sharing facts about their own friends and themselves to enrich the characters of the core five.

While the characters’ flaws and fallibilities make them grounded and relatable, the writers also made a point of sympathising with them no matter what circumstances they find themselves in. As the actors came on board and filming began, they brought their own touch to their respective roles, adding more depth and realism to the group of friends. The chemistry and friendships between the actors also fed into the dynamics of the protagonists, which was highly encouraged by the show’s creators.

When talking about a sitcom about a group of 20-something friends living in New York, it is impossible not to draw comparisons with the likes of ‘Friends’ and ‘Seinfeld.’ Shaw and Kronengold revealed that they were inspired by the hit shows, also including ‘Girls,’ ‘Living Single,’ and ‘Broad City,’ and called ‘Adults’ an homage to these shows and the genre itself. What draws them and the audience to such shows is the connection to the struggles and the mistakes of the characters, and how a person’s friends factor into all of this. In this context, the creators referred to their friends and called the show a love letter to them and their generation.