Ryan Murphy is now one of the most powerful producers in television. He’s the man behind American Horror Story, Feud, Scream Queens, Glee, American Crime Story, The New Normal and the upcoming Pose. He’s also directed film such as Eat Pray Love, The Normal Heart and Open. However, as he’s revealed, he was once a scared kid dealing with violence from homophobic parents.

Deadline reports that while talking about the strongly LGBT Pose during the TCA Winter Tour, he revealed that a scene in which one of the Pose character’s fathers “beats him bloody with a belt,” was inspired by his own life. He said, “That happened to me… That was my coming-out experience with my father.

He adds, “I can’t believe my life and can’t believe that things have changed so radically in my lifetime. If you asked me then [when he first came out] if I would be allowed to be married and have children like you, I never would have believed it.”

Pose is a period piece set in the mid-’80s in New York City, examining the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in Manhattan: the emergence of the luxury Trump-era universe, the ball culture world, and downtown social and literary scene. It’s been revealed that it will feature over 50 LGBTQ characters. The show will air on TV in the US this summer.

Back at the end of October, Ryan Murphy’s planned TV series, Pose, caused a lot of interest due to the news that it was set to feature five major trans roles in the show, all of them to be played by trans actors – that’s more than any mainstream US series before it. However, at that point the American Horror Story, Feud and Scream Queens producer had only got the go-ahead to make a pilot show. Now it’s been announced that the FX network has given the show a full-series order.

Murphy has also revealed that the series isn’t done setting records, as he’s revealed, “Along with being a dance musical and an affirming look at American life in the 1980s, I’m so proud that Pose and FX has made history right from the beginning by featuring the most trans series regular actors ever in an American television production. Additionally, the first season Pose will feature 50-plus LGBTQ characters – a record in American television history. I can’t wait for people to see this incredibly talented, passionate cast.”

The show itself has been described as a period piece set in the mid-’80s in New York City, examining the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in Manhattan: the emergence of the luxury Trump-era universe, the ball culture world, and downtown social and literary scene. The trans and other LGBTQ characters will mainly feature the the ball culture section of the show, which will focus on the the LGBT subculture that emerged in the 1980s, and sees different ‘houses’ and people competing against one another in balls.

MJ Rodriguez (Blanca); Indya Moore (Angel); Dominique Jackson (Elektra); Hailie Sahar (Lulu) and Angelica Ross (Candy) are playing the major trans roles, with James Van Der Beek, Kate Mara, Evan Peters, Ryan Jamaal Swain, Billy Porter, and Dyllon Burnside also set to star (however, Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) won’t be in the show, despite starring in the pilot). Pose will start shooting in February, with plans to have it on TV by the summer.

Nowadays Ryan Murphy is an openly gay TV powerhouse, having had success with the likes of Nip/Tuck, Glee, American Horror Story, Scream Queens and The Normal Heart. However, he’s revealed that during the making of his first series, Popular, he didn’t have an easy time, especially with how the TV network viewed its ‘gayness’.

Talking to EW, he says, “They never got me and they kept trying to turn me into something else. And they were very homophobic even though they would have gay characters on the air… They would give me notes, like, ‘The Mary Cherry character, like, could she be less gay?’ Like, it was very relentlessly homophobic. It was rough and I didn’t have a good experience with the studio and everybody.”

The show aired on The WB network, which at the time (1999-2001) was seen as one of the LGBT friendly channels thanks to the likes of Dawson’s Creek. The show itself followed two high school girls who hate one another, but are forced together when their parents decide to marry.

An unidentified source who was at The WB at the time, responded to Murphy’s comments saying, “We absolutely loved Ryan personally and were bewitched by his incredibly unique voice. I am crestfallen to learn that he wasn’t comfortable during that time and worst of all that he considered us homophobic. While I thought our relationship with Ryan was strong both during and well after Popular, nobody should feel the way he felt and if we were unwittingly responsible for that to any degree I’m deeply saddened.”

After the success of The Normal Heart, HBO revealed they were reteaming with Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story) to develop a TV series with a strong lesbian-theme component, Open, which is described as “a multicharacter exploration of the complex, ever-evolving landscape of sexuality, monogamy and intimacy in relationships”.

However after making a pilot starring Anna Torv (Fringe), Scott Speedman (Felicity), Michelle Monaghan (True Detective) and Wes Bentley (The Hunger Games), HBO has decided they won’t be commissioning it as a full series.

THR suggests the reason is that HBO wanted to make major changes before moving forward, but Murphy wasn’t keen, and so the whole thing has collapsed. HBO programming president Michael Lombardo comments, “After such a triumphant collaboration with The Normal Heart, everyone felt that Open was not the right next step for all involved. However, we fully expect to work together again in the near future.”

Although Murphy may try to set it up elsewhere, at the moment it appears we’ll never get to see a full series of Open.