History Main / ATrueStoryInMyUniverse

* A PostCreditsScene in ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' has Iggy and Spike talking to Japanese game developers about making a game based on the events of the movie. Backed up a bit by the director saying he liked to imagine that the movie is the "true" event that the games were based on.

** ''Film/SeedOfChucky'' says that an in-universe ''Child's Play'' movie called ''Chucky Goes Psycho'' based on urban legends about a serial killer possessing a doll. The Chucky and Tiffany dolls have even been converted into animatronics playing themselves and the human version of Tiffany is played by the actress, Creator/JenniferTilly who voices her and played her human form in ''Film/BrideOfChucky''.
** During the TimeSkip at the end of the movie after Tiffany has possessed Tilly's body, a poster for ''Seed Of Chucky'' can be seen, implying that Tiffany might have starred in an in-universe.

* The ''Website/SCPFoundation'' universe has a breakfast cereal parodying Cocoa Puffs called "Super Coco Pows". The Sonny the Cuckoo Bird parody, Bradbury Buzzard is based on
[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1160 SCP-1160]]. A giant bird that gets weaker the more people who know about it. Given that the Foundation's entire purpose is to preserve the {{Masquerade}}, the best way to keep it known but secret at the same time was to turn it into a cereal mascot.

** ''Film/SeedOfChucky'' says that an in-universe ''Childs Play'' movie called ''Chucky Goes Psycho'' based on urban legends about a serial killer possessing a doll. The Chucky and Tiffany dolls have even been converted into animatronics playing themselves and the human version of Tiffany is played by the actress, Creator/JenniferTilly who voices her and played her human form in ''Film/BrideOfChucky''.

* In the first ''Literature/RedDwarf'' novel, the gang gets back to Earth and find that the town of Bedford Falls from Lister's favourite movie, ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' actually exists. It turns out [[spoiler: they're in a LotusEaterMachine virtual reality that just gives them the world they want and they're still in space.]]

* The comedy/crime novel ''Jimmy the Kid'' features some bumbling crooks who plan out a kidnapping based on a novel, ''Child Heist'' by Richard Stark. While ''Child Heist'' doesn't actually exist, Richard Stark is another pseudonym of ''Jimmy the Kid'''s author, Donald E. Westlake. This makes the latter novel an extended running gag on this trope, as Westlake pretends that ''Child Heist'' exists within Jimmy's world.

* ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' is about a film, but it is also about a man named Zampanò writing a critical essay on the film, and it is also about a guy named Johnny Truant reading the critical essay about the film after finding Zampanò's body. Some of the dramatic tension in the story comes from the fact that, while the film itself is non-fiction, and Zampanò's essay is nonfiction and references multiple other reviews of the film, Johnny is unable to find any evidence that the film ever existed.

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[[folder:Film (Animated)]]

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* According to the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' tie-in comics, the game itself is a "documentary" based on the events of the comics.

* The ''Sector Seven AlternateRealityGame'' that ties in with the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' says that the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' was based on a true story that Sector Seven managed to cover up.

* Early drafts of the script of ''Franchise/StarWars'' describe it as having come from records called the "Journal Of The Whills." Given how much George Lucas has muddied the waters, though, it's hard to know ''what'' he intended in 1977.
** George Lucas later said that the entire ''Star Wars'' saga is being told by R2-D2 (which probably is why he's always saving the day).
** [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Canon#Canon_and_the_Expanded_Universe According to Chris Cerasi]], the six films, and the films ''alone'', are the only installments that should be taken at face value. All of the [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Expanded Universe works]] are really considered "retellings" of events that happened.

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', some people believe that the show ''[[ShowWithinAShow Wormhole X-Treme!]]'' is actually a way to create plausible deniability for a real Air Force project called "Stargate". As the Air Force will tell you, this is a complete lie. Of course, not only is that what they'd say if it ''was'' a complete lie, it's ''also'' exactly what they'd say if it was complete truth. Not that anybody ever saw the show. [[SelfDeprecation It was on cable, after all]].

* There's a popular fan theory that

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* The ''[[Radio/ThirdDoctorRadioDramas Third Doctor Radio Drama]]'' "The Ghosts Of N-Space" mentioned The Doctor doing invisibility experiments with Creator/HGWells, implying these were the basis for ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan''.
* The ''Creator/BigFinish Doctor Who'' story, ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho229TheSilurianCandidate The Silurian Candidate]]'' had The Doctor saying that Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs knew the Silurian capital as "Literature/{{Pellucidar}}", implying that the Silurians inspired the titular series.
* The ''Big Finish Series/{{Torchwood}}'' audio play "[[Recap/BigFinishTorchwoodS04E04GoodbyePiccadilly Goodbye Piccadilly]]" says that Creator/HGWells wrote ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' to help Torchwood cover up an AlienInvasion.
* In the ''AudioPlay/JagoAndLitefoot'' episode, "Jagon In Love" believes that himself and Lightfoot were the inspirations for ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' and Watson.
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* Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer:
** In his novels ''Tarzan Alive'' and ''Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life,'' he claims that Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs and Lester Dent were just the biographers of Literature/{{Tarzan}} and Literature/DocSavage. He claims that their books were highly fictionalized and sensationalized and presents somewhat more mundane, but still sensational versions of the stories that correct various factual inaccuracies and continuity errors. For example, he explains that whenever Tarzan encountered a lion, a plains-dwelling animal, in the jungle, it was actually a leopard and Burroughs exaggerated because lions were bigger and more dangerous looking. He also tries to explain away both characters' great strength and intelligence by claiming their [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wold_Newton_family ancestors were irradiated by a meteor]] and that other relatives of Tarzan and Savage whose ancestors were exposed to that radiation include [[Literature/PrideAndPrejudice Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy]], Literature/SherlockHolmes, Literature/FuManchu, and Literature/BulldogDrummond.
** There's a lovely moment in ''Tarzan Alive'' when Tarzan tells Farmer the actual story behind one particular book, adding that the secondary hero's love interest was [[DownerEnding killed by a hit-and-run in New York City some six months after the book ends]]. Farmer comments that he likes Burroughs' version better (the lovers stay in a [[LostWorld medieval city]] in Africa), and Tarzan smiles and says, "He knew what he was doing".
** In Farmer's short story "Literature/AfterKingKongFell", Tim claims to his granddaughter that both the original ''[[Film/KingKong1933 King Kong]]'' and its 1932 novelization are mere dramatizations of events that took place in 1931, that he experienced first-hand.

* Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer wrote two books (''Franchise/{{Tarzan}} Alive'' and ''Literature/DocSavage: His Apocalyptic Life'') exploring this concept. In both books, Farmer claims that Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs and Lester Dent were [[DirectLineToTheAuthor merely biographers]] for the "real" historical figures of Tarzan and Doc Savage, and that the writers [[DocumentaryOfLies highly sensationalized and fictionalized]] the deeds of the real people (e.g., [[MisplacedWildlife substituting a leopard in a jungle with a lion]] because the latter is more impressive). There's a great LampshadeHanging at one point when Tarzan tells Farmer the true and [[DownerEnding fairly depressing]] fates of a pair of characters from one story; a saddened Farmer remarks that he kinda prefers Burroughs's made-up HappyEnding, causing Tarzan to smile and say "he knew what he was doing."

* The [[http://pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Pulp.htm Wold Newton Universe]] fan community, based on the works of Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer, uses this in the same way as Farmer did, to a greater or lesser extent. Some articles just say "this is what really happened", others go into more detail about "this is what really happened ''and this is why the published version is different''". Some even use this to re-retcon Farmer's own retcons!

* Much of the plot of Bram Stoker's ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' is ''about'' the construction of the book itself and how Mina Harker's compilation of the characters' journals, interview transcripts, and the like helps the characters deduce {{Dracula}}'s identity and nature and ultimately defeat him. To some extent, the book is practically an advertisement for that wondrous new invention, the typewriter.

* The pronunciation guide at the back of the ''Literature/{{Deverry}}'' books by Katherine Kerr includes references to an ongoing fued between the author and a professor of Elvish about the simplifications she uses. There are also a few references in the text itself suggesting that the books were written by a Deverrian, some centuries after the period in which they're set. The final book names this author as Cadda Cerrmor, which in Deverrian would be pronounced "[[AuthorAvatar Katha Kerr-mor]]".

** In "The Weeping Angels of Mons" Titan story, Jamie compares the [=TARDIS=] to Welles ''Time Machine'' and The Doctor says that "Herbert" stole the idea from him.

* After ''Film/TheMightyDucks'' came out, The Walt Disney Company founded a pro hockey team called ''The Anaheim Mighty Ducks". They're mentioned in ''Film/D3TheMightyDucks'' where it's said they're a pro team named after the Ducks and captain, Paul Kariya cameos AsHimself.