Short answer
No, it is not based on one real event. Waves is an original screenplay by Trey Edward Shults. He has called it "probably the most autobiographical movie I’ve made", drawing on his own family history, and he lived in Broward County, Florida, for several years, where the film is set.
What the director has said
- Autobiographical: "This movie is probably the most autobiographical movie I’ve made," Shults told the American Society of Cinematographers.
- His father: in his notes on the score cue Odds Against, Shults says the tense father and son scenes draw on his personal history (A24 playlist notes).
- Florida: after leaving Texas he lived with his grandmother in Davie, in Broward County, and set the film there (Jitney Books).
- Personal music: he calls Glenn Miller’s Moonlight Serenade personal, and links Frank Ocean’s Seigfried to a road trip memory of his own (A24).
What is fiction
The Williams family, the events of the plot and the crime at its center are invented for the film. We found no report of the story being based on a specific real case.
His earlier films did the same
Shults’s first feature, Krisha (2015), starred his aunt Krisha Fairchild and drew on family addiction; she appears in Waves as an English teacher (Wikipedia). More in Trey Edward Shults’s films.
Questions people ask
Was Tyler a real person?
No. Tyler Williams is a fictional character. Shults has said parts of the father and son relationship come from his own history.
Where did Trey Edward Shults live in Florida?
In Broward County. He told Jitney Books he moved in with his grandmother in Davie after leaving Texas, and that he loved the area.
Sources
Last reviewed October 29, 2026. Streaming catalogs and listings change; check the service before you pay.