If you were to write a screenplay about events that have occurred in the past - fictional story characters, settings, etc, but the actual event(s) did befall people and basically ruined their lives in the past, how would you pitch it?

Inspired by true events
Based on true events

For context:

This 'event' occurred in the UK beginning around the late 1960's and ran through to around the early 2000's when it all came to light - an investigative journalist exposed it.
It ended up in court and the government passed legislation prohibiting it from ever occurring again. Numerous local and national papers as well as industry magazines ran articles about this.

Basically the event was about a 'blacklist' containing the names of over 3000 people . It involved people working in the construction industry and even environmentalists. It turned out that some of the people didn't even know they were on this list. This blacklist prevented these people from ever working in their industry. Whenever the applicant applied for a position, certain companies secretly consulted the organisation controlling the blacklist to see if the applicant was named on the list.

It was a shocking expose'.

I would use "Inspired by"

"Based on" to me implies the character/settings/major plot points are not fictional, and that less poetic license has been taken compared to "Inspired by"

Quoted from Matthew Taylor I would use "Inspired by" "Based on" to me implies the character/settings/major plot points are not fictional, and that less poetic license has been taken compared to "Inspired by"

Thanks for this “inspired” advice, Matthew. I’ve got a couple that are “inspired by” true events, but the characters and storyline are merely my highly fictionalized imaginings. This is really timely and spot on for me.  Now, off to change “Based  on” to “Inspired by”.

Quoted from Matthew Taylor I would use "Inspired by" "Based on" to me implies the character/settings/major plot points are not fictional, and that less poetic license has been taken compared to "Inspired by"

Hi Matthew. Thank you for your advice. It is a great help.