He is a lone rider.
Taylor Sheridan, the mastermind behind “Yellowstone” and about a dozen other shows, was unknown before the ranch drama became a hit. Now, she’s a Hollywood powerhouse.
As “Yellowstone” nears its end (the second half of Season 5 will premiere on Paramount on Sunday, November 10 at 8 p.m.), Sheridan has become embroiled in drama that has almost overshadowed her work.
Here’s everything you need to know about the prolific Cowboy TV creator and producer.
its beginning
Taylor Sheridan, 54, was born in North Carolina and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I grew up in the shadow of the Four Sixes,” he said told the hollywood reporter In 2023, there is mention of a prestigious ranch that is famous in cowboy circles. It was controlled by a family dynasty for more than a century.
“Getting one of their horses was a status symbol, because they are very well trained,” he explained. “This was the ranch on which I based the scope and operations (of ‘Yellowstone’), because it did not exist in Montana. Most of the fields there had already been harvested. They had already lost it.”
His real cowboy credit
As of 2022, Sheridan himself owns the coveted farm.
Per Austin American StatesmanSheridan purchased 266,000 acres of the property, the first since its founding in 1870.
Sheridan moved west in 2013 after marrying his wife, actress Nicole Muirbrook, 41.
“I left L.A. as soon as I could,” he said. told Cowboys & Indians Magazine in 2020.
He added, “My wife lives in Wyoming and my mother lives there, so we moved there for several years until I finally convinced her to come to my home state.”
his career
Sheridan started out as an actor in Hollywood, appearing in shows such as “Veronica Mars” and “Sons of Anarchy.”
“I was a fair actor, but that’s all I was going to be,” Sheridan told THR. “But the first thing I wrote (the pilot for ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ in 2011) I got meetings at every major network, every agency. I had several people trying to buy it.
But, he said, the network wanted a more experienced showrunner to take control, and Sheridan wanted to do it herself, so she put it aside for a while.
His first film screenplay, 2015’s “Sicario” starring Emily Blunt, earned multiple Oscar nominations. This did not win him the “Best Original Screenplay” award, but his next film, 2016’s “Hell or High Water”, did. He also wrote and directed the 2017 film “Wind River” starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen. He won an award at Cannes for his directorial debut.
After that success, he got his own TV show, “Yellowstone.” Paramount Network had recently rebranded themselves Spike, and it soon became their flagship series.
After its premiere in June 2018 – averaging over 5 million viewers per episode – it soon turned into his TV empire.
He created several “Yellowstone” spin-off shows, including “1883” starring Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and “1923” starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, with several more in development. He also co-produced “The Mayor of Kingstown” starring Jeremy Renner and “The Tulsa King” starring Sylvester Stallone (all at Paramount).
his unusual behavior
Sheridan said he does not use the writers’ room.
“The plan was that I would bring Greg Berlanti on board,” Sheridan told THR in 2023, referring to the prolific creator of shows like “You,” “Arrow,” “Riverdale” and “The Flash.”
He explained, “I’ll write, cast, and direct the pilots, and then we’ll bring in someone as a showrunner to run the writer’s room and I can check in and guide them.”
But, this did not work out, as Sheridan stated that he liked character-driven stories, as opposed to “plot-driven characters”. He did not feel that other writers “were driven by the same qualities… so for me, writers’ rooms, they didn’t work.”
Sheridan said, “I wouldn’t compromise…If I had to creatively check with others for a story I had completely made up in my mind, that would probably be the end of TV storytelling. “
“Taylor writes scripts like you or I would have a cup of coffee,” Sheridan’s producing partner David Glasser told THR. “He wrote 60 scripts for ‘Yellowstone’ — most people don’t do that in their entire career.”
their politics
“Yellowstone” has been portrayed as a show geared toward a more conservative audience. But, Sheridan’s opinion may be surprising.
“They refer to it as the ‘conservative show’ or the ‘Republican show’ or the ‘red-state Game of Thrones,'” Sheridan said in a 2022 Interview with The Atlantic.
“And I just sit there laughing. I’m like, ‘Really?”’ The show is talking about the displacement of Native Americans and the way Native American women were treated and corporate greed and the gentrification and land-grabbing of the West. This is a red-state show?”
His Scams: Expenses
Sheridan is charging the network a “ridiculous” $50,000 per week to film his own show at his two sprawling ranch properties.
As of May 2023 Story in the Wall Street JournalParamount and 101 Studios pay Sheridan thousands of dollars a week to write, direct and produce his series – using their various companies and services, including “Cowboy Camp” to train actors.
For “Yellowstone”, Sheridan reportedly rented cattle to Paramount for $25 per head, and he charged up to $50,000 per week to film the show on farms he owned.
Sheridan also billed the studio $3,000 to pay a wrangler in Texas, 1,600 miles from the set, who was caring for his horses.
The outlet reported that Sheridan insisted on using his favorite farrier to shoe the play’s horseshoes, and flew an expert from Texas to Montana for four nights to do the job, which upset 101 Studio executives. .
“Are you kidding me? We can’t find any local people?” David Glasser, head of 101 Studios, reportedly wrote in an email to employees.
“You write something and it’s worth what it costs. I wouldn’t change the script to meet the budget,” Sheridan told THR.
Glasser also defended Sheridan’s spending at the outlet, saying, “Everything we do has a three-bid system, and Viacom has an audit team. Like shooting ‘1883’ on Taylor’s ranch (at $50,000 a week) cost the same as the ranch next door. We rent a lot of farms and know how much they cost.
Combined, Paramount has spent more than $500 million a year producing Sheridan’s shows — even as it cut 25% of its television staff in May of 2023, and for about 35 years MTV News was also shut down after it aired.
Her scandals: Alleged feud with Kevin Costner
In May 2023, news broke that Costner would not return to “Yellowstone” after Season 5. (This was before Paramount said that season 5 would be the show’s last.) That same month, it was announced that the show would end with season 5. , leading to speculation that the show was ending in part due to Costner’s departure.
There were also reports that Costner refused to return to the set for over a week of filming for the second half of Season 5, which Costner’s attorney denied.
“The last conversation I had with Kevin was that he had a passion project he wanted to direct,” Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter in June, referring to “Horizon.”
From Sheridan’s description it seemed as if Costner preferred “Horizon” to “Yellowstone”.
The producer continued, “Once lawyers get involved, people can’t talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and depending on how the press or the public is reacting Trying to shift the blame…His film seems like it’s a bigger priority for him and he wants to shift his focus…”
However, in May 2024, Costner told Deadline that “Yellowstone” was “number one” on his list of priorities. “I didn’t make ‘Horizon’ because I was tired of doing ‘Yellowstone’. It’s a good story. I didn’t make ‘Horizon’ to compete with ‘Yellowstone’. This (project) is something that I had Has been for a long time,” he said.
Costner said that ongoing speculation about what was happening behind the scenes “was not true.”
The “Dances with Wolves” star said his movie “Horizon” was supposed to “fit into the gap” between filming “Yellowstone,” but, he added, “they just kept pushing their hiatus.”
He alleged that there was “no script” for the final episode of “Yellowstone”.
Costner said, “I was straight with (Taylor Sheridan), and he said what we would do, and I believed him.” “And we didn’t get there.”
Their Scams: Case with Cole Hauser
Following his drama with Costner, Sheridan got into another backstage feud with one of his actors: Cole Hauser.
In November 2023, Hauser’s coffee brand, Free Rein Coffee Companysued by Bosque Ranch – which is owned by Sheridan.
The lawsuit claimed that Free Rein “uses a brand mark so similar to Bosque Ranch’s registered trademark, which potentially misleads consumers.” San Angelo Live.
Both The Caffeine Company and The Ranch use a similar logo, consisting of the letters B and R joined together.
Despite their struggles, Hauser had some positive words about Sheridan.
“I think he’s going to direct some (episodes),” Hauser told People, referring to Sheridan. “So I’m excited about it.”
What is his present status?
Sheridan is still a powerhouse showrunner, with several hit shows currently airing or in the pipeline — including an upcoming “Yellowstone” spinoff called “The Madison” starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
He’s the king of a major network and streamer (Paramount), and his shows attract top A-listers.
He hasn’t “fell” from his throne, but that doesn’t mean his reputation hasn’t been damaged.
In April 2023, a source told the daily mail Sheridan developed a “God complex”, which also fueled her alleged feud with Costner.
That same month, a source told The Post that Sheridan’s “overburdened” schedule interfered with preparation and filming, even though Costner made himself available.
“Taylor felt truly unappreciated in Hollywood for years, and now that she’s at the top, there’s definitely some ego involved in all this.”
Although Costner won a Golden Globe for playing John Dutton and Sheridan received Oscar and Golden Globes nominations for his previous films, Sheridan did not receive praise for “Yellowstone”.
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