Why Taylor Sheridan Rules Hollywood
'Yellowstone' creator scores epic deal by avoiding industry's no. 1 problem
Paramount Plus is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.
Why?
The streamer’s VIP, prolific producer Taylor Sheridan, just signed a mega-deal to take his talents elsewhere. The multi-year pact, worth an estimated $1 billion, means new Sheridan shows will belong to NBCUniversal starting in 2029.
Sheridan isn’t your ordinary TV producer. Consider his recent hits:
- Yellowstone
- 1923
- 1883
- Landman
- Tulsa King
- Special Ops: Lioness
- Mayor of Kingstown
The Sheridan brand speaks for itself in just a few short years. After all, “Yellowstone” debuted in 2018 and swiftly became a pop culture institution. Sheridan has been busy ever since, sporting a remarkable track record.
“Tulsa King” just began its third season, while “Landman” season 2 debuts Nov. 16 on Paramount Plus.
The actor-turned-auteur is one of the most in-demand talents in Hollywood, despite a public dispute with industry legend Kevin Costner and a humble origin story.
A TV Maestro’s Unlikely Roots
He started his career as an actor-for-hire, finding modest gigs in projects like “Sons of Anarchy.” He switched gears to writing and directing, living in his car and maxing out his wife’s credit card to fuel his Tinsel Town dreams.
His Hollywood success story didn’t begin until his 40s.
Films like “Hell or High Water” (2016) and “Wind River” (2017) put him on the proverbial map. His subsequent TV projects cemented his stardom.
But why Sheridan? What makes him worth a cool billion to a major Hollywood player, one connected to a prominent streaming service (Peacock)? His success speaks for itself, but its his storytelling voice that catapulted him to stardom.
RELATED: SHERIDAN SNUBBED, AGAIN, BY EMMY VOTERS
Sheridan finds stories that don’t necessarily exist in New York or Los Angeles. The Dutton family saga of “Yellowstone” fame called Montana home, while Billy Bob Thornton’s “Landman” explores Texas’ oil and gas landscape.
Dwight Manfredi, the character immortalized by Sylvester Stallone in “Tulsa King,” left the Big Apple for a new lease on life in Oklahoma.
Sheridan isn’t interested in emulating other TV showrunners. His vision is more broad and accessible. So is his narrative vision.
No, Sheridan isn’t openly conservative. And, if he does lean in that direction, he refused to flex it on screen. His “Hell or High Water” screenplay shared his frustration with the modern healthcare system and income inequality.
Neither topic is catnip for GOP types.
Diversity Is Our Strength. Really
His stories still reflect the world around us and, more importantly, a diversity of viewpoints. Not Hollywood diversity, where people of different backgrounds all share the same worldview.
“Landman” went viral last year when a Thornton rant captured liberal hypocrisies on energy production. It’s a sequence you’d never see out of any other show, but it fit snugly within Team Sheridan.
The hit TV show Landman features an incredible scene crushing woke environmentalists, and the internet LOVES it.
WATCH: https://t.co/wIDqzEbqgl pic.twitter.com/Fu4Ek3sdvn
— OutKick (@Outkick) November 28, 2024
Hollywood is still scrambling to find its footing following the pandemic, dueling industry strikes and the rise of A.I. Sheridan offers a possible salvation.
He’s a populist storyteller who doesn’t ignore half the country. That simple formula has proven remarkably effective.
And at 55, Sheridan has the energy and enthusiasm to keep multiple shows afloat at once.
The TV giant is a throwback talent, one who knows something about the rural life he captures on screen. The Texas-based Sheridan owns a massive Texas ranch and isn’t about to decamp for L.A. anytime soon.
Instead, Hollywood is happy to come to him.