Taylor Sheridan flounced on David Ellison

In a bombshell report originating in Matthew Belloni’s Puck newsletter, CBS/Paramount golden goose and self-appointed savior of the cowboy way Taylor Sheridan will exit his production deal with Paramount for sweeter pastures with NBCUniversal. 

Despite new Skydance Paramount CEO David Ellison praising Sheridan as a “singular genius with a perfect track record”, Taylor Sheridan decided David Ellison can stuff it.

The fine print on this move is that Sheridan’s TV deal with CBS/Paramount doesn’t end until the end of 2028, so it will be 2029 before Sheridan moves his TV operations to NBCUniversal. But early next year, Sheridan’s producing partner, David Glasser, will move his own shingle, 101 Studios, to NBCUniversal, too. Sheridan and Glasser are also partners in a massive new production facility outside Fort Worth, Texas, which will, among other things, be the production home of Sheridan’s movies and TV shows. Paramount also has a piece of this, and it’s not clear how that plays into the deals changing hands between Paramount and Universal, but it sort of looks like Taylor Sheridan got Old Paramount to contribute to his Texas production facility and left New Paramount holding the bag. They’re paying for a production facility where he will make stuff for someone else. A victimless crime! 

Sheridan’s deal is rumored to be in the vicinity of $1 billion, assuming he can deliver on creating 20 new shows for NBC and its sister streaming platform, Peacock. I have no doubt Taylor Sheridan will come up with 20 new shows—everything he’s created under his current deal with CBS/Paramount belongs to them, including Yellowstone—he’ll sh-t out a slew of ranch-based melodramas, the cow version of Law & Order. There will be Texas Ranch and Texas Ranch 1836 and its spin-off, Texas Ranch: Alamo; plus Texas Ranch 1845, the sequel series to Texas Ranch 1836; Texas Ranch 1853; Texas Ranch Chisholm Trail; Texas Ranch Shawnee Trail; Texas Ranch Apache and Texas Ranch Comanche, for which Zahn McClarnon will finally win his Emmy, even though he is neither Apache nor Comanche; Texas Ranch Cow Country, Texas Ranch Horse Country, Texas Ranch Rattlesnake, and Texas Ranch Rodeo Spirit, all of which will film on properties owned by Sheridan, for which he will pay himself handsome production fees (allegedly).

For the better part of the last decade, since Yellowstone launched in 2018, Sheridan has been one of the premiere creators working for CBS/Paramount. His shows, including the Yellowstone franchise, Lioness, and Mayor of Kingstown, have bolstered not only CBS’s linear TV business, but they consistently rank high on Paramount+’s streaming indices, too, even though no one watches Paramount+ so that’s like being the toughest poodle. Still, there is no debating that Sheridan is—was—a cornerstone of CBS/Paramount’s television business, and it was clear keeping him on side was a top priority for David Ellison as he heaped praise on Sheridan as Skydance Paramount emerged in its final form. That didn’t stop Sheridan from jumping ship, though—nor did a pair of cowboy boots once worn by James Dean lure him to Warner Bros. Discovery—which begs the question of how Ellison and his new crew lost their rainmaker. 

According to Puck, Ellison tried to butt into a deal Sheridan previously made with Warner Brothers five iterations ago in 2018 for a film called F.A.S.T. That film is finally expected to materialize, as it started filming this year and is dated for 2027, and apparently Ellison felt entitled to a slice of that pie, which he has nothing to do with. (F.A.S.T. is the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Ben Richardson. All of his directing credits are with Sheridan’s various productions. Richardson dated Anna Kendrick for six years iykyk.)

On top of that, Ellison’s new streaming boss, Cindy Holland, maybe questioned Sheridan’s budgets on his shows, which are rumored to run upwards of $20 million. That’s more than Game of Thrones’ final season per-ep budget, so I, too, would be questioning the spending (especially since Sheridan likes to film on his own properties and charge it back to the production allegedly yadda yadda). There is no question that Taylor Sheridan does not like to be questioned, so I do believe suddenly having to answer budget questions could irritate him enough to look for a new home. 

Obviously, Taylor Sheridan will be fine. This deal could—and probably will—make him a billionaire. He can buy all the ranches in Texas and each one can produce its own mediocre TV show. But while this is happening, Skydance Paramount is set to cut 1,000 jobs this week, the first of what will undoubtedly be extensive layoffs. And if Skydance Paramount succeeds in buying out Warner Bros. Discovery, there will be even more layoffs. Just remember amidst all the reporting about billion-dollar deals—there will likely be more as another round of consolidation forces another IP arms race—that regular degular people are losing their jobs by the truckload. 

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