{"id":696982,"date":"2025-10-28T04:05:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T01:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/did-paramount-blow-it-by-losing-taylor-sheridan\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T04:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T01:05:14","slug":"did-paramount-blow-it-by-losing-taylor-sheridan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/did-paramount-blow-it-by-losing-taylor-sheridan\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Paramount Blow It By Losing Taylor Sheridan?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tYou\u2019ve probably heard the big news<\/a>. Taylor Sheridan \u2014 the prolific creative force behind\u00a0Yellowstone, 1923<\/em>,\u00a0Tulsa King<\/em>,\u00a0Special Ops: Lioness<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0a slew of other well-reviewed\u00a0hits \u2014 is moving his television deal from Paramount to NBCUniversal in 2028 when his current pact expires.\u00a0He\u2019ll also begin making films for Universal starting next year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe departure is startling. Paramount\u2019s biggest TV hitmaker just walked out the door, and into the arms of a competitor, a couple of short months after David Ellison took command of the company and praised Sheridan as \u201ca singular genius with a perfect track record.\u201d Did Ellison make a massive blunder? Or is he playing Go while everyone else is moving backgammon pieces?<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the industry abuzz, two veteran\u00a0Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u00a0staffers \u2014 one of whom wrote an authoritative Taylor Sheridan cover story after travel<\/a>ing to his 6666 Ranch in Panhandle, Texas \u2014 sat down to hash\u00a0this all\u00a0out.<\/p>\n

\n\tSteven Zeitchik:<\/strong>\u00a0So I kind of eye-rolled that this was a major loss given how expensive Sheridan is. Like, within the optics of Hollywood you never want talent to walk out the door, and as someone who wrote the definitive profile on Sheridan you know firsthand how valuable that talent is. But this is going to save Paramount a lot of money and\u00a0they will still have all the shows that brought them 80 million Paramount+ subscribers. And will continue cranking out more new ones in the next two years while even keeping a lot of them going after he leaves.<\/p>\n

\n\tJames Hibberd<\/strong>: I agree that Paramount+ already has a lot of Sheridan content that could be spun-off into other shows; there\u2019s an argument\u00a0of\u00a0\u201chow much Sheridan stuff does Paramount+ actually need?\u201d But if I were them I would worry about him focusing on his new home once he gets there. Sheridan tends be pretty hands-on (too<\/em>\u00a0hands-on, some current and former showrunners would say). But how much is he going to care about, say,\u00a0Dutton Ranch<\/em>\u00a0season three and\u00a0Tulsa King<\/em>\u00a0season five if he\u2019s busy spinning up new content for NBC? Like assuming, \u201cWe don\u2019t need the chef if we got his recipes\u201d might not be right.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong>\u00a0I think\u00a0Paramount\u00a0would say \u201cwe\u2019re not worried about that now, by then those shows will have a life of their own\u00a0or\u00a0they\u2019ll be dead\u00a0anyway, either way.\u201d It\u2019s a little like a long-term contract in sports, sometimes you\u2019re like \u201cwhy didn\u2019t the club just lock him in long term\u201d\u00a0but then the other side of that is\u00a0\u201cthis guy is at his prime now, if you lock him in for that long you\u2019re kind of shooting yourself in the foot because the player\u2019s impact will diminish and the contract won\u2019t age well.\u201d You could kind of imagine Ellison and [new Paramount execs] Jeff Shell and Andy Gordon looking at each other and saying: Why are we paying someone so much money for something so far down the road?<\/p>\n

\n\tJH:<\/strong> There is a logic there, but I do find it funny that Paramount snatched The Duffer Bros. from Netflix for an exclusive, four-year film and TV deal that was certain to come with a hefty price tag. Yet The Duffers have made exactly one hit show. And while I love\u00a0Stranger Things<\/em>, there\u2019s no evidence\u00a0yet\u00a0that they can replicate it. Whereas Sheridan has repeatedly proven he can. Plus Sheridan\u2019s shows are expensive, north of $10 million per episode, but the final season of\u00a0Stranger Things<\/em>\u00a0reportedly cost around $50-to-$60 million an episode, a number that would instantly make Paramount+ stress vomit.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: You definitely\u00a0make a good point in the Duffer-Sheridan contrast \u2014 fewer more expensive shows vs. more (relatively) cheaper shows seems like the wrong bargain to make. Of course, you\u00a0can also say there\u2019s more upside with Duffers \u2014 you\u2019re paying them for all the shows they will make. Where with Sheridan you already have so many of those shows. So what are you paying him all his new money for?<\/p>\n

\n\tJH:<\/strong>\u00a0That speaks a little to another skeptical comment I\u2019m seeing out there is that Sheridan will be somehow out of gas by the time he exits. That Paramount got the good stuff, then NBC gets some leftovers. As one of our editors pointed out, there\u2019s no reason Sheridan can\u2019t be the next Dick Wolf. His formula \u2014 as much as he has one \u2014 isn\u2019t too far from edgy and soapy versions of what CBS and NBC have done for decades their long-running procedural dramas.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong> That\u2019s fair, but they\u2019re really not format shows in the same sense, are they? You need to create them anew \u2013 they\u2019re so character-driven. Sheridan just makes it look fast and easy. <\/p>\n

\n\tJH<\/strong>: Sure, but that doesn\u2019t mean the original series<\/a> hasn\u2019t done a lot of creative heavy lifting and given you the ingredients for another hit. Like\u00a0NOLA King<\/em>\u00a0is an upcoming spin-off of\u00a0Tulsa King<\/em>. They could pop one of those things in every midsize city by the time they\u2019re done.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: A slightly frightening proposition. One thing that\u2019s interesting to me is the precedent with other creators. If you pull back and look at the precedents these ship-jumping deals don\u2019t have a huge history of working out. Look at Ryan Murphy, big splash, leaves 20th for Netflix, then back at Disney. Or the\u00a0Game<\/a> of Thrones<\/em>\u00a0creators leaving HBO for Netflix, which hasn\u2019t worked out so great. There\u2019s a reason people stay where they are. The devil you know.<\/p>\n

\n\tJH:<\/strong>\u00a0There is a certain undeniable arc of \u201cperson creates hits, gets lured away with a mega-deal, then struggles to replicate success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ: <\/strong>I think there\u2019s some stat like 70 percent of free agent signings don\u2019t work out. And there\u2019s a good reason for that. You\u2019re buying high.<\/p>\n

\n\tJH: <\/strong>That\u2019s true. But I think the idea that people will be tired of Taylor Sheridan shows is also untrue. It feels rather elitist to me. It sounds like: \u201cTelling stories about tough, resourceful and capable conservative-leaning Americans who live outside of places like New York and Los Angeles is just a trend.\u201d CBS and NBC always seem to think these shows need to be set in major urban cities, while Sheridan realized there\u2019s a whole lot of the country being overlooked.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ: <\/strong>The elitism point is interesting. But also it\u2019s not like anyone is stopping Paramount from doing other shows set in the heartland. Other people can write them besides Taylor Sheridan. In fact that might be its own form of elitism \u2014 \u201cwithout Sheridan, how could they possibly keep hitting this audience?\u201d Well, find other writers who know that world too!\u00a0I mean Warners has done that with Brad Ingelsby, obviously a different setting but also a working-class part of America that Hollywood has left under-tilled. It\u2019s not like Taylor Sheridan is the only person in America who can write a show about redder spaces.<\/p>\n

\n\tJH:<\/strong> Let\u2019s also take into account when evaluating this deal that\u00a0the Sheridan drama-meter has app<\/a>eared to quiet down over the last year. Like there was the massive dust-up over Kevin Costner and getting backlogged and showrunners stepping down a couple years back. But this year has been ultra-productive and rather quiet on the Sheridan front. Both\u00a0Landman<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Tulsa King<\/em>\u00a0turned around new seasons in almost exactly a year. He\u2019s got that massive studio space he\u2019s building outside Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong> That\u2019s probably the best argument you can make in the Paramount-dropped-the-ball column \u2014 he has a machine, it\u2019s still kicking into higher gear, as you noted the studio space which our colleague Winston covered a few months ago is now a thing, why give that up.<\/p>\n

\n\tJH:<\/strong> And don\u2019t forget\u00a0Taylor Sheridan is a name that you can slap on a show\u2019s marketing campaign, put in a headline for a new show\u2019s trailer, and it will drive viewers. Like I\u2019m not sure any showrunner out there has a brand that translates into curiosity tune-in as much as Sheridan has right now. Like people buy his Four Sixes branded steaks, coffee and BBQ sauce.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019m trying to picture the person who is cooking dinner and being like, you know what this needs? A good tablespoon of whatever Taylor Sheridan is cooking up.<\/p>\n

\n\tJH:<\/strong> He literally had\u00a0Yellowstone<\/em>\u00a0characters hyping\u00a0his mail-order steak company and spirits business on the show. Which speaks to his power and to his \u201cyou\u2019ve got to be kidding me\u201d level of leveraging his shows for his interests.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong> Kind of crazy. Imagine Fast Eddie in\u00a0The Color of Money<\/em>\u00a0being like: \u201cI\u2019m going to hustle you at pool, but before I do, I\u2019m going to down some Newman\u2019s Own lemonade.\u201d\u00a0But\u00a0yeah, I guess\u00a0the\u00a0Sheridan\u00a0name is valuable in this cluttered age. Of course Ellison as a tech guy could say it\u2019s all about the algo anyway \u2014 sort of the TikTok approach, not to make it about\u00a0that, but, well. Whereas\u00a0Universal\u00a0might be a little more old school and say no the name still matters, not just in the town but to viewers. Clearly that motivated them on some of their other splashy deals in recent years\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Christopher Nolan, for\u00a0example.<\/p>\n

\n\tJH: <\/strong>Which brings us to NBCUniversal. Are you surprised he ended up there? It\u2019s not like that company is known for being big spenders either. And while I\u2019m always down to watch\u00a0Love Island<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Below Deck<\/em>, nobody gets excited about Peacock \u2014 which smartly snatched up\u00a0Yellowstone\u00a0<\/em>streaming rights years ago, but on the drama side outside of a\u00a0Poker Face<\/em>\u00a0here and there has been a dead zone since then. That said, I could also see Sheridan looking at this like:\u00a0\u201cI put Paramount+ on the map, watch me do the same thing again with Peacock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong> I definitely think it\u2019s a little surprising, since just a few months ago after Duffers we all thought Ellison was going to be poacher and NBCU maybe one of the poachees. But I guess it\u2019s personality-dependent. Also let\u2019s not forget Ellison may well end up with Warner Bros., so he\u2019ll have plenty of new deals for the content pipeline, while NBC might be looking at that and saying \u201cwe\u2019ll need to compete with this new HBO-Paramount megalith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJH:<\/strong> We also can\u2019t overestimate how much it might be\u00a0personal, for both men. Ellison doesn\u2019t like how much power and control Sheridan wields while Sheridan doesn\u2019t like the way he\u2019s been treated since Ellison took over. It\u2019s very: \u201cThis streaming service ain\u2019t big enough for the both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: An idea that could meta-ishly also play out in a Taylor Sheridan show.\u00a0OK last question. Three years from now, we\u2019re having this conversation. Does Taylor Sheridan have more cultural impact, less, or about the same?<\/p>\n

\n\tJH<\/strong>: It\u2019s the more risky position \u2014 because when you\u2019re on top, there is nowhere to go but down \u2014 but I would venture to say bigger. He will have a large stable of shows on Paramount+ and he will be launching lord knows how many for NBC and he\u2019s got some feature film projects in the pipeline. I suspect he\u2019s gotten at least a little better at delegating. That\u2019s what he\u2019s going to really have to master to pull this off. Like we all know he can make a show himself. But he can\u2019t keep adding more to his plate without surrendering more control and helping other writers do their best. Like if his stuff only works if he\u2019s super hands-on, there\u2019s going to be a breaking point.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019d say probably smaller, but maybe not dramatically so. He probably will get better at delegating but you could argue his strong influence is precisely what has made his shows so good; I don\u2019t know that he\u2019s demonstrated yet he can have all these protege bots doing it and maintain that quality. Also, while he obviously plays in other genres, the Western is his strong suit, and history tells us they tend to rise and fall. I kind of get why Ellison is gambling on the under.<\/p>\n

\n\tJH:<\/strong> I understand the argument. But I also feel like there are certain creators people underestimate at their peril. Look at Dick Wolf. He\u2019s been at this for four decades and people are still getting tattoos of his name. So you never know\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve probably heard the big news. Taylor Sheridan \u2014 the prolific creative force behind\u00a0Yellowstone, 1923,\u00a0Tulsa King,\u00a0Special Ops: Lioness\u00a0and\u00a0a slew of other well-reviewed\u00a0hits \u2014 is moving his television deal from Paramount to NBCUniversal in 2028 when his current pact expires.\u00a0He\u2019ll also begin making films for Universal starting next year. The departure is startling. Paramount\u2019s biggest TV…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":696983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/068A8365.New-vesrion-EMBED-2023.jpg?w=1000&h=667&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[101169],"class_list":["post-696982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-taylor-sheridan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}