{"id":248566,"date":"2025-10-29T19:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T19:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/248566\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T19:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T19:53:08","slug":"six-takeaways-from-taylor-sheridans-billion-dollar-paramount-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/248566\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Takeaways From Taylor Sheridan\u2019s Billion-Dollar Paramount Departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

TV<\/a>TV<\/a>\u2018Yellowstone\u2019 creator Sheridan is taking his talents to NBCUniversal (eventually). What does his huge deal signify for the entertainment landscape?\"\"Getty Images\/Paramount\/Ringer illustration\"\"<\/a>By Ben Lindbergh<\/a>Oct. 29, 5:02 pm UTC \u2022 14 min<\/p>\n

In the penultimate episode of Yellowstone, horse trainer and trader Travis Wheatley, played by Taylor Sheridan, tries to up the price for a horse he\u2019s putting through its paces. He sets the starting price at $2 million, but just as his Brazilian buyer is about to bite, Travis tells him that his other buyers (whom Travis has wholly invented) are willing to go to $2.1 million. \u201cYou didn\u2019t say \u2018other buyers,\u2019\u201d the Brazilian objects<\/a>. Wheatley counters, \u201cWell, when you go shopping for a house, do you think you\u2019re the only one fucking shopping?\u201d Suddenly feeling the heat, the Brazilian bids $3 million, and he has himself a (pricey) deal.<\/p>\n

Sheridan, who created and wrote Yellowstone and its galaxy of spinoffs, may be as adept at selling himself as Wheatley was at auctioning off thoroughbreds. The prolific 55-year-old TV creator and moviemaker recently landed a large deal of his own\u2014and not with his longtime partner, Paramount. There were other buyers for his work as well.<\/p>\n

In August, just as Sheridan and Paramount Pictures teamed up<\/a> on an enormous new studio facility in Texas, the chairman and CEO of the newly merged Paramount Skydance, David Ellison, told<\/a> CNBC that he planned to be in business with Sheridan indefinitely. \u201cI have a really good relationship with Taylor, and I think he is literally a singular genius and content creator,\u201d Ellison said, adding, \u201che literally has a perfect track record And so, from that standpoint, I\u2019m thrilled that we have an exclusive deal with him through 2028. And my goal is to have Taylor call Paramount his home for as long as he wants to be telling stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

That goal was thwarted because Paramount wasn\u2019t the only one fucking shopping for what Ellison referred to as Sheridan\u2019s \u201cbest in class\u201d content. As first reported<\/a> by Puck on Sunday night, Sheridan is saddling up and preparing to depart Paramount when his current TV contract concludes at the end of 2028. On January 1, 2029, Sheridan will begin a five-year TV overall deal at NBCUniversal, ending a productive decade of pumping out Paramount-funded\/distributed TV dating back to the premiere of Yellowstone in June 2018. The first stage of Sheridan\u2019s uncoupling with Paramount will start even sooner: Per Puck\u2019s Matthew Belloni (who also hosts Ringer podcast The Town), Sheridan also signed an eight-year movie deal with NBC that will start when his big-screen pact with Paramount expires next March. Sheridan\u2019s producing partner David Glasser and his 101 Studios will likewise make the leap from Paramount to NBC early next year.<\/p>\n

In August, Paramount streaming head Cindy Holland praised<\/a> \u201cthe Taylor Sheridan universe\u201d as \u201ca really great foundation\u201d for Paramount+. Now, that foundation\u2014or, at least, its architect\u2014is leaving for a rival. Perhaps Paramount should have heeded the wisdom<\/a> of Yellowstone patriarch John Dutton: \u201cIt\u2019s the one constant in life. You build something worth having, someone\u2019s gonna try and take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from forcing Sheridan fans to visit Peacock (which, weirdly<\/a>, was already Yellowstone\u2019s streaming home) when they want to watch Sheridan\u2019s future small-screen work, what are the implications of the actor-writer-director-producer-rancher\u2019s surprising move? In a nod to Sheridan\u2019s 6666 ranch<\/a>, vodka brand<\/a>, and possible Yellowstone spinoff<\/a>, let\u2019s examine six implications of the megadeal.<\/p>\n

1. There are limits to Paramount\u2019s IP possessions.<\/p>\n

Since the $8.4 billion merger of Paramount and Skydance closed in August\u2014shortly<\/a> after<\/a> Paramount ingratiated itself with Donald Trump by first settling a lawsuit Trump had filed over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview on 60 Minutes, and then canceling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert\u2014Paramount has been on a buying spree. \u201cDavid Ellison Is Moving Fast and Spending Big to Remake Hollywood,\u201d the headline of a Wall Street Journal article proclaimed<\/a> last week, echoing a New York Times story<\/a> from September (\u201cDavid Ellison\u2019s Hollywood Plan: Lights \u2026 Camera \u2026 Spend!\u201d). Ellison has lavished a fortune<\/a> on UFC and a smaller fortune<\/a> on South Park; lured<\/a> the Duffer brothers away from Netflix; bought<\/a> The Free Press; and landed movies from Will Smith<\/a>, James Mangold, and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet (High Side<\/a>), Activision (Call of Duty<\/a>), and Legendary (Street Fighter<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Ellison\u2019s acquisition spree is still in progress: Paramount has made multiple bids for Warner Bros. Discovery, which have thus far been rebuffed. Evidently, not everything Paramount sets its sights on can be bought\u2014even when Ellison puts a premium on it, as he seemed to do with Sheridan.<\/p>\n

NBC broke the bank to add Sheridan, reportedly<\/a> committing to spend as much as $1 billion on his deal, depending on his output, or \u201cabout double\u201d what his current deal at Paramount pays him. However, Ellison may not have been beaten based on dollars alone. According to Belloni, \u201cthe money wasn\u2019t the big factor\u201d in Sheridan\u2019s decision. Rather, a confluence of factors seems to have convinced Sheridan that the grass (and money) was greener on the NBC side.<\/p>\n

Ellison\u2019s takeover has led to a lot of upheaval in the Paramount C-suite, as Holland and some of her hires<\/a> from her former home at Netflix have replaced executives who worked closely with Sheridan. Belloni mentions that \u201cbehind the scenes, Sheridan was hearing about how Paramount+ needed to be revamped, and about how expensive his shows had become.\u201d The prospect of increased oversight or budgetary belt-tightening couldn\u2019t have thrilled someone who\u2019s accustomed to getting his way as often as Sheridan has, and Ellison and Holland reportedly ruffled his feathers further by buying a new show featuring Nicole Kidman (which could affect her availability for Lioness) without giving him a heads-up and by trying<\/a> to insert Paramount into a distribution deal for a film Sheridan wrote in his pre-Paramount days.<\/p>\n

It’s possible that Paramount\u2019s limitless ambitions were a turnoff for Sheridan, who appears to have been a priority, but not the priority, for the company. According to Deadline<\/a>, Sheridan \u201cfelt dismissed\u201d to some degree, and although Ellison and his lieutenants made some effort to woo Sheridan, they reportedly<\/a> never made him an extension offer. Belloni notes that while Ellison is attempting to \u201ccreate a massive, Netflix-like player in the streaming wars, Sheridan can again become the very big fish in a smaller pond. And while the major streaming players have moved years in advance to lock in proven properties like the NFL and the Grammys, NBCU is treating Sheridan like its own franchise play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, no one knows better than Paramount how powerful a franchise Sheridan can be, which brings us to our next takeaway.<\/p>\n

2. Losing Sheridan may slow Paramount\u2019s streaming momentum.<\/p>\n

Paramount is still at most a modest player in the crowded streaming space. Per Nielsen\u2019s latest viewership report<\/a>, Paramount+ and the Paramount-owned Pluto TV combined account for about 2 percent of streaming viewership\u2014a pittance compared with behemoths YouTube and Netflix and perhaps half what Disney and Amazon pull. On its own, Paramount+ has roughly the same reach as HBO Max or, more relevant to Sheridan, Peacock. But Paramount+ has been on the upswing from a viewership perspective, thanks in no small part to Sheridan\u2019s many Nielsen-charting shows: not just Yellowstone and spinoffs 1883 and 1923, but also Lioness, Landman, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Mayor of Kingstown, and Tulsa King.<\/p>\n

The Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who analyzes the streaming landscape on Substack<\/a>, recently lauded<\/a> the high hit rate of the \u201cunderrated\u201d streamer\u2019s scripted offerings, in contrast to Peacock\u2019s paltry slate. \u201cCompared to NBCUniversal, which sometimes almost looks like it\u2019s going to get out of scripted programming entirely in favor of sports, Paramount is trying to do both,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

NBCUniversal is reportedly trying<\/a> to<\/a> add<\/a> MLB to a sports portfolio that already<\/a> includes<\/a> the NBA and WNBA, but its signing of Sheridan proves that it\u2019s aiming to stay in scripted content, too. It also seems to clarify whether parent company Comcast is, as Puck put it, \u201ca buyer or a seller in the current media M&A wars.\u201d As Belloni observed, \u201cPoaching Taylor Sheridan suggests [NBCU] at least intends to compete at the highest level.\u201d But what impact will Sheridan\u2019s decision to pick up stakes have on Paramount\u2019s aspirations?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Entertainment Strategy Guy pointed out<\/a> that NCIS spinoff Tony & Ziva had charted on Nielsen in its first week, \u201ca sign of growth for Paramount+,\u201d but that it \u201cmay not be a Taylor Sheridan-sized hit.\u201d If it were, the ESG said, \u201cParamount might be on their way to a third column of content to rely on.\u201d The two existing columns are Sheridan shows and Star Trek, but both are looking a little wobbly. Paramount\u2019s Star Trek series replicator<\/a> may be on the fritz: Strange New Worlds will end after its fifth season, and only one upcoming series, Starfleet Academy<\/a>, has been announced. Paramount seems uninterested<\/a> in making more Trek TV movies, following the failure of the execrable<\/a> Section 31, and the future of the theatrical film franchise is still inscrutable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now Sheridan is taking his TV talents elsewhere, which could put a crimp in Paramount\u2019s developmental pipeline and jeopardize its growth. In July, the ESG published<\/a> a breakdown by streamer of Nielsen top 10 originals over time, which showed that Paramount+ had been<\/a> \u201cthe big winner in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It’s not that the cupboard has been bare outside of Sheridan\u2019s shows\u2014those top-10 entries have included MobLand, Tony & Ziva, and Strange New Worlds this year and Knuckles, Halo, Star Trek: Discovery, and SEAL Team in 2024\u2014but he has driven an outsized portion of Paramount\u2019s streaming glow-up. After all, Paramount has aired new episodes of as many as four Sheridan shows on the same day, a phenomenon I dubbed<\/a> a \u201cTaylor Sheridan equinox.\u201d Deadline reported<\/a> that Sheridan \u201cplans to create 20 shows\u201d for NBC. That\u2019s a wealth of content that won\u2019t be Paramount property.<\/p>\n

I asked the ESG for his initial reaction to Sheridan\u2019s decision to change horses in midstream(er). \u201cI don’t like grabbing a person on their second deal, for NBC, as [Sheridan still has] a lot of work at the old home,\u201d he told me via email. \u201cBut when it comes to legitimate hit makers, he and Shonda [Rhimes] are tied for first right now in my book. So Paramount letting him go seems like a pricey mistake!\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Paramount can try to take the \u201cSheridan\u201d out of the \u201cSheridan universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of Sheridan\u2019s work at his old home! One aspect of Sheridan\u2019s departure makes it more palatable for Paramount: The \u201cSheridan universe\u201d will likely outlive Sheridan. As The New York Times noted<\/a>, \u201cAny series that Mr. Sheridan creates or produces over the next three years will be controlled by Paramount, and the company will own any future episodes produced for ongoing series as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

That might mean that the likes of Lioness, Landman, Mayor of Kingstown, and Tulsa King could continue at Paramount even after Sheridan exits, in addition to Yellowstone spinoffs Y: Marshals<\/a> (which is slated to premiere on CBS next year), The Madison (which started filming in 2024<\/a>), The Dutton Ranch (which is well into the casting phase<\/a>), and, perhaps<\/a>, 1944 and 6666. Presumably, Yellowstone characters or concepts could be mined for more series down the road even without Sheridan\u2019s sign-off. (As could other Sheridan shows: Tulsa King spinoff NOLA King, starring Samuel L. Jackson, is scheduled<\/a> to enter production next year.) Thus, he\u2019ll be the gift that keeps giving even after he\u2019s gone. As Belloni wrote, \u201cMaybe Paramount will have extracted all the value its new leaders need out of Sheridan by 2028.\u201d Paramount may believe that NBC bought high.<\/p>\n

Plus, Sheridan has more than three years left on his TV deal, during which time he could make more shows\u2014although Paramount passed<\/a> on a show of his called The Correspondent, described<\/a> as a drama about \u201ca war correspondent on the front lines of Afghanistan,\u201d which was once tentatively lined up for 2026. The timing of Sheridan\u2019s exit creates an awkward dynamic. His decamping for NBC so far in advance is a little like a soccer striker<\/a> or Formula One driver<\/a> agreeing to join a new team while still suiting up for its direct rival\u2014in that his present production makes him a competitor to his future full-time employer. Per Puck, \u201cHe is said to carry very specific output requirements in his current deal,\u201d so it\u2019s not as if he can quiet quit or focus fully on his moviemaking. (He also doesn\u2019t seem wired to want to coast until 2029, as a believer in Beth Dutton\u2019s third way to get rich<\/a>.) But it wouldn\u2019t behoove him to blow through his best TV ideas now, knowing he\u2019d have to surrender control of them in a few years.<\/p>\n

The catch in Paramount\u2019s possible plan to produce Sheridan shows without Sheridan is that their creator has been so integral to their operation. As he once said<\/a>, \u201cFor me, writers rooms, they haven\u2019t worked. \u2026 If I have to check in creatively with others for a story I\u2019ve wholly built in my brain, that would probably be the end of me telling TV stories.\u201d I\u2019m generally pro\u2013writers rooms<\/a>, but I can\u2019t quibble with the results of Sheridan\u2019s self-sufficient style. He has a writing credit on every episode of Yellowstone, including sole credit on every episode starting with Season 3. He also wrote every episode of 1883 and 1923 single-handedly, as well as all but one episode of Lioness. Sheridan told THR that he can crank out an episode script in eight to 10 hours, and he works<\/a> almost twice that long per day. Hence his unparalleled pace.<\/p>\n

In other words, Sheridan has been both the ideas man and the details guy for many of his shows, and it\u2019s far from certain that his special sauce can be synthesized and outsourced. On the other hand, he has delegated much or all of the writing for Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, and Lawmen, and he seems set to hand off many of the showrunning and writing responsibilities for the next wave of Yellowstone spinoffs, which could serve as test cases for the franchise\u2019s viability after he moves on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. Sheridan doesn\u2019t lack for confidence.<\/p>\n

OK, that\u2019s not a new insight: Just look at how Sheridan tends to center himself<\/a> in his shows or how he speaks about his creative process. For instance, in a 2023 profile<\/a> in The Hollywood Reporter headlined \u201cTaylor Sheridan Does Whatever He Wants,\u201d Sheridan said, \u201cI am going to tell my stories my way, period,\u201d and declared, \u201cI won\u2019t compromise.\u201d He hasn\u2019t had to compromise at Paramount, where he became a golden goose even as the cost of his own upkeep increased. Perhaps he won\u2019t have to compromise at NBC, either, but he will be expected to keep laying those lucrative eggs.<\/p>\n

NBC is betting that he hasn\u2019t peaked, and Sheridan is betting on that, too. As much incentive<\/a> as Paramount seemed to have to keep Sheridan in-house, he had his own reasons to stay at a company where he could keep building up his established properties instead of entrusting them to others and starting over from scratch. Perhaps he values the challenge of putting Peacock on the map for more than Love Island USA, just as he put Paramount+ on the map for more than Star Trek. It\u2019s not easy for expensive free agents to justify their price tags and repeat the feats that won them their windfalls. If Sheridan does so, Rhimes would probably be the closest comp: She barely missed a beat after moving from ABC to Netflix. (What does one do for a follow-up to Grey\u2019s Anatomy and Scandal? How about Bridgerton? Boom.)<\/p>\n

A second aspirational comp comes to mind, from another realm of entertainment. Theo Epstein won a long-awaited World Series with the Red Sox in 2004, then added another title in 2007. Nonetheless, he left in 2011, having embraced Bill Walsh\u2019s mantra that after 10 years together, both an individual and an employer may benefit from a change.<\/p>\n

As Epstein wrote<\/a> in an op-ed for The Boston Globe, \u201cThe executive gets rebirth and the energy that comes with a new challenge; the organization gets a fresh perspective, and the chance for true change that comes with new leadership.\u201d Epstein\u2019s parting with the Sox worked out for both sides: He broke another so-called curse by winning a World Series with the Cubs in 2016, and his old team went on to win championships in 2013 and 2018, thanks partly to his work while in Boston. The equivalent in this case would be Paramount profiting further from the foundation Sheridan erected, while Sheridan delivers new huge hits for NBC.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s easier imagined than done. However, it\u2019s not as if Sheridan has been a one-trick pony. On his shows, the ponies perform lots of tricks<\/a>, and so has he. It would be one thing if Sheridan\u2019s sole success had come in cowboy shows (or the Yellowstone universe, specifically), but he\u2019s branched out into other genres and been met with similarly strong receptions. Virtually everything he has touched on TV has turned to ratings gold.<\/p>\n

Granted, it has to have helped that Paramount could promote each new Sheridan show directly to the audience of his old shows, but Yellowstone\u2019s presence on Peacock may help NBC do the same. Provided TV tastes don\u2019t change in a way that hampers his audience, and assuming he doesn\u2019t burn out, empty his well of promising series concepts, or overextend himself (which may have happened already, judging by the quality of, say, Yellowstone Season 5<\/a>), he could keep churning out TV tentpoles.<\/p>\n

Not that engineering more TV hits is his sole goal.<\/p>\n

5. Sheridan may make more movies now.<\/p>\n

Before Sheridan became a heavy hitter on TV, he was an Oscar-nominated writer of several films, including his \u201cmodern American frontier\u201d trilogy of Sicario (2015), Hell or High Water (2016), and Wind River (2017). The last movies with Sheridan-penned scripts to be released were Without Remorse and Those Who Wish Me Dead in 2021, but he hasn\u2019t abandoned his big-screen ambitions. F.A.S.T.<\/a> (the aforementioned film from Warner Bros. Pictures<\/a> that Ellison wanted to distribute) is coming in 2027, and he may have hopes of making a movie out of Empire of the Summer Moon, which he optioned<\/a> in 2024. Sheridan was reportedly<\/a> miffed that a script of his for a feature called Capture the Flag came back with \u201cextensive notes\u201d from the cochair of Paramount Pictures. (To Sheridan, network\/studio notes are a no-no.) That may have contributed to his wandering eye.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NBCUniversal entertainment chairman Donna Langley, who successfully courted Sheridan, controls the company\u2019s film division as well as its TV arm. Her discussions with Sheridan started with his film work before expanding to encompass the small screen. According to Belloni, Sheridan was intrigued by \u201cthe creative and lucrative home that Langley has fostered for filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Chris Nolan, Jordan Peele, and Chris Meledandri.\u201d He\u2019s also \u201csaid to have seen in Universal a place where he would be treated like an elite filmmaker while also producing the kind of elevated TV serials for which he has become known.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure how it would be humanly possible for Sheridan to make more movies while also accelerating (or even maintaining) his TV assembly line, but he seems determined to do it. Belloni reports that Sheridan \u201chas long admired TV juggernauts like Dick Wolf and Lorne Michaels, who have produced for NBCU for decades,\u201d and morphing into more of a brand-name TV producer than a hands-on writer-director could free up time for films. So expect more material from Sheridan not only on a streaming service near you but also in a theater near you.<\/p>\n

6. Overall deals are endangered, but not dead.<\/p>\n

Reduced TV and film production means reduced demand for TV and filmmakers, so as spending in the film and TV industries has<\/a> dwindled<\/a> drastically<\/a>, the money for many creatives has dried up, too. One<\/a> of<\/a> the<\/a> prominent<\/a> casualties<\/a> of this trend has been the Peak TV practice of shelling out many millions of dollars to lock up creators to long-term overall deals (which didn\u2019t always work out<\/a> for the streamers in more prosperous times). Even big names are not exempt from the cutbacks.<\/p>\n

Clearly, Sheridan is, even if increased scrutiny of his budgets was one of the developments that drove him into NBC\u2019s arms. A billion-dollar deal for the fabulously successful founder of a TV empire, who may already have approached the three-comma club, will hardly raise the spirits of the many lower-level writers who are struggling to find<\/a> work<\/a>\u2014or, for that matter, the<\/a> thousands<\/a> of employees Paramount Skydance has laid off since its merger. But it does show that there\u2019s still big money to be made by someone who makes his bosses big money\u2014especially someone who so often works alone, which has earned him a reputation as a TV auteur with a singular, irreplaceable sensibility.<\/p>\n

Immunity from downsizing seems to be another way in which the normal rules of entertainment don\u2019t apply to Taylor Sheridan, a one-of-a-kind TV-making machine. His TV tales have taught us plenty about that: The rules rarely apply<\/a> to his protagonists, either.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ben Lindbergh<\/p>\n

<\/a>Ben is a writer, podcaster, and editor who covers culture and sports. He hosts \u2018Effectively Wild\u2019 at FanGraphs and previously wrote for FiveThirtyEight and Grantland, served as editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus, and authored \u2018The MVP Machine\u2019 and \u2018The Only Rule Is It Has to Work.\u2019