EXCLUSIVE: At the end of the day, NBCUniversal’s poach of Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan came down to money. Sources said

that the five-year deal that begins in 2029 (earlier for movies) is at the unprecedented $1 billion territory. That is how it will work out in

creator/EP and writer fees and backend, if the prolific Sheridan follows through on his plans to create 20 shows for NBC and the NBCUniversal streamer Peacock. There are slot guarantees, the equivalent of put pictures all over the place.

 

 

But there were many steps in between, including another example where when Donna Langley wants something, she finds a way to get it.

While Sheridan felt the frost from Paramount’s TV leaders on the streaming side Cindy Holland, who runs Paramount+, and Dana Goldberg, who oversees the Paramount TV Studios where Sheridan is based, the courtship from others was vigorous. That include Warner

 

 

Bros Discovery chief David Zaslav bringing as a gift to Sheridan cowboy boots that were once worn in a movie by James Dean. Sheridan is on great terms with Zaslav, an outgrowth of F.A.S.T., a feature drama that Sheridan scripted for Warner Bros and producer David Heyman,

 

 

which Ben Richardson is directing that stars Jason Clarke, Sam Claflin, Sheridan’s 1923 discovery Brendan Sklenar and LaKeith Stanfield. Amazon MGM and Netflix were also in the mix.

 

 

As was proved out in his long-running disagreement with Yellowstone star Kevin Costner that culminated in John Dutton being summarily killed and written out of the final-season arc, Sheridan is best left alone to do what he wants. He is collaborative enough, but he’s going to do what he wants. His attitude is, he is 12 for 12 in terms of creating shows that have become hits and established the Paramount Network and Paramount+ streamer as hitmaking enterprises. That includes Yellowstone, the prequel series and sequel series, Landman, Lioness and the rest. Since he quit acting after being made to feel a perishable commodity by a business affairs exec who wouldn’t give him a proper raise on Sons of Anarchy, Sheridan has found gold in his typewriter from the time he began writing films like Sicario and Hell or High Water, and he’s attracted the biggest talent through those scripts.