Paramount’s new owner was on a private jet with his top executive team — including president Jeff Shell and Paramount Pictures co-chairs

Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein — and had just sat down with the man who is the centerpiece of Paramount’s TV content strategy: Taylor Sheridan.

 

 

The studio brass had flown to Texas to court Sheridan on his sprawling ranch shortly after the merger between Skydance Media and Paramount Global was finalized in August. Their objective was clear: Make Taylor Sheridan feel as if he’s in good hands with this new

 

 

leadership group. They thought the meeting went well. A source who spoke with one of the execs in attendance joked that the Paramount brass “couldn’t keep up with him” as the drinks flowed while Sheridan uncorked bottles.

 

 

Yet on Sunday, the news broke that Sheridan was jumping ship to NBCUniversal for a deal worth as much as $1 billion — depending on Sheridan’s creative output during a five-year contract starting in 2029. He’ll also have the opportunity to make films “of all sizes” with NBCU starting next year.

 

 

The seismic poach has sent the industry scrambling to answer a simple question: How did Paramount, the studio with the deepest pockets that recently inked massive, long-term agreements with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and a film and TV deal with the Duffer brothers, fail to lock up one of the industry’s biggest talents with an arguably perfect track record? But perhaps a better question is: How much did Paramount actually want to keep him?

Once the studio changed hands, Paramount didn’t give Sheridan a heads-up that it signed Nicole Kidman for a new series that could, in theory, conflict with her shooting schedule for his drama Lioness. Yellowstone famously fell behind partly due to star Kevin Costner committing to another project, so Sheridan has some history with being dealt major headaches with talent schedule conflicts. A source familiar with the situation says Paramount had planned to speak with Sheridan regarding the Kidman announcement but that Sheridan first learned about it through a dinner with they actress before they had the chance — but even that reasoning speaks to the studio not quite prioritizing its relationship with Sheridan.

In addition, Sheridan bristled at criticisms of his spending (particularly on Lioness, which received a belated — and what now looks like a last-ditch effort to salvage the relationship — third-season renewal a few weeks back).

And then there was that meeting between Sheridan and a crew of Paramount executives, a bombardment-of-brass tactic that felt cumbersome for the creative. “It wasn’t a bad meeting,” says a source in Sheridan’s orbit. “They should’ve come with three people — Ellison and two others — and then sat down and really tried to connect with Taylor. That would’ve meant a lot.”

One insider pushed back on the idea that the executive team effort was Paramount’s idea, noting that 101 Studios CEO David Glasser set the guest list. (Paramount, NBCUniversal, 101 Studios and Sheridan had no comment for this story.)

Either way, somebody else had been courting Sheridan with a more low-key style: NBCUniversal’s savvy entertainment and studios boss Donna Langley, who had multiple meetings with the hitmaker over the summer and who gradually became the Sheridan Whisperer. Initially, Langley approached Sheridan about a film deal, but the conversation expanded to include television and streaming in August when it became clear he was having serious doubts about reupping his TV deal with the new Paramount.

When a contract is worth $1 billion, it may seem foolish to think Sheridan’s decision might have been more personal than financial. But Sheridan values his independence to a rather enormous degree (The Hollywood Reporter‘s cover story on Sheridan two years ago was titled, “Taylor Sheridan Does Whatever He Wants,” and that declaration has aged rather well). So it seems rather possible that Sheridan being put off by the Paramount team’s approach could have been a significant factor.