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?

 

 

From Sheridan’s perspective, the partnership was rocky even before the merger. The writer-producer-director had been frustrated by Paramount’s film division, which had rejected a feature script of his titled Capture the Flag. And when Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav

 

 

courted Sheridan this year by offering to dust off his action-thriller script F.A.S.T., Sheridan ran into a roadblock when Paramount initially refused to let the rival studio make the film. Paramount wanted a 50/50 split, sources say, and was rebuffed, though it eventually let the film go forward (1923 star Brandon Sklenar was cast in the lead, which also had to sting Paramount a bit).

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.