Taylor Sheridan, best known as the co-creator of ‘Yellowstone’, helped turn Paramount’s streaming service into a powerhouse. However, news broke on Sunday that he’ll be moseying over to NBCUniversal when his contract expires at the end of 2028.

 

 

The revelation left people in the industry stunned and scratching their heads, wondering how Paramount could lose one of the biggest talents with a perfect track record of success. Especially given the deep pockets of the entertainment company’s new owner David Ellison, and its efforts to actively lure high-profile talent with massive, long-term deals.

How NBCUniversal wrangled Taylor Sheridan from Paramount

 

The relationship between Sheridan and Paramount began to take a turn for the worse even before the company merged with Ellison’s Skydance Media according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film division rejected the script for a feature film he wrote titled ‘Capture the Flag’. It also initially put obstacles in the path of letting Warner Bros. make the feature film ‘F.A.S.T.’ based on a script he had written for the rival studio prior to his contract with Paramount.

Things began to really go south when the new owner brought in his management team and Sheridan began to chaff at what felt were slights.

One of those was the studio complaining about the budget for his show ‘Lioness’ and it appeared that the show might get cancelled.

Furthermore, Paramount signed Nicole Kidman, one of the stars of that show, for another series without informing Sheridan creating possible scheduling conflicts for shooting. Additionally, another show Sheridan created, ‘The Correspondent’, got axed from next year’s slate.

This set the stage for Donna Langley, the chair of NBCUniversal Entertainment, to woo Sheridan over to the rival studio. She met with him originally to discuss a film deal, but as it became clear that he might fancy a greener pasture Langley visited him a number of times on his ranches.

In the end, Sheridan signed a five-year deal with NBCUniversal Entertainment which could be worth around $1 billion if he meets all the targets reported Deadline. Those include creating 20 shows for NBC and Peacock, NBCUniversal Entertainment’s streaming platform.

That contract will begin in 2029, but he be able to start making movies with NBCUniversal starting next year.