Taylor Sheridan, the creative force behind Yellowstone and several other hit Paramount series, including Tulsa King and Landman, is leaving the studio after a falling-out with new management. Sheridan had long enjoyed creative freedom and minimal oversight at Paramount, but that apparently changed after David Ellison took over as CEO following Paramount's merger with Skydance, per the Wall Street Journal. Ellison and his team began questioning Sheridan's budgets and suggesting new projects, and they even rejected one of his film pitches, moves that reportedly left Sheridan feeling disrespected.
Sheridan, whose TV deal with Paramount still has more than three years remaining, has signed a five-year contract with NBCUniversal to create television shows and movies, a deal that could be worth as much as $1 billion, depending on how successful his projects are. He'll be able to start churning out movies for NBCU as soon as next year, but TV projects will have to wait until his Paramount deal expires in 2029. Meanwhile, he'll continue work on his current shows for Paramount and its streaming service, Paramount+.
Paramount will retain all rights to Yellowstone and other Sheridan projects created during his tenure there, per USA Today. NBCUniversal has also inked a first-look deal with Sheridan's longtime production partner, 101 Studios, set to start in 2026. Sheridan's departure is seen as a significant blow to Ellison, who's expected to lay off about 1,000 employees later this week as he tries to turn Paramount around. Ellison is also attempting to acquire rival media company Warner Bros. Discovery. The Hollywood Reporter has more on what it calls NBCU's "seismic poach," and on how Paramount failed to keep one of its biggest names on board.
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