The Real Reason Taylor Sheridan Can't Collaborate With Other Writers On Yellowstone
"Yellowstone," the Paramount Network hit, premiered back in 2018 and won a slew of fans early on. It's so popular, that critics and viewers alike have given it an impressive 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.7/10 on IMDb. It's been so successful, that it launched a spin-off series called "1883," which recently debuted to a strong response, and another potential spin-off, rumored to be entitled "Yellowstone: 6666." The new show is — surprise — set in 1883, and it serves as a prequel to the present-day series that fans have fallen in love with, while the rumored spin-off will potentially follow fan-favorite ranch hand Jimmy (Jefferson White) as he does some soul searching down in Texas.
For most television series, you can't have a hit show without stellar writing. And the writing for these shows is coming from none other than Taylor Sheridan. Sheridan's unique writing style isn't something that falls in line with traditional Hollywood storytelling. He intentionally eschews the tropes and formulaic scripts that have been popularized by prolific creators like Shonda Rhimes and Chuck Lorre. As a result, he doesn't exactly play well with others in the writers room.
Sheridan was inspired to write long-form stories by shows like True Detective
In a recent Deadline interview, Sheridan explained why it's so hard for him to work well with other writers. "I don't do pattern budgeting, or write act breaks into things. I write 10-hour movies, and go shoot them," he explained, adding that he's "tried three times" and failed to squeeze his square peg writing style into the formulaic, cookie-cutter format that is the round hole of network television.
He also went on to talk about how this longer-form way of storytelling was inspired by shows like "True Detective." And it appears that sticking to this formula is working well for him and the show. People can only tolerate so much of the 'solving the problem of the week in 22-44 minutes' storytelling model that plagues most of network television today. Shows like "Yellowstone" are a breath of fresh air by comparison, and it's resonating very well with audiences.