Taylor Sheridan sued by writer who claims he stole ‘Yellowstone’ idea
Taylor Sheridan is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit after a writer claimed he lifted the general concept for his hit series “Yellowstone” from her work.
According to documents obtained by TMZ Friday, TV writer and entertainment journalist Lauren J. Salkin is suing Sheridan, along with NBCUniversal and Paramount, over what she claims is her idea.
Per the outlet, Salkin claims she submitted a pilot script entitled “Sovereign Nation,” along with supporting materials, to Sheridan’s production company between 2016 and 2017.
According to the documents, Salkin argues the materials did land on Sheridan’s desk, as she claims to have received an acknowledgement from Elevate Entertainment stating, “Taylor thanks you very much for your interest. Unfortunately, he’s unavailable for TV projects.”
Salkin alleges it was a matter of months before “Yellowstone” got the green light, subsequently debuting in 2018 and spawning an entire universe of shows.
Characters, storylines and the overall tone are among the similarities between her work and “Yellowstone,” Salkin is claiming, with the outlet noting that she included a breakdown of each character in her documents.
According to TMZ, Salkin has asked for an injunction to stop the show from potential ongoing — and future — copyright infringement. She’s also asking for damages, which, though unspecified in amount, would include profits from the high-profile series.
Reps for Sheridan, Paramount and NBCUniversal did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment Friday evening.
The series, which aired its fifth and final season in 2024 on Paramount+, starred Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser and Wes Bentley, among others.
The series has since inspired spinoffs including “1883,” “1923,” “Marshals” and “Dutton Ranch.”
In a July interview with Joe Blow, Sheridan claimed that his “Yellowstone” career was actually inspired by both the book and miniseries of “Lonesome Dove,” which he stumbled upon while in college.
“I said, ‘I want to do that,’” Sheridan recalled. “I don’t know what that is, but that’s what I want to do.”
“Yellowstone’s the punk rock me,” he continued, joking that the show “has no plot.”
“There’s a lot of defiance in the way I do it,” he said. “[So] it’s not surprising the critics hate it. It’s designed for them to hate.”
Sheridan has made clear he has no love lost for studio executives or critics, telling “The Bill Simmons Podcast” in June, “F–k ’em, honestly.”
