Taylor Sheridan Is Accused of Stealing Yellowstone

2 min readDid Taylor Sheridan really create Yellowstone? According to a new lawsuit filed in California on Friday, entertainment journalist Lauren J. Salkin claims that Sheridan stole the idea for his Kevin Costner-starring western franchise from her ten years ago.The suit states that Salkin spent a decade developing a pilot for a series titled Sovereign Nation about “tribal governance, casino-driven economic power, and a modern war over land and development.” As The Los Angeles Times reports, she submitted the script for consideration to Sheridan’s management company, Elevate Entertainment, in February 2017. Salkin states she received a reply that Sheridan was “unavailable for TV projects” at the time. But then, Paramount green-lighted Sheridan’s Yellowstone and the first episode aired in June 2018.“What then appeared in ‘Yellowstone’ was not merely another western about land or family,” the suit alleges. “It included specific expressive choices already embodied in Salkin’s materials.” Salkin’s lawsuit claims that actors Gil Birmingham and Danny Huston were mentioned in the original pitch as potential casting ideas, per The LA Times. Plus, her script included conflicts surrounding a tribal casino’s “over expansion beyond reservation boundaries, the use of trust land ... and recurring master-plan imagery deployed to dramatize the struggle for territorial control.”Emerson Miller//ParamountLuke Grimes and Cole Hauser on the set of Yellowstone.But why now, as Yellowstone is finished and spun off into various sequel shows, is Salkin bringing up her 2017 script? Well, “She has watched the vast commercial success of this story that was stolen from her and decided that enough was enough,” her attorney, Paul B. Lackey, told The Hollywood Reporter.To prove copyright infringement, Salkin will need to prove two things to the court. Firstly, that Sheridan had access to her work before creating Yellowstone. The timelines need to match up. The harder part? That Sheridan lifted a substantial amount of her story, beyond western themes and general ideas for the series.“Copyright law does not protect the abstract idea of a western, a land dispute, an Indian casino, or a powerful family—and that is not Plaintiff’s claim,” the lawsuit continues. “The infringement alleged here lies in the copying of Salkin’s particular expressive choices and their coordinated selection and arrangement.” The lawsuit is requesting a trial by jury and unspecified damages.Neither Paramount nor Sheridan has responded to Salkin’s claims yet. But as Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023, he was actively pitching the idea for Yellowstone far before his deal with Paramount in 2017.HBO famously discussed becoming the home for Yellowstone before it parted ways and decided to go in another direction. It gave the rights back to Sheridan in 2016 and then he pitched it all over Hollywood before landing at Paramount. The series ran for five seasons until 2024, when it split off into spinoffs Dutton Ranch and Marshals earlier this year. Both shows are now filming their sophomore seasons.