Television blockbuster talent Taylor Sheridan shocked Hollywood by signing a $1 billion+ deal with NBCUniversal and leaving behind his longtime partner at Paramount where the “Yellowstone” creator has built an empire, WaxWord has learned.
The movie deal starts in 2026 and will run for eight years, while the television deal starts at the end of 2028; the overall deal guarantees Sheridan over $1 billion, according to two individuals with knowledge of the deal.
A spokesman for NBCUniversal had no comment.
NBCU Chairman Donna Langley flew down twice to Sheridan’s base in Weatherford, Texas over the past several months to build a relationship with the superstar television showrunner, an individual with knowledge of the deal told WaxWord. Sheridan is the creator of a dozen hits for Paramount starting with “Yellowstone” down to his latest hit “Landman,” and a critical pillar of the studio’s television business.
But Langley “offered him to be the Big Fish,” said the knowledgeable individual, spending time with Sheridan at his Texas ranch. “She earned that relationship. She focused on what was important.”
The talks started because Sheridan’s movie deal at Paramount expires in March 2026, and Sheridan took meetings with rivals. But as conversations went deeper, Langley asked Sheridan to consider moving his television business too once his deal was up at Paramount. The ask was timely because Langley, as Chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment and Studios, now also oversees all entertainment programming and marketing for the company across Peacock, Bravo and NBC.
Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav also flew down to Texas in an attempt to wrest the deal with the hit-making writer-director away from Paramount. But incidentally, Paramount is trying to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, a parallel drama that was not lost on Sheridan.
Regarding the $1 billion price tag, which is about double what Sheridan had at Paramount, an NBCU insider said: “In success, if he’s doing what he did for Paramount, that’s an extraordinarily great number for everybody.”
The deal is a seismic blow that will have significant ramifications for the creative output of Paramount TV, now run by former Netflix streaming powerhouse Cindy Holland who reports to CEO David Ellison. Holland is focused on building her own slate, with her own set of hitmakers, including the Duffer brothers (“Stranger Things.”)
Sheridan keenly felt the shift in focus, according to the insider. He bristled as Holland sent him notes on a show, Paramount passed on his idea for a new show titled “The Correspondent.” And Paramount pushed back on the the budget of “Lioness.”
Then Sheridan was miffed when Paramount announced a new show with Nicole Kidman without a heads up. Kidman is in “Lioness.”
“At the end of the day, they (Paramount) left him out there,” this individual said. “Cindy wasn’t focused on him… Ellison took his eye off the ball.”
Sheridan’s film deal with Paramount ends in March, at which point he’ll start making movies for Universal. His deal with Paramount Television runs through 2028, so he won’t be abandoning his ongoing Paramount+ shows just yet.
Sheridan has been a wildly prolific hit-maker for streaming service Paramount+ through “Yellowstone” spinoffs “1883” and “1923,” the Jeremy Renner-fronted “Mayor of Kingstown,” the Sylvester Stallone series “Tulsa King” and the recently launched Nicole Kidman/Zoe Saldaña thriller show “Special Ops: Lioness” and Billy Bob Thornton series “Landman,” all of which were ratings hits for the streamer.
Adam Chitwood contributed to this story.
