{"id":2109234,"date":"2026-08-24T10:10:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2109234"},"modified":"2026-08-24T10:10:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:10:48","slug":"taylor-sheridan-accused-of-stealing-yellowstone-from-2016-pitch-in-copyright-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2109234","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Sheridan accused of stealing \u2018Yellowstone\u2019 from 2016 pitch in copyright lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kevin-Costner-in-Yellowstone.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-2749694\" class=\"post-2749694 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_71 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>News<\/span><span>TV News<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_72 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_72\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Taylor Sheridan accused of stealing \u2018Yellowstone\u2019 from 2016 pitch in copyright lawsuit<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_73 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_73\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The suit claims &#8220;a strong inference of copying&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_75 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_75\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Sam Warner<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-08-24T11:10:48+01:00\">24th August 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_77\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_78  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_80  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span8\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_81 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kevin-Costner-in-Yellowstone-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"Kevin Costner in &apos;Yellowstone&apos;\" title=\"Kevin Costner in &apos;Yellowstone&apos;\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Kevin Costner in &#8216;Yellowstone&#8217;. CREDIT: Paramount<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_83 article-content-row vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Taylor Sheridan has been accused of stealing <i>Yellowstone<\/i> from a pitch surfacing a decade ago as part of a copyright suit.<\/p>\n<p>The drama series originally ran between 2018 and 2024, and focuses on the Dutton family and their ranch in Montana, notably conflicts around land.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Sheridan created the Paramount show alongside John Linson, though Sheridan has been sued alongside the studio, 101 Studios and Elevate Entertainment by writer Lauren J. Salkin.<\/p>\n<p>The suit claims that she pitched her own show<i> Sovereign Nation <\/i>to Sheridan\u2019s company Elevate in 2016, though received the response: \u201cTaylor thanks you very much for your interest. Unfortunately, he\u2019s unavailable for TV projects\u201d (via <i>Variety<\/i>).<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Yellowstone Official Trailer | Paramount Network\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n17AZkUXy58?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>According to the suit, Paramount then greenlit <i>Yellowstone<\/i> \u201cwithin months\u201d of the pitch, the documents adding: \u201cSheridan, however, was not \u2018unavailable for TV projects\u2019. Instead, he and others used Salkin\u2019s copyrighted works to develop <i>Yellowstone<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the \u201cspecific expressive choices\u201d that were allegedly lifted from Salkin\u2019s pitch were \u201ca tribal casino functioning as the institutional center of political and development power\u201d and \u201ca signature confrontation staged in the tribal chairman\u2019s casino office over expansion beyond reservation boundaries\u201d.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>Claimed similarities also include \u201cthe use of trust land, the absence of zoning restrictions, and a 99-year lease structure as the concrete mechanism for that expansion\u201d as well as \u201crecurring master-plan imagery deployed to dramatize the struggle for territorial control\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>There are also claims that Salkin put forward Danny Huston and Gil Birmingham for her show, who ended up being cast in <i>Yellowstone<\/i> in \u201cmaterially parallel structural roles\u201d to the ones pitched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the works are objectively compared, the same coordinated design repeatedly appears: casino-centered institutions organize political power; the same unusual land-development mechanisms propel the conflict; parallel scenes perform the same dramatic functions; and the same actors appear in materially parallel roles,\u201d the suit adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are not merely convergences of a shared genre. Taken together with access and timing, they support a strong inference of copying.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Since concluding, <i>Yellowstone<\/i> has produced several spin-offs, including <i>1883, 1923, Marshals <\/i>and<i> Dutton Ranch<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, <i>Dutton Ranch<\/i> star Ed Harris revealed he called his agents to try to get him \u201cthe fuck out of here\u201d over feeling \u201cfeeling underused and inconsequential\u201d in his role.<\/p>\n<p><em>NME has reached out to Paramount and Sheridan\u2019s representatives for comment.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Yellowstone<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div 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class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Taylor Sheridan accused of stealing \u2018Yellowstone\u2019 from 2016 pitch in copyright lawsuit<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Liam Gallagher bluntly responds to Oasis Glastonbury 2027 headline rumours<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Film News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Viral \u2018Cat In The Hat\u2019 TikTok trend dupes scared teens into thinking he\u2019s real<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/article>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Taylor Sheridan has been accused of stealing <i>Yellowstone<\/i> from a pitch surfacing a decade ago as part of a copyright suit.<\/p>\n<p>The drama series originally ran between 2018 and 2024, and focuses on the Dutton family and their ranch in Montana, notably conflicts around land.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Sheridan created the Paramount show alongside John Linson, though Sheridan has been sued alongside the studio, 101 Studios and Elevate Entertainment by writer Lauren J. Salkin.<\/p>\n<p>The suit claims that she pitched her own show<i> Sovereign Nation <\/i>to Sheridan\u2019s company Elevate in 2016, though received the response: \u201cTaylor thanks you very much for your interest. Unfortunately, he\u2019s unavailable for TV projects\u201d (via <i>Variety<\/i>).<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Yellowstone Official Trailer | Paramount Network\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n17AZkUXy58?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>According to the suit, Paramount then greenlit <i>Yellowstone<\/i> \u201cwithin months\u201d of the pitch, the documents adding: \u201cSheridan, however, was not \u2018unavailable for TV projects\u2019. Instead, he and others used Salkin\u2019s copyrighted works to develop <i>Yellowstone<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the \u201cspecific expressive choices\u201d that were allegedly lifted from Salkin\u2019s pitch were \u201ca tribal casino functioning as the institutional center of political and development power\u201d and \u201ca signature confrontation staged in the tribal chairman\u2019s casino office over expansion beyond reservation boundaries\u201d.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>Claimed similarities also include \u201cthe use of trust land, the absence of zoning restrictions, and a 99-year lease structure as the concrete mechanism for that expansion\u201d as well as \u201crecurring master-plan imagery deployed to dramatize the struggle for territorial control\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>There are also claims that Salkin put forward Danny Huston and Gil Birmingham for her show, who ended up being cast in <i>Yellowstone<\/i> in \u201cmaterially parallel structural roles\u201d to the ones pitched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the works are objectively compared, the same coordinated design repeatedly appears: casino-centered institutions organize political power; the same unusual land-development mechanisms propel the conflict; parallel scenes perform the same dramatic functions; and the same actors appear in materially parallel roles,\u201d the suit adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are not merely convergences of a shared genre. Taken together with access and timing, they support a strong inference of copying.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Since concluding, <i>Yellowstone<\/i> has produced several spin-offs, including <i>1883, 1923, Marshals <\/i>and<i> Dutton Ranch<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, <i>Dutton Ranch<\/i> star Ed Harris revealed he called his agents to try to get him \u201cthe fuck out of here\u201d over feeling \u201cfeeling underused and inconsequential\u201d in his role.<\/p>\n<p><em>NME has reached out to Paramount and Sheridan\u2019s representatives for comment.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/tv\/taylor-sheridan-accused-stealing-yellowstone-2016-pitch-copyright-lawsuit-3964318&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kevin-Costner-in-Yellowstone.jpg&#8221;] NewsTV News Taylor Sheridan accused of stealing \u2018Yellowstone\u2019 from 2016 pitch in copyright lawsuit The suit claims &#8220;a strong inference of copying&#8221; By Sam Warner 24th August 2026 Kevin Costner in &#8216;Yellowstone&#8217;. CREDIT: Paramount Taylor Sheridan has been accused of stealing Yellowstone from a pitch surfacing a decade ago as part of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2109234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2109234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2109234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2109234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2109234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}