‘Yellowstone’ ending amid Taylor Sheridan’s ‘ridiculous’ spending
As “Yellowstone” comes to an end this fall with the second half of Season 5, a new report has revealed creator Taylor Sheridan’s rip-roaring spending habits on the set of the mega-popular TV show have caused “internal frustration.”
A story in the Wall Street Journal said Paramount and 101 Studios pay Sheridan, 52, tens of thousands of dollars a week on top of what he’s paid to write, direct and produce his series — to use his various companies and services, including a “Cowboy Camp” to train actors.
He rents cattle to Paramount at $25 a head, and he charges up to $50,000 a week for the show to film on ranches that he owns.
Sheridan also billed the studio $3,000 to pay a wrangler in Texas, 1,600 miles away from set, who was looking after his own horses.
Some of his exorbitant costs are a result of personal taste.
For instance, he insists on using his preferred farrier to make the drama’s horseshoes, and had the specialist flown out to Montana from Texas for four nights to do the job, flummoxing executives at 101 Studios.
“Are you kidding me? We can’t find a local person?” wrote David Glasser, the head of 101 Studios, in an email to staff.
According to the Journal, Paramount and 101 are increasingly bothered by the powerful showrunner’s enormous expenses.
Episodes of the “Yellowstone” prequel “1923” can cost up to $22 million each to produce, according to the report.
But a spokesperson for Paramount told the newspaper, “Taylor’s shows are among our most successful and profitable.” (Sheridan declined to be interviewed by the Wall Street Journal.)
Even so, Paramount suffered a first-quarter loss of $1.1 billion, owed somewhat to increases in streaming content costs.
Sheridan’s stable of shows — including the “Yellowstone” prequels “1883” and “1923” — costs Paramount about $500 million per year to produce.
The ending of “Yellowstone” also comes amid rumors that the show’s star Kevin Costner was in a feud with Sheridan over shooting schedules.
That hit show will be replaced with a spin-off — without Costner — which will star actor Matthew McConaughey.
Big names have been drawn to Sheridan’s shows.
“1923” stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, while “1883” features Sam Elliott, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.
Unreasonably pricey or not, Sheridan and his TV series have been monumentally important in the development of Paramount’s streaming service.
Paramount+ now boasts 60 million subscribers, the studio said last week.
