2 min read
Taylor Sheridan pulled off something revolutionary in Hollywood. With Yellowstone, he revived the TV western—long replaced by prestige dramas and police procedurals in every major coastal city. But much like the talk of the town come every four years when the country picks a new president, there was a large swath of the country that felt like no one told their stories anymore.
Now, the TV creator operates an empire at Paramount with shows about Texas ranching (Dutton Ranch), river valley fly-fishing (The Madison), mining the earth for oil (Landman), and operating midwestern prison towns (Mayor of Kingstown). Plus, Sheridan still gets his kicks with tried-and-true genres as he sends New York mob men to Oklahoma (Tulsa King) and CIA agents to the front lines of the latest global conflicts (Lioness). But when a CNN report called the fictional Yellowstone Ranch “the most famous ranch in America,” Sheridan saw a potential future he didn’t much care for—one where Yellowstone and its various spinoffs led to the franchise becoming a mockery of itself. A new Disneyland.
“My heart sank, because it’s not a real ranch, right?” Sheridan told entertainment journalist and Esquire contributor Anthony Breznican in a new Town & Country interview. “I had created a fad. The problem with fads is they end. But ranching is a real thing.”
So, Sheridan used the money he made in Hollywood and purchased two ranches in Texas—Bosque Ranch and all its horses, as well as the famous 6666 “Four Sixes” Ranch and its cattle operations. Now, he claims that every dime he makes in the TV business goes toward the ranches.
“One hundred percent,” Sheridan revealed. “I had turned down multiple overall deals. I didn’t want to do that.”
He did accept one major deal, however, when he signed a new overall deal in October 2025 to move his TV production from Paramount to Universal starting in 2029. That agreement is rumored to be worth upward of $1 billion (per The Hollywood Reporter) which also includes the opportunity to develop films “of all sizes.” Plus, you can certainly buy a lot of horses with that kind of money.
