2 min read
Taylor Sheridan has never been to prison. He’s written about incarcerated life on TV—Mayor of Kingstown, one of his first Paramount+ series, takes place around a fictional prison company town in Michigan. But the Yellowstone and Landman creator is still planning to share what he’s learned from these “experiences” in a new book this summer titled How to Not Die in Prison. If only there was a special prison just for TV writers.
“You might wonder what in the world gives me the knowledge or wisdom to write a survival guide to prison,” Sheridan writes in the introduction to the book, according to People. “Well, I’ll tell you—absolutely nothing. But, like every man, I’ve certainly wondered how I would survive if circumstances ever put me there.”
Sheridan’s first foray into the literary world is described as a “no bulls—, darkly funny survival guide,” writes Simon & Schuster, that teaches reaches “how to survive a prison riot, a lockdown, a stabbing, and solitary confinement to how to get a job, not go insane, make prison ramen, give a prison tat and (allegedly) make a shiv.”
Taylor Sheridan wrote a prison survival guide, on shelves this June.
The upcoming book, out on June 23, is co-written by ex-con Tom Nelson, who may add the only bit of real expertise to Sheridan’s how-to book. Still, not much is known about Nelson’s exact knowledge in the field. His biography states that he’s been in and out of maximum-security prison for auto theft, battery, armed robbery, and drug dealing, before turning his life around and becoming a personal trainer. But had Nelson read this book, he told People, it’s possible he might’ve avoided time altogether.
“I wish I could’ve heeded Taylor’s advice all those years ago and read the f—ing book, but that’s exactly the point: there was no f—ing book to speak of because I hadn’t yet been spit out through the system and gained the knowledge that my co-author currently refers to as wisdom,” Nelson said. “If that’s what makes for good wisdom and entertainment, I’ll take it.”
Sheridan’s next venture on the small screen is to expand the Yellowstone spinoffs at Paramount. He’s dropping Marshals, The Madison, and later Dutton Ranch for the streamer before it’s time for Lioness season 3, a Tulsa King spinoff starring Samuel L. Jackson, the fifth and final season of Mayor of Kingstown, and eventually more Landman. He’s also writing F.A.S.T. with 1923-star Brandon Sklenar and the recently announced Call of Duty film with American Primeval’s Peter Berg. That slate already sounds like a lot before he even stacks the prison survival guide on top of the pile, but that’s just how Sheridan works.
Maybe, Sheridan should’ve written how to survive in Hollywood instead.
