Prolific TV creator Taylor Sheridan went off the rails, slamming critics and Hollywood execs, in a new, no-holds-barred interview.
“The critics are going to come after me … I can’t write for women, all this nonsense,” the “Yellowstone” creator said while guest appearing on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.”
“The critics and me — I don’t care what they think, and it annoys the s–t out of them that I don’t care. I’ll be the first to tell you that there are things that I do that rage-bait them a bit, and this is one of them. Fuck ’em, honestly.”
Sheridan, 56, has created an empire of shows over the years, featuring A-list stars like Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Helen Mirren, Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell.
The “Landman” screenwriter — who reportedly clashed with Paramount’s leadership before leaving the studio and signing with NBCUniversal — didn’t hold back in the candid interview, taking aim at Hollywood execs who have criticized his creative process.
“By the way, the studio executives and the network executives — these are marketing executives, for the most part. Or maybe they studied law or whatever. Then they came, got a job in the mailroom at CAA or WME, and hated that shit. So then they ended up as an intern at some network,” he argued.
“Then, through attrition, they find themselves the head of development. Well, what do you know about developing story? You know nothing. So they get terrified, panicked that the audience won’t get it because they actually have no storytellers.”
The “Mayor of Kingstown” creator went on to reminisce about the good old days, “when Steve McQueen was a movie star at Paramount and Bobby Evans ran the studios.”
“It didn’t used to be this way … because writers were turned loose. Directors were turned completely loose,” he recalled. “There weren’t endless rewrites. There weren’t meetings with executives about tone and mood and all this nonsense.”
Sheridan’s shows have largely been shut out by the Emmys and Golden Globes, with the exception of “Yellowstone” star Costner winning a Golden Globe for his role as John Dutton in 2023. He explained on the podcast, however, that taking home trophies was never his goal.
“You’re not going to win no Emmys with me, but I’m not trying to win Emmys,” Sheridan said. “My goal is to sit somebody on their couch and move them, make them think, make them laugh, scare the shit out of them, excite them. That’s what I want to do, because that’s what I want from a show.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Sheridan — who lives on a ranch in Texas with his wife, actress Nicole Muirbrook, and son Gus, 16 — also proclaimed that he will never return to Hollywood, despite it being a hub for movie and TV production.
“The only way you’re getting me back to Los Angeles is if it secedes from the union and I’m drafted into the Army to take it back,” he said bluntly, before praising the Big Apple.
“I love New York. That city’s way, way stronger than whatever political wind is blowing it in any direction, right? Whereas LA is built on sand.”
