Writer Sues Taylor Sheridan, Alleging 'Yellowstone' Was Lifted From Her 2016 Pitch
A writer named Lauren J. Salkin has filed a lawsuit accusing Taylor Sheridan of stealing the concept for his hit series Yellowstone from a pitch she made in 2016. The suit, filed on Friday, also names Paramount, 101 Studios, Elevate Entertainment and NBCUniversal as defendants, according to Variety and the Irish Star.
Salkin alleges she submitted a pilot script and supporting materials for a Western drama called Sovereign Nation to Sheridan's management company, Elevate Entertainment, in 2016. In response, she was told that Sheridan was "unavailable for TV projects," the lawsuit states. Within months of that rejection, Yellowstone was greenlit at Paramount, the suit claims. Paramount Network aired the first episode on 20 June 2018.
The lawsuit lays out specific creative elements it says Yellowstone copied from Sovereign Nation. These include a tribal casino serving as the centre of political and development power, a confrontation set in the tribal chairman's casino office, the use of trust land and a 99-year lease structure, and recurring master-plan imagery. Salkin also says she proposed actors Danny Huston and Gil Birmingham for her project in her pitch deck. Both were later cast in Yellowstone in what the suit describes as "materially parallel structural roles" Variety.
Salkin is suing for copyright infringement and damages, citing what she calls significant similarities between her script and the series that became one of the most-watched dramas on American cable television, as TV Insider reported. Page Six also confirmed that Salkin submitted a pilot script and accompanying materials to Sheridan's production company Page Six.
Representatives for Sheridan, 101 Studios, Paramount and Elevate Entertainment did not immediately respond to Variety's request for comment. No public statement has been issued by any of the named parties.
What gives the suit its weight is the level of detail in the allegations. Rather than a broad claim that two Westerns share a family saga, the filing points to specific structural choices — a lease mechanism, a particular kind of casino office scene, a named pair of actors attached to parallel roles — that a court would need to compare side by side. Ideas alone are not protected by copyright law; the expression of those ideas is. Salkin's case will hinge on whether a judge agrees that the specific creative elements she lists are close enough to constitute copying rather than coincidence.
Yellowstone ran for five seasons on Paramount Network and spawned multiple spin-offs, including 1883, 1923 and The Madison. Sheridan, who created the series and serves as its principal writer, has become one of the most prolific creators in American television, with a slate of shows across Paramount+ and other platforms.
The lawsuit is at its earliest stage. No trial date has been set, and the defendants have not yet filed a response in court.
