Writer Sues Taylor Sheridan, Claims "Yellowstone" Was Built on Her 2016 Pitch

A Virginia writer has taken Taylor Sheridan, Paramount and NBCUniversal to federal court, arguing that “Yellowstone” grew out of a series she pitched years before the show ever aired. Lauren J. Salkin filed the copyright infringement suit Friday in the Central District of California, saying the Dutton family saga traces back to “Sovereign Nation,” a project she spent more than a decade developing and registered for copyright starting in 2010, with the pilot script following in 2016.

Salkin says she sent that pilot and supporting materials to Sheridan’s management company, Elevate Entertainment, in February 2017 and got back word that Sheridan was “unavailable for TV projects.” Paramount announced “Yellowstone” as its first scripted series roughly three months later, debuting that June with Kevin Costner leading a Montana ranching dynasty.

The complaint argues copying reaches beyond genre trappings into specific plot mechanics: a tribal casino serving as the seat of political power, a confrontation staged in the tribal chairman’s office over expanding past reservation lines, and a 99-year lease used as the device driving that expansion. Salkin also points to her pitch deck, which floated Danny Huston and Gil Birmingham for roles she says later mirrored their “Yellowstone” casting. She adds that an HBO executive who reviewed “Sovereign Nation” told her he had turned down an early version of Sheridan’s pitch that spring because it looked too similar to hers.

Sheridan has said publicly that he first imagined “Yellowstone” as a film in 2013 before reshaping it into a series that moved from HBO to Paramount. Salkin’s lawyers anticipate the obvious defense, writing that copyright doesn’t cover “the abstract idea of a Western, a land dispute, an Indian casino, or a powerful family,” and framing their case instead around the arrangement of those elements.

Proving that distinction in court is hard. These claims live or die on showing both access to the original work and substantial similarity in its actual expression, and juries have sided with defendants even when overlap looked striking on paper — Apple and M. Night Shyamalan beat a similar claim over “Servant” earlier this year.

Salkin is seeking a jury trial, an injunction, and damages tied to franchise profits spanning “1883,” “1923,” “Marshals” and “Dutton Ranch.” Reps for Sheridan, Paramount and NBCUniversal had not responded to requests for comment as of Saturday. Other defendants include John Linson, Art Linson, Bosque Ranch Productions, Linson Entertainment and 101 Studios.