Taylor Sheridan Rips Execs: 'You Know Nothing'
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- Taylor Sheridan appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast promoting his book How Not To Die In Prison (co-written with Tom Nelson) and used the platform to slam studio and network executives as "marketing executives" who "know nothing" about storytelling.
- Sheridan invoked the Steve McQueen–Bobby Evans era at Paramount as his model, saying writers and directors used to be "turned loose" instead of fielding "endless rewrites" and meetings on "tone and mood."
- Sheridan said he has no interest in Emmys, telling Paramount: "This is not a democracy… You're not going to win no Emmys with me. That's not my goal."
- Paramount held an FYC event three weeks earlier — featuring Billy Bob Thornton, Sam Elliott and Andy Garcia — to push Landman and The Madison for awards consideration, putting Sheridan's anti-Emmy stance in direct tension with his own network's campaign.
- Sheridan admitted he told Demi Moore she would "essentially be an extra" in Landman season 1 as deliberate "rage bait" against critics, with a plan to kill her husband and elevate her to lead in season 2.
- Sheridan, now based outside Fort Worth, Texas, said the only way he would return to LA is if it "secedes from the union and I'm drafted into the Army to take it back."
- Sheridan recently signed a major deal with NBCUniversal, giving him leverage to operate outside the LA system he derides.
Why it matters: Sheridan's anti-Emmy comments landed three weeks after Paramount hosted an FYC event for two of his shows, creating a public contradiction between his network's awards strategy and his own stated mission. His recent NBCUniversal deal — inked while trashing LA and the exec class — signals he now has the contractual leverage to demand the autonomy he says Hollywood no longer affords creators.
