Taylor Sheridan faces a copyright lawsuit over alleged Yellowstone similarities.
Lauren J. Salkin claims Sovereign Nation inspired key Yellowstone elements.
Yellowstone premiered in 2018 after the alleged 2016 pitch.
Taylor Sheridan has been accused of copying elements from a 2016 television pitch in a new copyright lawsuit over Yellowstone. Writer Lauren J. Salkin alleges that her Western drama Sovereign Nation inspired several distinctive elements in Sheridan’s hit series.
Taylor Sheridan Accused Of Copying Yellowstone Elements
According to court documents obtained by Variety, Salkin claims she pitched Sovereign Nation to Sheridan’s management company, Elevate Entertainment, in 2016. She was reportedly told that Sheridan was unavailable for television projects. The lawsuit alleges that Paramount developed Yellowstone within months of rejecting her pitch.
Salkin’s lawsuit names Sheridan, 101 Studios, Paramount and Elevate Entertainment as defendants. Representatives for the defendants did not immediately respond to Variety’s requests for comment.
The writer claims that several specific elements from her pitch were later reflected in Yellowstone. These allegedly include a tribal casino serving as a centre of political power, disputes over expansion beyond reservation boundaries and the use of trust land, zoning rules and a 99-year lease structure.
Yellowstone Lawsuit Points To Casting And Story Similarities
Salkin’s lawyers have also pointed to casting similarities. According to the lawsuit, Danny Huston and Gil Birmingham were proposed for Sovereign Nation before both appeared in Yellowstone. Their roles are alleged to have mirrored the political and development conflicts outlined in Salkin’s project.
The lawsuit argues that the similarities extend beyond the Western genre, claiming that the combination of shared story structures, land-development mechanisms, characters and timing suggests copying.
Yellowstone eventually premiered on Paramount Network on June 20, 2018. The lawsuit now puts fresh scrutiny on the origins of Sheridan’s flagship Western franchise, though the allegations have yet to be tested in court.
