Taylor Sheridan creates sets and scenes that are so realistic they can even cause former convicts to have panic attacks.
The creator of shows like Yellowstone and Landman takes pride in his world building. Storytelling is important, but putting actors and actresses in settings that are true and authentic are critical to Sheridan. He’ll stop at nothing to make sure that everything in the shot is believable, and he’ll even go as far as casting former inmates to play background actors in prison scenes.
Sheridan went into detail on that in his new book, How to Not Die in Prison.
Published by Simon & Shuster, the debut novel from the prolific writer is exactly what you imagine it to be: A handbook for surviving prison. Because of that, I’d guess you can find it in the “self help” section of the book store and library? (I’m not sure). The publisher describes the book as a “no bulls***, darkly funny survival guide to life in a maximum-security prison.”
In case you were wondering, Sheridan hasn’t ever been to prison… but Tom Nelson – the book’s co-author – has. Sheridan and the ex-con released the book on June 23, and its description reads as follows:
“There is no book of rules for life in prison — until now. ‘How to Not Die in Prison’ teaches readers everything they need to know to make it out alive, from how to survive a prison riot, a lockdown, a stabbing, a hit, and solitary confinement to how to get a job, not go insane, make prison ramen, give a prison tat, and (allegedly) make a shiv.”
All very useful things to be knowledgeable on if you do plan on finding yourself behind bars at any point in the future.
The book’s introduction includes a tidbit from Taylor Sheridan on why he chose to write the book with Tom Nelson, and once again clarified that he’s never been to prison… but he’s always been interested by the life that people lead while they are locked up:
“You might wonder what in the world gives me the knowledge or wisdom to write a survival guide to prison. Well, I’ll tell you — absolutely nothing. I’ve never been to prison. But, like every man, I’ve certainly wondered how I would survive if circumstances ever put me there.
That morbid curiosity sent me on a journey to understand the politics and dangers of prison. When researching for ‘Mayor of Kingstown,’ I learned very quickly it’s way better to avoid going to prison than figuring out how to survive one.”
Yeah, up until this book project, the closest Sheridan ever got to being in prison is his writing and research for the wildly underrated series Mayor of Kingstown (which is set to come to a close after next season).
And speaking of, Sheridan unsurprisingly did so much research on prison for the drama series starring Jeremy Renner that a scene being shot for the show caused one actor to have a severe panic attack. In the book, Sheridan explained that they filmed all prison scenes for Mayor of Kingstown at an old, out of commission facility. Like I mentioned earlier, Sheridan casted former inmates in the show, because he wanted people that had actually been in situations like the ones they were recreating for television.
The only issue? One of the scenes ended up being a little too real for one of the former inmates. It brought on a panic attack severe enough to lead to hospitalization, as Sheridan explained:
“We filmed ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ in Toronto and a town north called Kingston – where numerous prisons are located. One of them had been taken out of commission, and we filmed all our prison scenes in that location, even using former inmates as extras in the show. In one particular scene, which was the ‘initiation’ of a new inmate – a child killer, no less – we had to pause filming an bring in paramedics.
One of the extras was so traumatized by the reenactment, he had a panic attack that was severe enough to send him to the hospital. Two other former inmates asked to leave immediately, SAG card be damned. That’s how bad prison cane be: Former inmates don’t even want to pretend they are back.”
And that’s also how good Sheridan is at creating heart-pounding television. Not even the people that have actually lived through it can handle the tension that a Taylor Sheridan written and directed scene produces.
