Imagine a world where Taylor Sheridan gave up on his dream and never became the writer and director that we know him as today?
The Yellowstone creator had to endure an awful lot to get to where he is today… and it’s crazy to think what modern television would look like if he had chosen the easier path when things got hard. In case you didn’t know, Sheridan was an actor prior to becoming the mind behind shows like Yellowstone and Landman, and eventually turned to writing when he figured that he was replaceable as an actor.
During some rough times in his career, he was actually homeless, and living in his car. He told Town & Country that there was a good half a year period where he didn’t have a roof over his head, and he still chose not to give up:
“I was homeless twice. I lived in my car. Sometimes I’d go to Ojai, just somewhere where I could safely sleep. I did that for six months. I could have decided at any point, ‘I’m going to go get a full-time job and I’m going to give up this dream.’ And I chose to sleep in my car over that.”
Sheridan was truly roughing it, and it was only when he decided to give up his acting career to focus on writing that the tide started turning in his favor.
Basically, Sheridan figured out that he has a certain style, and realized that others weren’t able to easily mimic it. In almost an “ah ha” moment, he knew that those who write their own stories control their own destinies in Hollywood. Sheridan was tired of being treated like a commodity in the industry, and decided he would build himself up to be irreplaceable.
Sheridan learned the art of storytelling through his career as a working actor. However, when he started writing his own shows, he didn’t lean on his acting experiences in terms of “what to do.” He actually looked at it as “what not to do,” and started writing in a manor that intentionally veered away from what he had been involved with.
Though it wasn’t the first thing he ever wrote (that was actually the pilot for Mayor of Kingstown), Sheridan’s breakthrough came when he sold his spec script for a little film titled Hell or High Water. After that, he was finally able to afford a home, and it was the start of him doing his best to never owe any money to anyone else:
“When I sold that first screenplay, I bought a little house on an acre on a river in Wyoming. We moved there, and I wrote a check for it. Then, as I would start to have more success, I would buy a little bit more land beside it and get a couple horses. I’m still so averse to having to ever owe anybody anything.”
Now, Sheridan is one of the largest landowners in Texas, and sits atop a mountain of television shows and films that are unrivaled in the modern age of media. No one can tell stories like he can, and the plethora of series he’s put out has created a fanbase that basically follows him to anything he does.
Safe to say he’s come a very long way from sleeping in Ojai.
