Taylor Sheridan is not just another Hollywood creator and writer making a western show. Sheridan is a real Texas cowboy that lives on a ranch that raises cows. His story is not your typical Hollywood story, but it is perhaps why his shows Yellowstone, 1923, and Tulsa King make great modern westerns. Sheridan was at one point so poor he lived in his truck and a tent on a reservation. He cut his teeth acting until eventually transitioning into being a writer later in his career. He was able to create both successful films and shows in the western genre. Keep reading to see some of the reasons Sheridan is adept at making the perfect modern western.
His Experience with Neo-Western Movies
Taylor Sheridan has a long history with western movies, including the successful neo-western movies he eventually made himself. Sheridan was likely inspired by the contemporary western No Country for Old Men, which paved the way for the modern western genre. These films contained a sense of remorse and examined the heavy impact on the culture because of how the American West has changed. These themes are reflected in Sheridan’s own films, which include Hell or High Water and Sicario.
These experiences have given him such a familiarity with the genre that he was able to break a screenwriting record by writing an entire western pilot in a single day for his show Tulsa King. Sheridan is familiar with the popular themes of the genre, which include border disputes, native reservations, and the struggles of middle-class and low-income families. These series of concerns are rarely tackled on television, and even more rarely with the sense of authenticity that Sheridan brings to the material. His experience with the issues puts him in a unique position to tell stories that many others in Hollywood cannot or will not tell.
He Has a Solid Vision for the Modern Western
More than his experience, a big reason why Sheridan is perfect at creating the modern western is that he has a solid vision for what he wants. This vision is evidenced by the complex world and universe that he is able to build that cannot be contained in a single show or movie. His show Yellowstone has paved the way for at least two other successful shows in 1923 and Tulsa King.
The inspiration for his shows and movies likely comes from his own life, where he lives on a ranch in Texas raising cattle with his family. This is also the setting for his successful show Yellowstone. Growing up, he spent his days horseback riding in a small town near Dallas with less than 300 people living there. His passion for westerns came from spending summers and weekends horse riding. After becoming a theatre major in college, he hoped to be an actor on the big screen but switched to screenwriting when that didn’t pan out. His vision for the modern western came after getting married on a ranch and raising a family changed his life. He wanted to tell the stories that mattered to him growing up, not the stories of other writers in Hollywood.
His Critique Of Western Shows
Taylor Sheridan has been outspoken in his critiques of other western shows, especially in the wake of popular westerns that he had a hand in creating. He sees other western shows as only looking to capture a similar audience and not necessarily taking the lessons of his shows like Yellowstone. Sheridan’s shows themes and plot lines had hooked audiences in a way that westerners before him were not able to in the modern era. While the western never truly disappeared, there was a time when the genre was put on the back burner for a while.
He Is a Master Of World-Building
Sheridan has set a great foundation for the worlds he creates in his shows and movies. He is able to get the details right to make the themes and conflicts feel authentic while keeping the drama high. These world-building abilities allow him to confront issues like American identity, clashes of will, and survivalist aesthetics from a position of integrity. The worlds he writes about are complex and have enough depth to be explored in multiple show sequels.
He Injects Each Episode Full of Addicting Character Drama and Plot
One of the reasons for Sheridan’s success with his shows is that the characters drive the plot and not the other way around. The characters don’t exist in service to the plot lines, but the characters are written in a way that the plot lines naturally spring from them. This is accomplished by creating larger-than-life characters that follow ideals, handle problems, and don’t give up their principles for anything. These stubborn characters will naturally find themselves in conflicts with one another, and the large cast ensures you get a wide variety of scenarios. Many of the characters in the show are ruthless and will stop at nothing to get what they want.