Writer Sues Taylor Sheridan and Studios Over Alleged Use of 2016 Pitch for "Yellowstone"

Screenwriter Lauren J. Salkin has brought a copyright infringement suit against writer-director Taylor Sheridan, 101 Studios, Paramount and Elevate Entertainment, alleging that the network drama "Yellowstone" was based on her 2016 pitch for a series titled "Sovereign Nation."

According to the complaint, Salkin presented her concept to Elevate Entertainment, Sheridan’s management firm, in 2016 and was told that Sheridan was unavailable for television projects. The filing states that "Yellowstone" was greenlit by Paramount within months of that rejection and premiered on the Paramount Network on June 20, 2018.

The lawsuit lists several narrative elements that it says appear in both projects, including a tribal casino serving as a political hub, a dispute over land expansion beyond reservation borders, and a 99-year lease structure used as a plot device. It also notes that actors Danny Huston and Gil Birmingham, whom Salkin reportedly suggested for her pitch, were later cast in "Yellowstone" in roles that mirror those described in her material.

"When the works are objectively compared, the same coordinated design repeatedly appears: casino-centered institutions organize political power; the same unusual land-development mechanisms propel the conflict; parallel scenes perform the same dramatic functions; and the same actors appear in materially parallel roles," the complaint reads.

Representatives for Sheridan, the studios and Elevate Entertainment have not responded to requests for comment.