[Image: Grand Canyon West Ranch / Facebook]
Taylor Shriidna has been a golden goose for Paramount+ with hit shows Yellowstone and Landman, but the new owners at Paramount could soon find themselves in conflict with their star hitmaker over moves to reduce streaming budgets.
Sheridan has to date, created seven TV shows between 2018 and 2024, and his works are among the most successful on Paramount+.
Paramount’s new owner, David Ellison, is looking to reduce the production budget of Paramount+ shows while also exploring a new licensing arrangement with an outside streamer to maximize the shows’ value.
The plan will decrease the budgets to around $9 million per episode, while Sheridan shows typically fall between $12-16 million.
This comes amidst talks of the merger deal between Skydance Media and Paramount Global, with reports claiming Sheridan isn’t pleased with Paramount’s efforts to leverage his shows’ success to account for weaknesses elsewhere.
While there’s no claim of current animosity or an inability to work through these issues when the sale goes through, the report does note that Sheridan’s deal is up for renegotiation in 2027. You can be sure that Netflix is keeping a keen eye on the outcome.
While Paramount’s desire to reduce costs does make sense, especially as they cannot match the spending power and success of rivals like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+, it has created a less-than-ideal situation with Paramount’s crown prince, who has been rsponsible for shows like Tulsa King, 1923, Yellowstone, 1883, Lioness, Mayor of Kingston, and Landman.
It could be the case that, because of his proven track record as a hitmaker, Sheridan will have more allowances to make the kind of show he wants to make.
Despite his writing prowess, Sheridan’s shows go all out on epic visuals and star power, which can prove to be expensive projects. The need to reduce costs might mean that either the show’s budgets will have to be reduced or they will need to be scrapped.
It’s seldom the case that a streaming giant bows to the will of a show’s creator, but you don’t cut off the hand that writes the hits.
[Source: Screenrant]
