Taylor Sheridan is now the prolific writer and producer behind Yellowstone, Landman and Lioness, but he says his path to that television empire included being homeless twice while trying to make it as an actor.
In a new Town & Country profile, Sheridan recalled spending six months living in his car during those difficult years. He sometimes drove to Ojai, California, because he considered it somewhere he could safely sleep.
The filmmaker said he could have taken a full-time job and abandoned his acting ambitions at any point. Instead, he kept pursuing the work even when it meant sleeping in his vehicle. “I chose to sleep in my car over that,” he said.
His career changed course after his three-season run on Sons of Anarchy ended in 2010. With acting work still uncertain and his first child on the way, Sheridan turned to screenwriting, the decision that eventually led from a spec script to an Oscar nomination and, later, one of television’s biggest creative empires.
Sheridan’s ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Exit Pushed Him Toward Writing
Sheridan played Deputy Chief David Hale on Sons of Anarchy, joining the FX drama when it premiered in 2008. According to his account in Town & Country, he tried to negotiate a raise after the show became successful, but the deal did not materialize and his character was killed off.
That happened in 2010, when Sheridan and Nicole Muirbrook had their first child on the way. Film and television work had been sporadic for both of them, and Sheridan said the experience made him realize how quickly he could find himself broke again.
He began creating material for himself. His breakthrough came with the spec script for Hell or High Water, although another script reached theaters first.
Sicario, directed by Denis Villeneuve and released in 2015, became Sheridan’s first produced screenplay. Hell or High Water followed in 2016 and earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
The shift gave Sheridan the control he felt he had lacked as an actor. Instead of waiting for somebody else to decide whether he could work, writing allowed him to build the kinds of stories and characters he wanted to see.
His First Screenplay Sale Bought a Wyoming Home
Sheridan’s first major financial move after selling a screenplay was modest compared with the ranch holdings associated with him today.
“When I sold that first screenplay, I bought a little house on an acre on a river in Wyoming,” he told Town & Country. Sheridan said he and his family moved there and he paid for the property outright.
As his career improved, he gradually bought neighboring land and added a couple of horses. He linked that approach directly to the financial insecurity of his earlier years, saying he remains deeply averse to owing anyone money.
The scale has changed considerably since then. Sheridan now owns Bosque Ranch in Texas, while the historic Four Sixes Ranch was purchased in 2021 by an ownership group that includes him. His productions have also used those properties as working locations, further connecting his Hollywood career with the ranching life he had long wanted.
Town & Country reports that Sheridan purchased the 600-acre Bosque Ranch with money earned from Yellowstone in 2019 and has continued expanding it.
He Also Coached Actors While Trying to Make It Himself
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Before his writing career took off, Sheridan also worked as an acting coach in Los Angeles, giving him another way to stay connected to the profession while his own acting career remained uncertain.
Beau Garrett recalled meeting him roughly two decades ago, when both were struggling actors and Sheridan was also coaching performers.
“I had no money,” Garrett said at a Paramount+ event in April. A mutual friend recommended Sheridan because he was both a strong coach and affordable. Garrett said she “loved him immediately.”
Their careers eventually moved in different directions before unexpectedly reconnecting. Garrett later landed the role of Abby Reese in Sheridan’s The Madison, bringing her back into his orbit approximately 20 years after he had coached her.
Nicole Kidman said that skill remains part of Sheridan’s approach even now. “He’s an incredible acting coach, still,” Kidman said at the same event. She explained that she can call Sheridan with a question about a scene and sometimes receive only a few words of direction that immediately clarify how she should approach it.
Sheridan Says He Writes for Viewers, Not Awards
Sheridan’s resistance to depending on Hollywood approval now extends to the way he talks about awards and critics. During a June appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast, he said collecting Emmys was not the goal of his work.
“My goal is to sit somebody on their couch and move them, make them think, make them laugh, scare the s— out of them, excite them,” Sheridan said. “That’s what I want to do, because that’s what I want from a show.”
He described himself as “pretty common” and said he wants to tell stories that ordinary viewers can understand. His feelings about critics were considerably less diplomatic. Sheridan said he does not care what they think and admitted that he sometimes deliberately gives them material that will provoke a reaction.