'Yellowstone' and '1883' Creator Taylor Sheridan's Archive Lands Home

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Fans of Taylor Sheridan's writing can soon flock to a state university to get a glimpse of his early work that ultimately resulted in an Academy Award nomination and hit TV shows.

Texas State University in San Marcos announced that its Wittliff Collections will be home to his creative archive. Sheridan, of course, wrote Hell or High Water, the screenplay nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2016. The Western crime drama stars Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, and Ben Foster. Sheridan also wrote the 2015 crime thriller, Sicario, and the 2017 Western crime film, Wind River, which marked his feature film directorial debut.

Sheridan's a Hit TV Show Maker

Sheridan is arguably best known for co-creating the Paramount hit series Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner. He also created the prequels 1883 and 1923, starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. He's also behind the hits Mayor of Kingstown, Landman, Lioness, and Tulsa King, starring Sylvester Stallone.

Sheridan Attended Texas State

That Sheridan's archive landed at Texas State is no surprise. He attended the university in the 1990s as a theater major. The school honored him with an honorary doctorate earlier this year.

According to Texas State, "Sheridan's archive will grow in stages, beginning with drafts of his early scripts and the drafts and papers surrounding his films Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River, along with his pilot episodes for his series Yellowstone, 1883, and
1923."

"There's hardly another American writer whose work would be more at home
here," said Carrie Fountain, Wittliff Collections Literary Curator. "Within these walls
echo the voices of Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry and Charles Portis. To acquire the
papers of such a preeminent writer making work at the very top of his game will provide
endless inspiration and insight to generations of creatives and researchers. We're honored
to welcome Taylor Sheridan home."

Sheridan Started As a Model

He was a model before making his debut in Hollywood, first as Danny Boyd in The CW's Veronica Mars, and then as David Hale in the FX hit series Sons of Anarchy.

He told CBS Sunday Morning in June 2022 that "stubbornness and a refusal to fail" is what kept him going despite two decades of not being able to land a leading role in Hollywood.

"An interesting thing about Hollywood is, if you let, if you listen, it will tell you exactly what you're supposed to be doing," he said. "I have never seen anyone bang their head against the wall for 20 years and then make it. I've never seen it. I've seen it take eight years. I've seen it take 10 years. But I've never seen it take 20."

He said he realized that the best he would ever be is "10th on the call sheet."

Then a friend brought him a project to work on together. He locked himself in a room, and after 10 hours, he wrote what would become the first episode of Mayor of Kingstown.

"And when I was done, I said, 'Man, I wish I had done this 15 years ago.'"

The rest is history.