Taylor Sheridan, Paramount Sued For Allegedly Stealing Idea For ‘Yellowstone’

Taylor Sheridan, Paramount, and NBCUniversal are all being sued by a woman who claims she came up with the building blocks for “Yellowstone” … and she says they stole her idea.

Lauren J. Salkin — an entertainment journalist and TV writer — filed the federal lawsuit in California against several parties Friday … claiming that in 2016 and 2017 she submitted a pilot script and additional materials for a show titled “Sovereign Nation” to Taylor’s production company.

She says she knows these materials were reviewed because she received a note from Elevate Entertainment that reads, “Taylor thanks you very much for your interest. Unfortunately, he’s unavailable for TV projects.”

However, she says within months, Paramount greenlit Sheridan’s show “Yellowstone” … which aired its first episode in June 2018. Salkin says the similarities between her show and Taylor’s are too numerous to be a coincidence.

Lauren provides a character-by-character breakdown … claiming the main cast members are rip-offs of her own ideas.

She adds that certain plotlines — including the war over land and development in the show — and the general tone are similar to her original concept.

Lauren’s suing for copyright infringement and seeking an injunction to prevent continuing and future infringement of her work … plus unspecified damages, including profits from “Yellowstone.”