If you are looking for Taylor Sheridan to campaign for Emmy votes, you are watching the wrong show.
The Yellowstone mastermind made it clear during his June 28 appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast that awards have never been part of his game plan, even with The Madison and Landman landing on this year’s Emmy ballot.
“You’re not going to win no Emmys with me, but I’m not trying to win Emmys,” Sheridan said.
“That’s not my goal. 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. That’s what I want to do, because that’s what I want from a show.”
Sheridan said he built his career by refusing to follow Hollywood’s playbook.
“I knew when I started writing [I wanted] to simply not do what everyone else was doing,” he said, arguing that too many storytellers were taking shortcuts instead of focusing on strong narratives.
His sharpest criticism, however, was reserved for studio executives, whom he claimed know “nothing” about storytelling.
“Well, what do you know about developing story? You know nothing,” he said, adding that fearful executives often end up trying to control every creative decision.
That was not going to fly when he signed with Paramount.
“This is not a democracy. There’s no committee,” Sheridan recalled telling the studio.
“You’re going to pay me, and you’re going to give me a bunch of money, and I’m going to deliver you these shows.”
As for television critics? Sheridan is not losing sleep over their reviews.
“The critics and me… I don’t care what they think, and it annoys the shit out of them that I don’t care,” he said before adding, “F— ‘em, honestly.”
