Why Taylor Sheridan Refuses To Hire A Writers’ Room For Yellowstone

The notion that an individual writer can pen an entire show and maintain quality control is one that greedy studios have been all too eager to endorse in the streaming era. But collaboration has always been the name of the game when it comes to writing half-decent television, no matter how much we might sing the praises of any individual storyteller. (For example, as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fans would gladly tell you, there was always more to the show than Joss Whedon.) In fact, studios attempting to cut down on costs by hiring as few writers for as little time as possible is one of the primary causes of the ongoing writers’ strike.

In that light, it’s hard not to side-eye Taylor Sheridan’s explanation for why he writes “Yellowstone” by himself:

“My stories have a very simple plot that is driven by the characters as opposed to characters driven by a plot — the antithesis of the way television is normally modeled. I’m really interested in the dirty of the relationships in literally every scene. But when you hire a room that may not be motivated by those same qualities — and a writer always wants to take ownership of something they’re writing — and I give this directive and they’re not feeling it, then they’re going to come up with their own qualities. So for me, writers rooms, they haven’t worked.”

Call me clueless, but hasn’t getting to really explore “the dirty of the relationships” between characters always been the reason to tell a story through the long form of television rather than film? Even a show as old as “Star Trek: The Original Series” was arguably more about Kirk’s dynamic with his crew than their weekly adventures.

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