Taylor Sheridan, the creator of the hit television series Yellowstone, experienced homelessness twice and lived out of his car before establishing himself in Hollywood.
The 56-year-old multimillionaire showrunner revealed in an interview with Town & Country that he struggled to break into the entertainment industry. Rather than abandon his ambitions for a steady income, Sheridan chose to sleep in his vehicle.
"I was homeless twice," Sheridan said.
"I lived in my car. Sometimes I'd go to Ojai, just somewhere where I could safely sleep. I did that for six months," he added.
"I could have decided at any point, 'I'm going to go get a full-time job and I'm going to give up this dream,'" he said. "And I chose to sleep in my car over that."
Wyoming property
Sheridan had early acting roles in television, landing parts in Walker, Texas Ranger, Her Costly Affair, Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, and Party of Five. He did not specify when his periods of homelessness occurred.
When he sold his first screenplay, Sheridan used the money to buy a small house on an acre of land situated on a river in Wyoming.
"We moved there, and I wrote a check for it," he told the publication. "Then, as I would start to have more success, I would buy a little bit more land beside it and get a couple horses. I'm still so averse to having to ever owe anybody anything."
Sheridan is now a major landowner with a rumored net worth of $200 million.
Four Sixes ranch
His property portfolio includes the historic Four Sixes, or 6666, ranch in Texas. Sheridan's association with the property began when it was owned by Anne Windfohr Marion, the great-granddaughter of cattleman Samuel Burk Burnett, who founded the ranch in 1870.
Parts of Yellowstone were filmed at the ranch before Sheridan acquired it. Marion died of lung cancer in 2020 at the age of 81. Following her death, trustees approached Sheridan to ask if he was interested in buying the property to preserve its land and traditions.
"They said, 'Do you want to pony up about 350 million bucks and take this place over?' and I said, 'Well, I'm $330 million short,'" Sheridan said. "So I went and made an overall deal with Paramount to raise the money, brought in some investors, and then I bought it."
An investment group led by Sheridan bought the ranch in 2022 for a rumored $320 million.
Spin-off rumors denied
The Four Sixes ranch has been featured in the Yellowstone storyline, specifically following the character Jimmy Hurdstrom. Actual ranch workers appeared in supporting roles.
"I've actually got on my computer all the scenes of Jimmy at the 6666 pulled out and strung together, and it makes its own perfect little movie where you watch him go there as this misfit and leave a man and a respected cowboy," Sheridan said on the Rodeo Time podcast.
He noted that viewers familiar with the cowboy world recognized Heath Ownbey, the real-life cattle manager of the Waggoner Ranch, in the show, making the portrayal ring true for them.
Rumors had circulated that the Texas ranch would be the setting for a dedicated spin-off series after a character relocated there. However, Sheridan confirmed that a fictionalized show based at the property will never happen.
"I would never fictionalize that ranch," he said.
Although people thought the series was going to be made, the showrunner insisted: "That's never gonna happen."
Sheridan explained that a full spin-off would involve making up lives and manufacturing storylines.
"Now I have to invent a drama. We can't just watch a kid learn how to rope every single episode," he said. "So now I'm trivializing and fictionalizing something where real people work and they raise their families there, and I could never do that to them."
He added that he is "very protective" of the ranch and "very, very careful" of the "big responsibility" of being the "person who has to protect that brand."
