Taylor Sheridan donates ‘1883’ and ‘Yellowstone’ scripts to a Texas archive
Taylor Sheridan is making a big donation to the university he attended more than 30 years ago.
Texas State University announced Thursday, Oct. 2, that the school’s Witliff Collections will be the new home of Sheridan’s creative archive. After graduating from R.L. Paschal High School in Fort Worth, Sheridan attended Texas State as a theatre major until he dropped out in 1991. Earlier this spring, Texas State gave Sheridan an honorary doctorate.
The archive will grow in stages, beginning with drafts of Sheridan’s early scripts, and drafts and papers related to his films “Sicario,” “Hell or High Water” and “Wind River.”
Drafts of the pilot episodes of “Yellowstone,” “1883” and “1923” will also be part of the collection, according to the university.
“There’s hardly another American writer whose work would be more at home here,” said Carrie Fountain, Wittliff Collections literary curator, in a press release. “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.”
More on Taylor Sheridan
Sheridan began his entertainment career as an actor three decades ago.
From episodes of “Walker, Texas Ranger” and “Party of Five” to “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” and “Star Trek: Enterprise,” Sheridan worked steadily as an actor from the late ‘90s to early ‘00s. His longest tenured acting job was on the biker series “Sons of Anarchy” as Deputy Chief David Hale for 21 episodes from 2008 to 2010.
Sheridan’s first screenwriting credit would come in 2015’s “Sicario,” an action-thriller about the drug war along the U.S. and Mexico border. “Hell or High Water,” a film he wrote then released just one year later, and which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
In 2017, Sheridan wrote and directed the crime thriller “Wind River” about a murder on a Native American reservation. But three movies in three years was just the beginning for Sheridan’s Hollywood career.
The Paramount Network premiered the Sheridan co-created series “Yellowstone” in 2018 to much acclaim. From then on, Paramount would stay in business with Sheridan.
In 2021, two Sheridan-created shows premiered on Paramount+: “Mayor of Kingstown” and the “Yellowstone” prequel “1883.” By 2022, Paramount+ rolled out a couple more Sheridan shows in “Tulsa King” and another “Yellowstone” prequel, “1923.”
“Lioness” and “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” premiered in 2023, followed by the Billy Bob Thornton-led “Landman” last year.
