Screenwriter Lauren Jay Sulkin accused Taylor Sheridan of using her idea in Yellowstone . The lawsuit was filed on Friday and names 101 Studios, Paramount and Elevate Entertainment as defendants.
According to Sulkin, in 2016 she pitched her project Sovereign Nation, a large-scale Western drama about the struggle for land and influence, to Elevate Entertainment. She claimed she received rejections for the Sheridan job, but Yellowstone was greenlit by Paramount a few months later. In the lawsuit, Sulkin claims that the series’ creators actually used material from her project.
Among the alleged coincidences, the authors cite the casino where the tribe’s political and economic power is concentrated, conflicts over reservation expansion, use of trust lands and 99-year leases, and a description of the area’s master plan. Sulkin also claimed that she suggested actors Danny Huston and Gil Birmingham, both of whom would later appear in Yellowstone, be involved in the project.
Lawyers for the screenwriter argued that a combination of plot and visual similarities, development time and access to her material indicated plagiarism.
