“Let’s replace him with someone cheaper”: Taylor Sheridan’s Humiliation By TV Showrunner Led to Him Becoming The Most Celebrated Writer-Director in Hollywood

Taylor Sheridan has brought in groundbreaking projects that fans couldn’t help but be hooked on. Though, the high demand for his content consumption was not always the same as he used his years of acting experience to elevate his other skills like writing and directing. He used to do odd jobs to sustain himself before a Chicago talent agency discovered him in Austin.

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Since then, he devoted himself to acting looking for an opportunity to get his breakthrough in Hollywood. He struggled quite a lot in his acting career before an event changed his life completely.

Taylor Sheridan Got Off from Acting Gig After Utter Humiliation

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Taylor Sheridan was making ends meet when he landed a recurring role of Deputy Chief David Hale as one of the supporting cast in Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy. While this could have been a breakthrough for him, it turned out to be his breaking point in the acting field. The change in trajectory happened when he asked for a pay raise in the hope of having a bright future in the series ahead but the outcome was entirely different from what he would have ever imagined. 

He recalled a business attorney giving him a taste of the harsh reality. 

“When my attorney said, ‘Look, there are kids on the Cartoon Network making more than you’re offering this guy,’ this jerk business affairs attorney goes, ‘He probably deserves to make more, but we’re not going to pay him more, because guess what? He’s not worth more.”

He further continued, 

“There are 50 of him. He is 11 on the call sheet. That’s what that guy is and that’s all he’s ever going to be.”

This humiliation was more than enough of a reason for him to detach himself from the show. 

“That’s really when I quit [because] that’s how the business saw me: ‘Let’s replace him with someone cheaper.’”

He chose to risk his career as he shared,

“And I decided that I didn’t want to be 11 on the call sheet for the rest of my life.”

He eventually quit the show but it was quite the peak for him as he had to find something that could give him a new string of hope to make his life smooth. That was the time when he brought in his best talent.

Taylor Sheridan’s Post-Humiliation Trajectory Made Him Who He Is!

Also Read: “I thought it would be unifying”: Taylor Sheridan’s Own Life Frustrations Led to $37M Crime Drama with Chris Pine That Landed Him an Oscar Nomination

After exiting the crime drama franchise, he knew that he had to do something that would reflect his experience or his thoughts which is how he ventured into writing. Soon after that, he expanded his portfolio by also adding his producer and director and show running positions.

 Elsewhere, he mentioned, 

“I wanted to tell stories that mattered to me, and not tell other people’s stories. I wanted to tell stories about my life and the lifestyle that I grew up in, and the world that I came from.”

As he had in-depth experience and insight into the industry from its bottom, he knew what would he wanted his audience to watch. This eventually led to several amazing projects like the renowned Yellowstone franchise, Sicario, Hell or High Water, Tulsa King, and Wind River. 

Source: Deadline