Former Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy and the prolific Yellowstone and Landman creator Taylor Sheridan will be reuniting at NBCUniversal.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that McCarthy will help produce shows for NBCU and manage the company’s relationship with Sheridan, who is set to move his film deal to NBCU next year, and his TV output deal in 2029. Together, they’ll have to come up with a whole slew of new shows: Sheridan’s existing series will remain Paramount property.
McCarthy exited Paramount earlier this year after David Ellison and his Skydance acquired the media company from the Redstone family. McCarthy had been one of the three men occupying Paramount Global’s “Office of the CEO” following Bob Bakish’s (very rich) exit. George Cheeks is still there; Brian Robbins is not. The short version of the overly-complex org chart is that McCarthy oversaw cable and streaming, Cheeks did CBS, and Robbins ran the film division. McCarthy and Robbins got sweet golden parachutes, but no one was paid to not work at Paramount as much as Bakish.
Ellison is now sole CEO of Paramount Skydance; Cheeks still oversees CBS and took over McCarthy’s cable duties, but not streaming. That’s Cindy Holland’s new job.
As part of his previous role, McCarthy oversaw Sheridan’s universe of hits, which also include Yellowstone prequel 1923 and its prequel 1883. Sheridan is also behind the Sylvester Stallone-led Tulsa King, its own spinoff Nola King, and other series like Special Ops: Lioness and Mayor of Kingstown. Sheridan’s next next film, an action-thriller called F.A.S.T., is set up at Warner Bros.
It was NBCU chief Donna Langley who personally poached the cowboy Sheridan from Paramount. But she didn’t ride in on a horse — Langley backed up the Brink’s truck. Sheridan’s new deal is said to be worth as much as $1 billion, should his output there meet certain criteria. It now sounds like it also came with one cozy liaison of his choice.
Bloomberg first reported the move.