Mayor Of Kingstown Marked A Major Milestone For Taylor Sheridan's Creative Journey

If you think that after leaving his acting career behind, Taylor Sheridan headed straight to Montana to map out the Dutton dynasty with "Yellowstone," think again. According to the man himself, the Dutton family weren't the first characters he aimed to bring to life when he tried his hand at screenwriting. Instead, he penned the pilot to "Mayor of Kingstown," the Jeremy Renner-led series that has recently been renewed for its fifth and final season.

In a one-to-one interview with writer, director, and longtime pal Peter Berg for Gold Derby, Sheridan revealed that he paid a visit to Kingstown long before he found himself walking up to the doorstep of the Dutton household. "The first thing I ever wrote was the pilot episode of 'Mayor of Kingstown,'" recalled Sheridan. "The idea came to me from a friend of mine who's on the show and executive producer of the show, and a lightning bolt clicked in my head. And as we were discussing this idea, and I said, 'Let me write this down.'"

That friend was Hugh Dillon, the co-creator of the drama, and together the pair dreamed up the Paramount+ hit. However, before Sheridan could put a script together, some technical issues hampered his first steps of his creative journey that would make him one of the biggest names in Hollywood. As a result, it was up to his wife, Nicole Muirbrook, to step in to save the day.

Taylor Sheridan might be the brains behind "Lioness," "Tulsa King," and a handful of "Yellowstone" spin-offs (including the upcoming CBS drama "Marshals"), but some credit belongs to Nicole Muirbrook, who made a crucial purchase to get his writing career going. With Mike McLusky's world unraveling in Sheridan's head at lightning pace, he quickly got to work on mapping out the life of "Mayor of Kingstown."

"It was about 8 at night. My wife got me Final Draft at Staples, and I put it on my computer, which was its own challenge," Sheridan explained to Berg. "I still use the oldest version. My version of Final Draft is so old, if I sent you a script, your Final Draft wouldn't open it." Working through the night, Sheridan put together his first pilot script, applying a method that has clearly stood the test of time in his career.

"By 7 in the morning, I had a script, and I told myself, 'I have no idea how to do this, but I have a 20-year education on how not to do it,'" Sheridan added. This wasn't, of course, the last time that Sheridan would develop a pilot overnight. He would later write the "Tulsa King" pilot in record time. With nine shows and counting under his belt, it's safe to say that Sheridan's model has clearly paid off.