Paramount+ Boss Teases There’s “A Lot More Coming” From ‘Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan

Paramount+ knows that it has a good thing with Taylor Sheridan, and it doesn’t plan to abandon that anytime soon. At the Television Critics Association’s 2023 winter tour, Decider spoke with Chief Programming Officer Tanya Giles about everything from the super producer, to Paramount+’s movie strategy.

“The appetite for this content is so voracious. We’re trying to keep up with the demand and keep up with Taylor [Sheridan]’s ability to do that,” Giles told Decider. “There’s a lot more coming, new stuff is still coming. This year, Tulsa King just ended, Mayor of Kingstown is coming back, and then we have more this summer.”

Though Yellowstone is a Paramount Network show, the drama isn’t currently available on Paramount+ due to streaming rights. When asked if Paramount+ is working on regaining the streaming rights to the mega-hit, Giles deferred, saying “So much has been written about that, so I won’t retread. Where we have been focusing is in telling the Dutton story from other angles and really fleshing out that desire for the audience… There’s so much to be told around modern day Yellowstone, and we’re very happy with that.”

Giles also peeled back the curtain a bit when it came to Paramount+’s movie strategy. The service has become the go-to streaming home for Paramount Pictures. Recently, Top Gun: Maverick broke the streamer’s own record to become the most-watched movie premiere for Paramount+.

“We’ve been a great beneficiary of the success of Paramount Pictures — six number one hits in the box office. And then when they come to our service, they are number one immediately. What we love about the movies is that they are a great conduit to a content journey. We see people sign up to Paramount+, like ‘I want to see this movie. I didn’t get to the theater for Smile, but now I can watch it here,'” Giles said.

And of particular note, Giles added that viewers weren’t just signing up for the movies, then jetting after they’ve watched. “We find that we are not getting a churn,” Giles continued. “Instead, the opposite. We get them moving into series. We get them to other genres.”

Speaking of Paramount Pictures, Giles said that the studio side of the business is constantly looking to its “rich history” to mine new adaptations and spinoffs. Two of the streamer’s flashier premieres this year — the Grease prequel, Rise fo the Pink Ladies, and the series reimagining of Fatal Attraction — stem from iconic movies from the studio. When it comes to figuring out which movies may work for a Paramount+ spinoff, Giles says they look for two things: a creative approach that speaks to today’s moment; and fandom.

“You have to think about ‘Where is there so much energy?’ And there’s so much energy around Grease. It has traversed decades, it has traversed generations,” Giles said. “So it’s thinking about those fandoms and where is there more to mine?”