Taylor Sheridan, Paramount Sued For Allegedly Stealing Idea For 'Yellowstone'

Taylor Sheridan, Paramount, and NBCUniversal are all being sued by a woman who claims she came up with the building blocks for "Yellowstone" ... and she says they stole her idea.

Lauren J. Salkin -- an entertainment journalist and TV writer -- filed the federal lawsuit in California against several parties Friday ... claiming that in 2016 and 2017 she submitted a pilot script and additional materials for a show titled "Sovereign Nation" to Taylor's production company.

She says she knows these materials were reviewed because she received a note from Elevate Entertainment that reads, "Taylor thanks you very much for your interest. Unfortunately, he's unavailable for TV projects."

However, she says within months, Paramount greenlit Sheridan's show "Yellowstone" ... which aired its first episode in June 2018. Salkin says the similarities between her show and Taylor's are too numerous to be a coincidence.

Lauren provides a character-by-character breakdown ... claiming the main cast members are rip-offs of her own ideas.

She adds that certain plotlines -- including the war over land and development in the show -- and the general tone are similar to her original concept.

Lauren's suing for copyright infringement and seeking an injunction to prevent continuing and future infringement of her work ... plus unspecified damages, including profits from "Yellowstone."