Taylor Sheridan is opening up about why he quit acting. Before he was a prolific writer and show creator, he was in front of the camera. Sheridan appeared on the drama Sons of Anarchy.
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However, ultimately, Sheridan quit the role after the network refused to pay his requested salary.
"I've taken my beatings," Sheridan said on Tuesday's Howard Stern Show. "The worst beating, which is also the greatest gift that I ever got, season 2 of Sons of Anarchy had ended, it's a very successful cable show, [and] I'm an actor making scale. I'd literally leave the set and go to my other job, because I didn't make enough on that show to pay my rent and live. So, after season 2, I told them, 'Guys, I'm not coming back and doing this again for this price.'"
Taylor Sheridan Talks Acting
He asked for $20,000 an episode at the time.
"They couldn't do it," he said. "We're not talking about an exorbitant amount of money, especially not in L.A. They said, 'We'll give you 15, and we'll guarantee you 10 episodes, that's all you're getting.' I do the math, and I said, 'That's not a raise. No.' My attorney responded to this business affairs guy, 'I've got kids on cooking shows on YouTube that make more than that,' and he goes, 'Then the guy should go get a cooking show on YouTube. We just don't have to pay him because there's 50 of that dude; I can recast him tomorrow.'"
Sheridan left the show at the beginning of season 3, with his character being killed.
"Call it pride or ego or integrity, but I just realized I've maxed out what I can do as an actor in this industry," he told Stern. "So I'm not going to try to do it anymore. And the people who have all the power are the people telling stories, so I'm going to tell my own stories. That's when I decided that I was going to write."
