Written by Shona Smith on Jun 21, 2019. Posted in Production News

Utah and Montana shot drama Yellowstone renewed for a third season

Co-created by academy award nominated writer Taylor Sheridan (Sicario, Hell or High Water) and Jon Linson (Sons of Anarchy, Lords of Dogtown), the series revolves around the Dutton family who own and manage the largest ranch in the United States.

Bordering the Yellowstone National Park, the family is on the offensive as real estate developers and other interests circle. The series is shot in Montana and Utah, where both on location filming and soundstages are utilised.

Set against the expansive wilderness, the series has become a flagship program for Paramount Network. It’s first season was 2018’s most watched new cable series, and overall the second most watched cable series of the year. Although the second season has only just premiered, the network has already renewed the modern day western.

Various locations in Utah and Montana can be seen in the series. A number of historic ranches in Montana, as well as the Crow Indian reservation and landscapes in the Bitterroot Valley. Soundstages at the Utah Film Studio in Park City is used for interiors.

In comments to Deadline about his vision for the newly formed Paramount Network, the rebrand of Viacom’s Spike channel, Kent Alterman, President of Comedy Central, Paramount Network, and TV Land said “the first thing we did is we think about, what’s the implication of the name, Paramount Network? It’s movies, that’s the first thing that your mind would go to. And what’s the essence of movies?...We really want things to be cinematic with really great storytelling and have complex, nuanced, complicated characters where the setting is almost like a prime character of the whole piece…The best example of that is Yellowstone”.

Paramount has also ordered a reality series Last Cowboy from series co-creator Taylor Sheridan about competitors on the ‘reigning’ competition circuit – where competitors guide horses through a complicated pattern. Sheridan explains that “the grit, beauty and tenacity of the West are linked to America’s legacy and my creative dive has been to explore those, in all their complexities, in film and scripted television”.

From July 1 2019, Montana will operate a 20% production expenditure tax credit, with additional components that can increase the transferable credit to a maximum of 35% of total base production investment. Some of these components include 20% of above the line compensation per production or television series season, with an upper limit, 10% of all in-studio facility and equipment rental expenditures, and 25% of compensation for Montana resident crews. There is no minimum spend, and productions are exempt from sales tax.

Utah has an incentive program offering up to 25% tax credit or cash rebate on qualified Utah spend. There is no per-project cap on the tax credit but productions must spend at least USD1 million while working in the state