How Taylor Sheridan, ex-con co-author of ‘How to Not Die in Prison’ me

Taylor Sheridan met his latest collaborator at the gym.

The Fort Worth-raised creative opened up about his new book, How to Not Die in Prison, on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. The book is co-written by ex-con Tom Nelson and released on June 23.

After Rogan asked about how the book came together, Sheridan told the story of how he and Nelson met and ultimately wrote the prison travel guide.

Sheridan met Nelson years ago in Los Angeles.

The meeting came at a gym they both frequented, where Sheridan was taken aback by how “yoked” and tattoo-clad Nelson was. The two became friends and one day, Sheridan asked Nelson what he’s been up to and said he’s currently working at a vitamin shop but wants to get into personal training.

Sheridan told Rogan that it was “kind of weird” to hear that since Nelson was in his 40s. Sheridan then asked Nelson if he’s always lived in California, to which he said he’d just recently arrived in Los Angeles after spending 17 years in prison. Finally, one day Sheridan asked Nelson what happened.

“He’s like, ‘Oh, I was a [expletive] criminal, dude,’ ” Sheridan said. “Like, biggest drug dealer in Hollywood and armed robbery and ran over a DEA agent.”

Nelson discovered fitness while inside and wanted to pursue personal training when he got out.

Eventually Nelson opened up his own place, which became the biggest independent private training gym in Hollywood, Sheridan said. After some time passed, and in the midst of shooting Yellowstone, Sheridan heard from Nelson, who said that he wrote a movie about his life.

Sheridan read the script and described it as 1990s-style action vehicle like The Rock, if only the criminals were celebrated. Still, Sheridan said the script was good and passed it along to some producers, but nothing ever came to fruition.

Fast-forward to 2020 during the pandemic, Sheridan reaches out to Nelson about where he buys his gym equipment, since the Yellowstone cast is stuck on the ranch due to COVID restrictions. Nelson says that his gym is shut down and that he’ll sell Sheridan anything he wants and ultimately did sell several pieces to him.

Finally, Sheridan said Nelson called him around 18 months ago and told him he was in a bad way.

“He goes, ‘I’m a single father, I got a 5-year-old kid, I got [expletive] colon cancer, I’m [expletive] dying, and I’m tapped out, dude,’ ” Sheridan said.

“[Nelson said] ‘I’m a [expletive] 60-year-old felon, I can’t get a job, I can’t do anything. Is there any work on your movies or anything that I could do’?”

Sheridan’s first act was to fly Nelson to Texas, where he got a second opinion from a doctor who said the mass wasn’t cancerous.

Next up, Sheridan told Nelson that he could get him a job as a production assistant, but the pay and hours wouldn’t be ideal, especially with a young kid at home. Nelson then asked if Sheridan could spot him for a few months, to which he said that he has a “100% failure rate” of loaning money to friends.

Finally, Sheridan thought about Nelson’s history and told him that he wanted to make a prison travel guide for the accidental inmate.

Sheridan bought several travel guides for research, and the duo got to work. After writing three chapters, they took the book to Simon & Schuster and landed a deal.

“It walks you through day one, how to navigate the yard, being processed in, the food, the commissary, the gangs, the diseases, prison riots, how to get a job in there, how to [expletive] make a shiv, how to do everything,” Sheridan said. “It is a tour guide to prison.”

Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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