Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500164
6 0 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 3 Last year I thought 1883, the Yellowstone prequel that stretched from Texas to Montana, was an insane adventure. That is was—but nothing compared to 1923, the sequel to the prequel. It began last summer at the same time Yellowstone was shooting season five in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. It was late June and the production had no scripts, just a December 12 air date. Everyone knew our schedule would be extremely tight. We also knew that the Bitterroot could not accommodate both productions and that we would have to find another Montana location for 1923. What was I looking for? A town that had been a "modern" city in the 1920s but whose glory days had long since passed. A place that needed and would welcome the economic benefits that hosting a major TV production would provide. Somewhere with an extensive historic district that encompassed commercial and residential buildings representing a variety of turn-of-the- century architectural styles. Several locations were eliminated that were too booming or hard to control (including Bozeman, the Montana town in which 1923 is set). Then the production scouted Butte, which I knew would be the perfect place even before we got there. Butte had been a copper mining boom town in the late 1800s and early 1900s and was known as "The Richest Hill on Earth." Uptown Butte boasted ornate mansions and an assortment of plain to stunning commercial buildings, many unoccupied or underutilized, just sitting there looking like they did in 1923. I'd scouted Butte several years before—it didn't work for that show, but I recall thinking to myself, "this would A D e v e l o p i n g t h e D u t t o n S a g a 1 9 2 3 B Y C A R Y W H I T E , P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R Working for Taylor Sheridan has always been an adventure. A. EXT. YELLOWSTONE LODGE BUILT ON LOCATION. SET PHOTO. B. EXT. ELEVATION OF YELLOWSTONE LODGE DRAWN BY JIM HEWITT. BUILT ON LOCATION.