New Paramount+ series "Landman" has deep North Texas ties
FORT WORTH — A new series on Paramount Plus that premiered over the weekend has strong Texas ties, with the city of Fort Worth in a starring role.
The show is called "Landman" and portrays the challenging profession of managing land in the Texas oil and gas industry. The series is one of many hit shows directed by Taylor Sheridan, who also directed Yellowstone, and follows the modern story of landman Tommy Norris, played by Billy Bob Thornton.
In the first two episodes, released on Sunday, Norris is confronted with diverse challenges and dangerous, like being interrogated by the cartel and oil rigs blowing up.
So, the question CBS News Texas wanted to know—is it all accurate?
"We don't make deals with bags on our heads," said Nancy McCaskill, the president of the American Association of Professional Landmen. "We don't run around and put out fires. Very few of us have incurred explosions."
AAPL is headquartered in Fort Worth and represents more than 12,000 landmen across the country. McCaskill admits the show does embellish her profession but is fairly accurate.
"I will say we all have stories to tell. We've all had shotguns pulled on us at some time in our lives," McCaskill said. "We've had people threaten us. But for the most part, we do negotiate surface leases. We're the spokespeople of the land."
What is a Landman?
According to the AAPL, the landman, short for "land manager," is the public-facing side of an oil, gas, mineral or other energy sources exploration and production team that interacts and negotiates directly with landowners to acquire leases for the exploration and development of minerals or other energy sources.
The City of Fort Worth has a starring role in the series, with several scenes filmed around the area such as the Petroleum Club of Fort Worth, a West Camp Bowie gas station, and even a scene filmed at the AAPL headquarters.
McCaskill said, coincidentally enough, when the show producers were scouting for office sites and chose APPL's office, they had no idea it was the landman national headquarters.
Dozens of North Texas landmen attended a watch party for Sunday night's premiere.
Landman broker Sean Foster said he's happy with the show's depiction.
"The show actually has conversations that we really do have to have on a fairly frequent basis," Foster said. "One thing withheld from the show, though, is the hours countless hours a day that you spend, really, just behind the screen looking at spreadsheets."
McCaskill and Foster said landmen are in more demand than ever due to the increasing popularity of solar, wind, and energy needed to power artificial intelligence. They hope the new series draws more people to their profession.
"I hope people understand that energy is important and vital to our lives," McCaskill said. "I want people to know that we're here to talk and to try to make a deal and to figure out what the best ways are to move our energy forward."
APPL is also planning to start a podcast that will review the show after new episodes are released.