Calling All ‘Landman’ Fans! You Can Now Audit a College Course Inspired by the Taylor Sheridan Show—for Free
And you just might be an extra while you're at it! Texas Christian University is also one of the show's locations
If you’re a fan of the Taylor Sheridan show Landman and want to learn more about what it takes to be a real landman, now is your chance! Texas Christian University (TCU)—which is where Ainsley Norris (Michelle Randolph) got accepted to in Season 2—recently started a Landman-inspired course that centers around the job. To learn more about the class, including how to audit it, keep scrolling!
What to know about the TCU landman program
TCU’s landman program is offered through the Neeley School of Business and is centered around what a landman actually does.
“Initially, it was almost a wait-a-minute, timeout,” Tom Seng, Ed.D., an assistant professor of professional practice and energy finance, told CBS News.”Let’s explain to the young people here at TCU what [a landman does]. No cartel fighting. No planes blowing up.”
Dr. Seng says that, in reality, most landmen negotiate land and mineral rights for energy companies. In the case of Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton), that can be seen when he’s discussing the land surrounding the M-Tex oil rigs. Viewers also see his son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) being a landman of sorts when he tries to start his own company at the end of Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2.
None of those plotlines could have happened without the characters being educated on the energy business, which is what Dr.Seng, who created the eight-week course, hopes to achieve during his classes.
“I think coming through a course like this, they would be able to impress an oil and gas company in an interview,” the assistant professor said. “They would walk into an internship understanding what they’re going to be asked to do.”
Students also watch clips of Landman to help illustrate what really happens on an oil site.
“Obviously, without the series, I don’t think there would be this level of interest,” Dr. Seng said. “But at the entry-level land positions, there is demand for young people to step in and carry this forward.”
How to enroll in the TCU landman program
For people wanting to enroll in the program, all they have to do is email Dr.Seng at t.seng@tcu.edu and ask to audit the course. Doing so is free, but the auditor won’t receive any credit for completing it.
Even so, students of the course highly recommend it. Student Natalia Delgadillo told CBS, “When I walked in, I was a little intimidated. I saw a bunch of guys. But now that I know there are women in this industry, it makes me more excited to learn about it.”
She also said that being able to see the TCU campus in Season 2 of Landman was “pretty cool.”
Other students agree, with Adelaide Lovett recalling to TCU how exciting the whole thing was, especially since Sheridan allowed them work on the show while they were filming there.
“I had worked in film through high school, so to get to see how a large-scale production functions, in all of the specific roles involved, even with costuming, was a really cool experience,” Lovett said. “I did not expect to see how efficient everything ran, or the scale. I was very shocked, walking into the trailers, to see that there were not just duplicates of outfits, but seven of the same shirt. And then there were different stages for the same shirt. So, it’s very precise, and it’s an art and a science, too.”
Merianne Roth, vice chancellor for TCU marketing and communication, added onto that, saying, “Taylor Sheridan and his production teams have provided hundreds of TCU students with professional film industry experience that’s already resulted in real-world work experience, internships and jobs.”
“The experience offers material benefits for our students, and we love being a filming location. It brings incredible energy to campus. It’s not meant to be a commercial nor represent real characters, though. It’s pretty clear that this is good television in its most compelling, comedic and dramatic form,” she concluded.
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