Lights, Camera, Horned Frogs

On a blustery February morning, a collegiate track meet was springing to life at TCU’s Lowdon Track and Field Complex. Pop-up tents from most Big 12 schools dotted the track’s perimeter, while a noisy legion of purple-clad, flag-waving fans filled the stands. Student athletes wearing jerseys from around the conference stretched, warmed up and waited.

But this was no athletics contest. The faux meet was the scene for a new Paramount+ television series, Landman, a modern-day saga of fortune-seeking in the world of West Texas oil, with Jon Hamm and Billy Bob Thornton in starring roles. Co-creator and executive producer Taylor Sheridan once again set his newest project in Texas, and he created a pair of characters whose daughter is a Horned Frog athlete.

TCU supplied the location, athletic talent and a bevy of extras. The TCU athletes helping to create the illusion laughed about wearing uniforms from other colleges, even if just for a few hours.

TCU students serve as extras on “Landman,” portraying track athletes from several universities at a staged meet. Joining them in the photo are actress Demi Moore, director Taylor Sheridan and, in front of Sheridan, actress Dani Raen, who portrays TCU student-athlete Grace Miller in the episode. Photo by Amy Peterson

The track meet scene was brief, but weeks of preparation went into the half-day shoot. Hamm and Demi Moore play Monty and Cami Miller, who come to TCU to watch their daughter Grace compete. TCU runner Emma Seetoo ’24 provided half of the on-camera legwork, sharing the role with another actress clad in Horned Frog purple.

Spritzed with fake sweat by the makeup crew, Seetoo returned to the starting blocks for multiple retakes, careful to avoid huge cranes and camera equipment. Extras in the stands were instructed to clap and cheer enthusiastically but silently as the boom microphone hung over Moore, who shouted her lines first at her Horned Frog track star and then toward Hamm, whose distracted character was taking a phone call at the top of the stands.

Hundreds of TCU students, faculty and staff had been on-site since before dawn to be part of TV history.

Keeping it Real

Authenticity is everything to a good director.

“When Taylor Sheridan sets a scene at TCU, I have to try to make that happen,” said Robbie Friedman, Landman’s location manager.

Austin-based Friedman knows his way around Texas. His location manager credits include the shows Friday Night Lights and Fear the Walking Dead as well as the films No Country for Old Men and The Highwaymen.

The production team created a set in Fort Worth with all the trappings of a Texas bar. Photo by Amy Peterson

Friedman prepared for the TCU shoot for weeks, coordinating with representatives from athletics, marketing and communication, student activities and campus police.

The shoot day arrived, bringing near-perfect weather.

Writer/director/showrunner/producer Sheridan strode onto the set, capped with his trademark cowboy hat and looking more like a rancher than a creative maverick.

He is both.

Sheridan grew up in Fort Worth and attended Paschal High School — Sheridan Taylor Gibler Jr. in those days — where he mixed being a theater kid with weekend wrangling on his family’s ranch in Bosque County. After working as a TV actor in series including Walker, Texas Ranger and Sons of Anarchy, he transitioned to screenwriting, hoping to portray what he felt was a more realistic representation of the Lone Star State.

The plan worked. His screenplay for the film Hell or High Water earned Sheridan an Oscar nomination. Acclaim for the neo-Western film trilogy of Sicario (2015), Hell or High Water (2016) and Wind River (2017) led Esquire magazine to call him “our generation’s greatest Western storyteller” in 2018. Sheridan’s dramatic transition from struggling actor to prolific hitmaker is the stuff of movies — not unlike the themes in the popular “rope operas” he made so successful.

His Yellowstone, in its fifth season for Paramount+, was followed by two prequels, 1883 and 1923, and a spinoff, Lawmen: Bass Reeves. The latter, based on books by TCU Writing Center instructor Sidney Thompson, is the story of a once-enslaved man who became one of the first Black U.S. deputy marshals.

All were shot in Texas.

Sheridan lives in the area. He also bought the famous 6666 Ranch in Texas’ High Plains after owner and TCU benefactor Anne Marion died in 2020.

In 2022, he told Fort Worth Magazine: “I was such a terrible teenager; maybe I feel a sense of duty to give back a little. I’m going to try to film everything in Fort Worth for two reasons: I think it’s great for the city, and I’m pretty lazy. I don’t want to go anywhere.”

Billy Bob Thornton, as Tommy Norris, wrangles crises for his oil titan boss. Courtesy of Emerson Miller | Paramount+

Greenlighting the Purple

The Landman campus shoot almost didn’t happen.

A few months before Hamm emerged from a wardrobe trailer sporting a purple jacket, TCU had not been completely on board with taking on such a large project. The university’s first response was a polite no.

But Kit Moncrief, president of the Board of Trustees, is a longtime friend of Sheridan through ranching and Fort Worth circles; she interceded on his behalf.

After Friedman began talks with Merianne Roth, vice chancellor for marketing and communication, crucial TCU stakeholders came on board.

Brad Thompson, executive director of university events and community projects, addressed the obstacles, such as finding a space large enough for hundreds of extras to assemble without disrupting classes.

Athletics staff worked with the production company on the participation of TCU coaches and student-athletes. Campus police coordinated coverage to work overnight alongside security guards hired by the production company, 101 Studios. TCU’s social media managers solicited extras for the day.

TCU President Daniel W. Pullin greets director Taylor Sheridan during filming for the Paramount+ TV series “Landman.” Photo by Amy Peterson

Creating a Boomtown

No one is more excited about Sheridan shooting at TCU than Fort Worth producer and entrepreneur Red Sanders ’04. He co-founded the Fort Worth Film Commission with then Mayor Betsy Price and Visit Fort Worth 10 years ago with the goal of attracting a notable movie or TV show to the city.

Sheridan’s projects have turned their mission statement into reality.

“We had no idea that Taylor Sheridan would move back to his hometown and bring with him not just one but many large award-winning shows,” Sanders said.

In 2022, Sanders presented Sheridan with the Larry McMurtry Award on behalf of the Lone Star Film Society. The two have worked together and successfully lobbied for improved Texas film incentives, procuring the largest increase in state history — from $45 million per two-year budget to $200 million, starting in 2023.

“What Taylor is doing is a dream come true,” Sanders said. “They shot 1883 here, then Bass Reeves and then part of Yellowstone and now Landman. The long-term economic impact is enormous. Each show that they shoot here represents at least a hundred million dollars in local spending. They’re on their third show right now and are gearing up for the fourth. It really is a boomtown, thanks to them. And I love the way that they’ve involved TCU students.”

Sanders said he hopes those students will consider staying in Fort Worth after graduation — as he did when many of his film industry peers left for New York and Los Angeles — to help fill the growing production needs these shows demand.

Robbie Friedman, location manager for “Landman,” gives TCU students a tour of the bar set used in the production. Photo by Amy Peterson

Real World Experience

TCU faculty were eager to turn the campus shoot into a professional connection point for students, and Sheridan’s people allowed TCU students to shadow the production’s myriad professionals. Friedman, father to a teenage son, helped steward students during the shoot and a preproduction day.

Several dozen students took advantage of the opportunity to work with professionals in sound, camera, costuming, locations, props, electric, production assistance and art.

Tricia Jenkins, professor of film, television and digital media, said she appreciated the value of exposing students to a professional production.

“As professors, we can provide production training in the classroom, but 101 [Studios] provided an experiential learning opportunity we simply cannot replicate in scale or scope.”
Tricia Jenkins

“Taylor Sheridan’s commitment to move several of his television series back to his hometown of Fort Worth has led to a large production boom that we, as educators, are grateful to witness. 101 Studios generously opened up shadowing positions, going out of their way to provide a valuable and meaningful opportunity for each student, allowing them to ask questions on set and to network with folks in the industry. Our students could see what equipment is currently being used, learn more about set etiquette and absorb what it’s like to be on a major television shoot.

“As professors, we can provide production training in the classroom, but 101 provided an experiential learning opportunity we simply cannot replicate in scale or scope,” she said. “We are so grateful.”

Standing in the early chill of the shoot day, junior Latham Hallgren, a film, television and digital media major, shared his takeaway of “how much of a jack-of-all-trades person you need to be to improvise and learn while you encounter problems on a set.” The photography minor said he hopes to “jump into the film industry” and noted that “one of the most important aspects of working on a shoot is to be someone that others will want to be around when problems arise.”

Anna Christy ’24, a double major in film, television and digital media and in strategic communication, said the experience boosted her confidence.

“Opportunities like these are super valuable, as we’re able to network with the growing film scene in Fort Worth and make these important connections. While it’s typical to start as a production assistant, at a certain point you have to assert what you want to do on set and find someone who will let you do that. That voice of confidence will remain in the back of my mind, telling me to put myself out there.”

Just like a certain pioneering filmmaker and Texas oil wildcatters both real and fictional, Horned Frogs know the value of dreaming big and putting themselves in the right place at the right time.

Stay tuned.