Real Landman in Texas: TV Show Exaggerates, But Hits Some Marks

Understanding the Role of a Landman

Matt Toohey has spent years working as a landman in Texas and Ohio, and he's been a dedicated viewer of the hit show "Landman." He even co-hosted a podcast discussing the series. While he admits the show is overly dramatic, it gets some details right.

Toohey, who is 42 and currently serves as a land manager at Forge Energy III in San Antonio, Texas, says that the scenes involving cartels aren't realistic but do highlight a real aspect of the work. His experience as a landman spans nearly two decades, and he has a clear understanding of where the show excels and where it falls short.

What Exactly Is a Landman?

Landmen are essentially middlemen for the oil and gas industry. They are responsible for acquiring the contracts that allow companies to drill wells. This involves dealing with thousands of acres and figuring out who owns the oil and gas in those areas. Companies rely on landmen to negotiate land rights and secure deals.

Toohey worked as a landman before his current role, where he handles business development and manages land. Even though he has moved into a different position, he still considers himself a landman at heart.

The Daily Life of a Landman

The daily routine of a landman can be quite varied depending on the location and project. Some focus solely on courthouse work, while others deal with buying land. Toohey has worked in many roles, from running title to securing leases and managing deals.

In his early career, he often spent days in the courthouse, trying to figure out who owned minerals and surface rights across hundreds of acres. This involved reviewing thousands of documents to piece together the necessary information for drilling wells.

Now, most of his day-to-day work is done in the office. He rarely goes into the field, but he sometimes meets with landowners and partners. Overall, his job might not make for great TV.

The Show’s Exaggerations and Realities

The show "Landman" exaggerates in many ways, according to Toohey. He doesn't have action-packed meetings with cartel leaders, for example. From a high-level perspective, the show did well in bits and pieces, but there are some significant inaccuracies, likely for cinematic effect.

One major issue is that landmen are rarely, if ever, involved in the actual drilling process. They aren't the ones putting out fires on location, and any situations where the character played by Billy Bob Thornton is operating the well are completely off-base. Maybe landmen would have done that 40 or 50 years ago, but now there are entire teams within companies that handle such tasks.

Real-World Challenges

While the scenes with the cartel are an extreme exaggeration, Toohey finds them interesting. He acknowledges that landmen do deal with all sorts of owners, from farmers to elderly individuals collecting mailbox money. He suggests that if you take some of the situations in the show and dilute them by 10,000-fold, you get a sense of the challenges they face every day.

Accuracy and Excitement for Season Two

Certain components of the show are pretty accurate, and Toohey is excited for season two. The series does a good job of understanding the lingo of the business and depicting the landman as the company middleman. It also shows how many aspects of business the landman can touch.

The plot line about the landman and his colleagues sharing a house isn't totally uncommon. Toohey recalls that when he was working in Ohio, his bosses were from Texas, so they rented houses and condos while working on projects.

Final Thoughts

Toohey's friends who co-hosted the podcast with him wrestled with whether they're glad the show exists, but he didn't have much doubt. Some parts of the script about the minutiae of this business were well-researched, and it brought the head-butting between clean energy and oil and gas to the forefront.

When season two comes out, Toohey will probably watch every episode, even with the added drama.