Young County approves road closures for TV show

The filming of the Paramount Pictures television show “Landman” will occur next week in Young County with approved road closures starting next Wednesday.

In a special called Young County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday, March 5, the commissioners and members of the public heard a presentation from location managers with Paramount Pictures regarding the use of a road in Loving to film a scene for the upcoming television show.

The portion of the road the studio will be using is on Hwy. 16 between Turtle Hole Road and Oliver Lane. During the time of the road closure, truck and commercial travelers’ primary detour option will be Red Top Road between Graham and Hwy. 114. For local, non-commercial vehicles, detour signs will be placed on Hwy. 16 to direct traffic on side roads around the closure.

The primary closure dates will be Wednesday, March 13 through Monday, March 18. Secondary dates the road will be closed for filming are Wednesday, March 27 and Tuesday, April 16.

Prior to and after the closure dates for filming, the county will experience heavy traffic due to the studio moving equipment and people. Dates that will see heavy traffic are: March 11-12, Tuesday, March 19; Tuesday, March 26; Thursday, March 28; Monday, April 15 and Wednesday, April 17.

“We've talked with our team. Originally, we were thinking that we were going to need three full weeks of highway closures so that we can set up and do all this stuff and make it right and do rehearsals and everything else,” said Dustin Daniels, Paramount Pictures location manager. “We understand that that's just too much of a burden for any county or any community to bear closures of that long. So we've scaled back our request considerably. And now just for the first part of it, we're looking at about four or five days of actual closure on that first part.

“... We think that first part is going to be the biggest, it's going to be the stunt and all that, then we have a couple more single off days where we'd like to come back.”

The scene the studio will film on the Young County road involves a collision between a small airplane and an oil tanker, which would cause an explosion.

Daniels and his partners have spent a significant amount of time searching for the perfect road on which to film this stunt and were close to giving up before they found the spot on Hwy. 16 that fit the description perfectly.

“We finally found this piece of road that just is absolutely perfect for us,” Daniels said. “Not only that, but it actually looks like Midland a little bit out there, because that's where (the show is) supposed to be. And so it's kind of flat, you don't have a lot of trees, it's just really nice.”

With filming set to take place next week and the road closures approved and in place, Young County will see an influx in business, particularly in the hotels and restaurants.

“We have a crew of 250 people and that doesn't include our vendors. So then our vendors will also have some of the folks that they (bring) up, as well,” Daniels said.

Daniels and the studio have been in communication with the Texas Department of Transportation, Young County Sheriff’s Office and other local emergency departments to ensure that this event will be as little of an inconvenience as possible. The studio has also contacted Graham ISD and the postal service to keep them informed on schedules and routes.

Due to the nature of the stunt involving pyrotechnics, local fire departments and YCSO have all been made aware of what will be happening. The studio has its own safety measures in place, but the county has been given updates, as well.

“I'm personally excited about this,” Young County Judge Win Graham said. “I know it's a logistical nightmare and I know that it's going to cause inconveniences for citizens and law enforcement, safety and TxDOT, but it'll be a neat project. Once we get through that it'll be neat to say that we're part of it and… people kind of follow around scenes and shows that make it big.”