This post was created with GANGGANG as part of an Indy Maven newsletter Guest Editor issue with Malina Bacon.
It was spring 2020. You know where you were. The world and our options were completely locked down. I quarantined solo and had become a plant mom three times over. My own human mother, who unknowingly survived the virus, looked at me during the quagmire of the pandemic and reacted to my hateful and dramatic mood of the experience. “You need to get back to acting,” she said confidently. Sobering words. It was exactly what I needed, and it was my “aha moment”—the one many of us were forced into after isolation in our homes and in our thoughts.
I started acting at 13. I knew then that I was born for the stage and meant for the camera. My parents believed it, too, and sacrificed their very hard-earned money to afford a degree for me in theatre from Ball State University’s College of Fine Arts.
I clawed for years to find my place in TV, film, and theater and how all of that could work in Indianapolis—or not. I’ve done it all—short films, on-stage productions, national commercials, and major films. In 2020, the industry drastically and suddenly changed, and I committed to change with it. To fall back in love with the art and thus back in love with myself. The camera is a film actor’s best friend. It will never lie, and you can’t lie to it. That’s what I love the most about film and TV. So, I went back to class, and almost all of it was virtual—a huge difference for people who deliberately work in person with each other.
By the time we were fully “outside” again, I had landed roles in Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans, and the Chicago markets. I did it! I became a working, Indy-based actor but one who didn’t work in her home city. One year, I had six roles in Atlanta with an incredible new network and connections on set. It begged for questions and answers about staying in Indy or being where opportunity seemed to abound. I had a virtual callback (the next step in an audition process) with an LA director who asked where I was based. When I told him Indy, he flatly said, “Your face is made for film; you need to get the hell out of Indianapolis!” He didn’t cast me for that role and left me seriously thinking about relocating to a market where I could build the career and life I wanted. In this business, I say relationship is King, but proximity is Queen.
My roots are in Indianapolis, though. I’ve been born and raised here; this is home. My grandfather, who migrated from the south in the 1950s, worked on some of the buildings in our downtown skyline. As an artist, of course, I want to be able to work and raise my family here.
Do I have to leave home to thrive and make a real living in film and TV? Well, if there is transportation to other opportunities, not really. But can I make a living solely on film and TV opportunities in Indianapolis? Not really. Indianapolis is brimming with talent. Our city is seriously FULL of talent, but we need more infrastructure.
When an opportunity presented itself for my residency at the Indianapolis Black Theatre Company, I jumped at it. It’s a way to stay rooted. Our city breeds legends and greats. Check the receipts. We have the capacity to do great things. Now, think of an Indy equipped to keep the legends in our city. We have work to do.
Temara Payton is WISH-TV’s Beauty Expert and the founder of Eighty One Face and Body, an all-natural, luxury, unisex face and body care brand.
