The Rundown Take
Building Their Own Hollywood: Pavi Vega & C.K. Mulford on "Honey + Lemon" and Making It Without Waiting for a Yes
Another special edition of U Talk Winning At The Game Of Life brought two Orlando-based creatives into the building: actress Pavi Vega and writer-director C.K. Mulford. Devin and Larry Frank Jr. sat down with the pair to talk entrepreneurship, the grind of independent film and TV, and their in-development psychological thriller "Honey + Lemon" — a show built from the ground up with no industry connections to lean on.
Key Takeaways
- Pavi Vega is a former Rutgers track athlete (seventh in Florida in the 100m and 200m in 2006) turned actress since 2015; C.K. Mulford is a Miami native and University of Florida grad who cut his teeth on sets for The Walking Dead, Single Ladies, The Blind Side and the NFL Network.
- "Honey + Lemon," a psychological thriller centered on a black female serial killer, has been in development for about two years with director Wes Miller attached and funding already secured.
- Mulford wrote spec scripts for Insecure and Hung as part of building his industry portfolio.
- Their pilot episode took seven days and roughly 100 hours to shoot for 58 minutes of finished footage.
- New YouTube projects on deck: a series called Drop, and another titled BDSW launching in September, ahead of a feature film planned for spring.
The Adversity Nobody Talks About
Pavi didn't dodge the hard part: as a dark-skinned black actress without the "acceptable look" the industry often favors, she said she's routinely cast to fill a diversity quota rather than because a role fits her. Mulford added that breaking in without established connections means knocking on doors that mostly stay shut — so the plan is to self-produce and self-distribute rather than wait on an executive producer to open one.
Advice for Someone Starting From Zero
Asked what to tell an aspiring writer or actor with no roadmap, both were blunt: get in the door any way possible — even if that means taking out the trash at a station or production company — and start doing the craft immediately rather than waiting to feel ready. Mulford cautioned against expensive acting schools in favor of short workshops, and Pavi stressed finding at least one real support system, pointing to a writer she knew who waited 25 years before his story got picked up.
Inspirations and the Long Game
Mulford named Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul writer Vince Gilligan, along with Spike Lee and Gina Prince-Bythewood, as creative influences; Pavi pointed to Viola Davis, Tina Turner and Issa Rae as proof that starting later in life or building your own lane is a viable path. Both laid out a decade-plus vision: three shows running multiple seasons, produced films with real impact, and generational wealth built so their kids never have to fight the same battles to break in.