Nataša Mrlinová: Turning Life’s Twists into Cinematic Stories
At fifteen, she was washing glasses in a bar, unknowingly learning how to read between the lines. She watched conversations unfold, studied emotions, and observed fleeting moments. Those experiences would later shape her storytelling. Back then, she had no idea she would one day write a series about pubs, the people who work in them, their dreams, mistakes, and unexpected encounters. Like the night a stranger offered her a career in dubbing. “I never called him back. I hate dubbing.”
Nataša Mrlinová grew up in Trenčín, a city where history blends with modern life. Languages came naturally to her, so she enrolled in a prestigious university in the Netherlands to study business. But numbers and strategies left her cold. After a year, she switched to mass media, hoping to find her passion. That wasn’t it either. “In the end, I decided to drop out and take a different path,” she says. She returned to bartending, this time with more life experience and a clearer sense that she needed a change. A year later, she remembered something – CME Content Academy. She had heard about it two years earlier but never pursued it. Now, the memory resurfaced just in time. The deadline was in twelve hours.
“I threw together my application at the last minute. I didn’t think I had a chance,” she admits. When she was invited to the second round of interviews, she was still in the Netherlands and had to do it online. The moment it ended, she closed her laptop and was supposed to head to work. Instead, she sat in her tiny room and cried. “I was convinced I had failed.” Two days later, an email arrived. “You got in.”
At CME Content Academy, she experienced real production for the first time. “In five months, I learned more than in a year of mass media studies. We’re taught by people actively working in the industry, and that makes all the difference.” She explored different roles, but directing resonated with her most. “I can’t write scripts, but I love working with actors and telling stories visually.” Her current project is a dramedy inspired by her own search for direction in life. “The main character graduates with a law degree, only to realize it’s not for her. She starts working in a bar, learning to stand on her own feet and finding a new purpose. It’s a story about self-reflection and self-acceptance.”
If she could choose any project within CME’s networks, it would be Studna. Or anything involving Tereza Nvotová. “Even if it was just a short music video, I want to be there,” she says. Nvotová’s raw, authentic filmmaking completely captivated her in Špína and Světlonoc. While she is fascinated by horror and psychological thrillers, she paradoxically writes mostly comedy. “Maybe I’m afraid to dive fully into the darkness,” she muses.
Her biggest inspiration? Mike Flanagan. “I’d love to see inside his mind. I respect him, but I also feel like we’d understand each other.”
Whether she ends up in drama, horror, or comedy, one thing is certain. She wants to tell stories that stay with the audience long after the credits roll. “It’s not just about entertaining people. It’s about giving them something that lingers,” she says.
CME Content Academy, a project of TV Nova and TV Markiza, provides practical training alongside theoretical lectures at the Television Institute. The aim is to educate the next generation of TV professionals and enable them to work with these leading TV companies.
-Kristina Sverkunová