Gabriela Gabašová: From the stage to the formats that move the screen
Gabriela Gabašová comes from Považská Bystrica, but for several years now she has lived and worked in Prague. Her path led from a conservatory in Bratislava, through a brief period studying film and television dramaturgy and screenwriting at VŠMU, and on to DAMU, where she spent several years in directing and dramaturgy. Alongside her studies, she began writing for radio, for friends at FAMU, for theatre. She adapted books, rewrote scripts, wrote her own plays. After graduation, she moved smoothly into professional practice – directing theatre productions, continuing to write for radio, and working in musical composition.
Her ambition to write for television and film never disappeared. It simply waited – patiently – for the right moment. So when information about CME Content Academy started appearing on Instagram, Gabriela didn’t scroll past. She had been following the Academy since previous cohorts, and the concept made sense to her since it connects teaching with the real needs of television and offers a close-up view of how projects are developed. She prepared her application alongside theatre and radio commissions – and perhaps that’s exactly why she succeeded at the entrance exams.
She applied as a screenwriter, but entered the programme already as a fully formed director, with a strong theatre background and musical training. In the fiction strand, she is now developing a script with her classmate Stanislav Slovák – a project she would ideally like to direct one day as well. At the same time, she is strongly drawn to the world of R&E. Classes and work with Kateřina Pavlík and Eva Krutáková opened up an entirely new way of thinking on how to work with reality, themes, and participants so that a format isn’t just “something to watch,” but a carefully designed creative product. In R&E, she is already trying out the role of story producer and dramaturg – often in a learn-as-you-go mode – which suits her far more than long stretches of theory without practical consequences.
Compared to DAMU, she sees the main difference in how targeted everything is. Theatre school gave her a strong classical foundation – literature, the history of drama, artistic movements, the ability to build a project from zero and handle everything independently. CME Content Academy, on the other hand, points directly toward contemporary television practice, a high density of concrete information, a focus on process, production, rights, and formatting. For some, it might be overwhelming but for her, it’s a welcome chance to fill in an area she had previously approached more intuitively.
Gabriela speaks with respect about lecturers who combine expertise with clear, structured teaching. She mentions sociologist Martin Buchtík, whose approach she “carries in her head” every day, as well as Michal Reitler, TV Nova’s Head of Development — his systematic thinking and his ability to name problems with precision. Within the R&E team, she also values the atmosphere: because she feels safe there, her creativity opens more easily, and she isn’t afraid to take risks, even at the earliest stage of an idea.
Looking ahead, she would love to develop a new R&E format — or work on true-story projects. She’s drawn to stories rooted in real life, but with room for a strong authorial interpretation — whether that means the world of MMA or the fate of a striking personality, perhaps a musician. Music plays a central role in how she thinks: she composes for theatre, has worked on a documentary, and is preparing an opera. The idea that she could bring writing, dramaturgy, and composition together inside a single television project therefore feels like a natural next step.