Great bookstore – Augustin Trapenard: "I’m always afraid that an author dies twenty minutes before the broadcast…"

South of Paris, 17:00 Valin’s studio is hidden deep in a modern building owned by France Télévisions, not far from the Seine. It is reached by an elevator, followed by a maze of corridors. There, on the La Grande Librairie set, bathed in the orange light of the floodlights, Augustin Trapenard – a white shirt, jeans and boots – awaits the evening guests with two men and two female collaborators who will “play”. Let’s try what’s called “rotation” in TV jargon. Notes in hand, sometimes using the teleprompter for which Sylvia is responsible, the presenter starts by repeating the evening show, which will take place live. Anticipating the writers’ reactions, he occasionally exchanges ideas with director Adrien Soland via headphones. “Here I will ask this question, and he will answer it. You will need to post a picture like this. And maybe Truc takes Machin’s hand on his right…” La Grande Librairie is like a game: everything is rehearsed and measured, but anything can happen…

A WELL LUBRICATED MACHINE

6:30 pm In Augustin’s locker room, behind closed doors, there’s a big interrogation as usual. A dozen people (technicians, journalists…) are there, including Adrien and one of the producers, Emmanuel Perreau. There is no François Busnel, who was busy elsewhere that day and is still producing the show. However, often the former presenter is around. We fix it, we take the “chief” of the show, this document that lets everyone know where we are during the live broadcast, what sequence is progressing (interview, report, archive footage …). About fifty people work at La Grande Librairie. Not full time, but regularly. Augustine’s fear? What was not expected: I’m always afraid that an author dies twenty minutes before the broadcast… »

LIVE FORWARD!

21:01 In the control room in the basement of France Télévisions main building, the program’s colorful credits come to an end, and Augustin Trapenard, with the day’s four guests (three French writers and one French-speaking Italian) multiplied on a hundred screens, watched by fourteen technicians. As if watching a rocket launch live, they are arranged in three rows behind their desks, controlling everything Adrien Soland gently directs: sound, video, cameras. Producer Emmanuel Perreau sits on the left. Attentive and relatively quiet. Let’s start the 89-minute live broadcast! That evening, a writer will shout out the texts to the accompaniment of a rocker on electric guitar, the writers will (as Augustin planned) hold each other’s hands and even embrace… A fine television moment, the team at La Grande Librairie will try to recreate it four times a month for the public’s enjoyment. it’s working.

Great bookstore, Wednesday 12 April at 9 am France 5

FREDERICK RAPILLY