Author Anna Carey on her new book 'Love Scene'
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The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance. First, I'm delighted to be joined by author Anna Carey, who's here to talk about her brand new book, Love Scene. Anna, you're very welcome to the programme.
Thank you for having me.
When you came in there, I was explaining to you that normally when an author is here, I have your book in my hands, but I forgot it because I'm actually reading it and it was beside my bed at home. In fact, I've been sneaking off to bed early, truth be told, to read it. I love it.
Oh, thank you. That is the best praise you can get, that somebody's going to bed early to read your book.
What is Anna Carey's new book 'Love Scene' about?
That's like the mark of quality. Is this a little bit about your life, the professional side? Well, it's about a TV scriptwriter called Annie who moves back to Dublin to take on what she thinks is her dream job, which is writing for an iconic Irish soap opera called And when she gets there, she finds she has to share an office with her old college nemesis, I suppose you could call him, Art Sullivan, who the last time she saw him, he was literally laughing at her face for wanting to write for soap. So he went off to be a sort of indie film golden boy and write for Prestige TV. And now he's working for a soap opera in Dublin. So they clash. And then they have to work together when they realize somebody is kind of sabotaging the show.
So none of that has ever happened to me. And also, obviously, you know, it's a romantic comedy. So they do, they more than clash as it goes on. But I am a former... TV soap writer but sadly the reality of the job involves a lot more hard work and a lot less drama Not quite as exciting No, it's a lot of people working very hard at home so there's no opportunities for any of this sort of shenanigans but I did want to sort of write a bit of a love letter to soap operas and TV and popular TV, you know, that doesn't always get the love it deserves.
Annie in the book is so passionate about the role that soap operas play in her life and the lives of other people she knows. So are you a champion for that?
Yeah, I really am. Like, and I always... have been. I've always been very defensive of this sort of popular culture that gets dismissed a lot. And I was really happy recently to see people like Ryan Gosling and Rose Byrne, you know, recently nominated for an Oscar, not only defending soap writing and acting, but, you know, really paying homage to it. Like Ryan Gosling saying his acting heroes growing up were soap actors and just pointing out how hard they have to work, how they have to learn all these lines and deliver a you know, strong performances with very little preparation time and how, you know, there's lots of great stuff in these shows and it doesn't always get the credit it deserves.
And do you feel sad that maybe their popularity is declining a bit now? I mean, Coronation Street was the sort of backdrop to my youth.
Yeah.
It was always on, was it Monday and Wednesday back then? It was Monday and Wednesday. It was.
How does Anna Carey incorporate her life experiences into her writing?
And then it was Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Yeah. Always there, you know, constant presence at half seven. It's not so much that anymore. Is it changing?
Yeah, and the way people watch TV has changed. You know, people watch on streaming. They watch, you know, they don't have the whole family sitting around the TV in the same way anymore. Apart from, you know, there's some shows like Traitors that get that sort of reaction. It's rare though. It's really rare. And I think that's why, you know, I wanted to highlight how these shows are so important both for actors and writers and for, you know, especially a country like Ireland. Just to see a semblance of ordinary Irish life ongoing on tv is is really important um so yeah i think like tv watching on every form of has of broadcasting has changed but um yeah soaps are a bit beleaguered and i guess i wanted to you know remind people that they're still there and they can do what they do very well
Now, the last book, our song, was huge. It just became such a massive hit, didn't it?
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