John Gregory Dunne and his wife Joan Didion are not ingenues. They have been successful screenwriters and novelists for decades. They have worked with some of the toughest producers (Bruckheimer and Simpson) and some of the most famous Hollywood stars but nothing seems to have prepared them for this rollercoaster ride on a script called 'Up Close and Personal'. What makes this book a searing indictment of the Hollywood system, is that the end product was so sanitised by the studio and despite having two of the biggest stars, it bombed. Yet the original screenplay was a brutal, honest, funny and realistic look at network TV in America.

'Monster' is an engaging, irresistible behind-the-scenes exposee of the reality of working as a scriptwriter. You will reel in horror and amusement from the comments made by Hollywood executives in script meetings and be amazed at Dunne's tenacity.

It is witty, pacey and an astute guide to a business which can attract and repel in the same breath. I work in this industry and sometimes this book was just a little too real for comfort. Like William Goldman's 'Adventures in the Screen Trade' it belongs on the list of required reading for anyone involved or interested in the film business.


How Unseemly that Alanna Nash comments on "Monster"   May 12, 1999
Alanna Nash, author of 'Golden Girl', a book peripherally related to Dunne's 'Monster', seems to be attempting to ride the coat-tails of this camisole of a book. How unseemly.


Arrogant, sloppy, and I can't put it down   March 19, 1999
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

John Gregory Dunne is an arrogant, name-dropping monster, himself. So much of the book is poisoned by his self-congratulatory tone. While he was a full participant in all of the events he recounts, he drips superiority as if he were floating (sneeringly) above the action rather than right down in it. The book is so lazily written. Abrupt, disjointed sections; his pacing and sense of time only confuse the reader. He indulges great detail on boring scenes that show himself off while he quickly glances over the scenes that would interest the reader the most. We have absolutely no sense of his wife, Joan Didion. We learn nothing about how he actually writes a script. Nevertheless, I couldn't put the darn thing down. I read it in a few hours and was captivated. It doesn't give nearly enough detail, the analysis is slight, the conclusions absent. But, somehow, I whipped through it and was glad I did. The subject matter is so fascinating that--while he forces us to peer at it through the haze of his ego--I still enjoyed looking. Perhaps more than anything, I enjoyed luxuriating in my hatred of the author.


A Monster in more ways than one.   May 21, 1998
 0 out of 1 found this review helpful

This book is one of the worst behind-the-scenes books I've ever read with regards to film making. Dunne often includes faxes and letters he sent back and forth to the film's principles - the grating tone of these letters spills into the rest of the book. The book reads more like a disjointed diary than a tale of industry politics.


A realistic view from the screenwriting trenches.   April 24, 1998
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I've read many of the screenwriting how-to books, but this is the first one that tells what actually happens with a screenplay outside in the real world. I've spoken with some major Hollywood writers and heard about their hassles and disillusionment with the system. Almost without exception they begin with a vision, wanting to tell a good story, but are ultimately subject to the whims and studio politics of mid-level executives more interested in business than craft. Anyone contemplating a screenwriting career should read this book--probably more than once.