Monster: Living Off the Big Screen

{{Short description|1997 nonfiction book by John Gregory Dunne}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The Studio

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = Monster Living Off the Big Screen.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = John Gregory Dunne

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| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| genre = Memoir

| subject = American film industry

| publisher = Random House

| release_date = 1997

| media_type = Print (hardcover and paperback)

| pages = 203

| isbn = 0679455795

| oclc =

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}}

Monster: Living Off the Big Screen is a nonfiction book by John Gregory Dunne published in 1997. The book recounts Dunne's experiences as a screenwriter in Hollywood, particularly the process of drafting the screenplay for Up Close & Personal (1996), a movie starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-02-16-bk-29246-story.html|title=Up Close and Personal: Monster: Living Off the Big Screen |date=February 16, 1997|website=Los Angeles Times}}{{cite web |title=Monster: Living Off the Big Screen |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-679-45579-0 |website=Publishers Weekly |accessdate=17 September 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/John-Gregory-Dunne-author-and-screenwriter-2833352.php|title=John Gregory Dunne -- author and screenwriter|first1=Mark|last1=Feeney|first2=Boston|last2=Globe|date=January 1, 2004|website=SFGate}} It details the meetings, writing, rewriting and all the other struggles in the way of creating a sellable screenplay. In the book, Dunne claims that Up Close & Personal started off as a biopic about television journalist Jessica Savitch, only to end up being a Star Is Born-type film, where one character is a "rising star", and the person she/he is in love with becomes a "falling star".