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Biography: "Rob Hedden started out writing and directing for Friday the 13th: The Series, which helped him earn the spot of writer and director of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
'I was writing a feature at the time, and I had just finished working on MacGyver, and I was on the Paramount lot. They called and said, 'Can you please come over here and help us with the first four episodes [of Friday the 13th: The Series] and get us up and running?' I said, 'I'd love to but you gotta let me direct an episode.' And they kinda groaned, and they thought 'Oh, man.' Cause up until then, the only thing I had directed were documentaries. A lot of 'The Making of....' documentaries. I did one for Brazil for Terry Gilliam and the Monty Python people.'
'So they took a shot. They gambled and figured 'Oh, how bad can it be?' So I wrote the first four, or actually re-wrote the first four depending on the case. And then came in and wrote and directed my first episode for them which was called 'The Electrocutioner' and they liked it, thank God. And so they said, 'Do another one.' So then I wrote and directed another one called 'Thirteen O' Clock' which they liked as well. I continued to write and directed a few more after that. And the producers came to me and said, 'How'd you like to write and direct the next Friday the 13th feature.' And I just couldn't believe it. I was like 'out of all the people in the world they asked me.' I was blown away. So that's basically how I got the job.'
'When I came into Friday the 13th, I was trying to make the best I could make on its own, standing alone. If there weren't any movies before, and there weren't any movies after, that you could watch the movie and you'd go 'Wow. The story's interesting. The production value's interesting.' We've talked about restrictions I've had with the MPAA and other entities involved. But you still do the best you can do with what's on the plate. And that's what I tried to do. I think that's what every director that did any of the Friday the 13th movies tried to do. And you do the best you can do. In the process of doing that, sometimes what are seemingly small details are overlooked in quest of the bigger goal. And that could very well be a mistake.'
'I think that if I were to make the film again, since the Internet wasn't really happening back then, I would get on a web site and I would pose a question to everyone that logs on to your website, and I would say, 'Hey guys. I'm writing Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Tell me what you want to see, and what you don't want to see. Give me some guidance here.' And I would take all that information, and I would use what worked for the movie, and what I could get out of it. Not everyone out there is gonna be a great writer, and my job is to write and not to get someone to write it for me. But it's basically research and you find out what the fans want and you try to deliver on that. I think that would be a wonderful thing to do. Bottom line is, you're trying to please the fans when you make these movies.'" - Full interview at Pit of Horror
Director Filmography
Boxboarders! (2006)
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Director - Television
Enterprise (2002)
Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion (2000)
Kidnapped in Paradise (1999)
Dying to Live (1999)
Any Place But Home (1997)
The Colony (1995)
The Commish (1991)
Friday the 13th: The Series (1987)
What Is Brazil? (1985)
Writer Filmography
The Condemned (2007)
Boxboarders! (2006)
Clockstoppers (2002)
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Writer - Television
The Twilight Zone (2002)
Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion (2000)
Dying to Live (1999)
When the Cradle Falls (1997)
Kidnapped (1995)
The Colony (1995)
Simon & Simon: In Trouble Again (1995)
The Return of Ironside (1993)
Knight Rider 2024 (1991)
Friday the 13th: The Series (1987)
MacGyver (1985)
Where Is He Now?: Rob Hedden continues to write for film and television, his most recent feature being the movie Boxboarders!.
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