<P> Friday the 13th was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, who had previously worked with filmmaker Wes Craven on the film The Last House on the Left . Cunningham, inspired by John Carpenter's Halloween, wanted Friday the 13th to be shocking, visually stunning and "(make) you jump out of your seat". Wanting to distance himself from The Last House on the Left, Cunningham wanted Friday the 13th to be more of a "roller - coaster ride". </P> <P> Friday the 13th began its life as nothing more than a title . Initially, A Long Night at Camp Blood was the working title during the writing process, but Cunningham believed in his "Friday the 13th" moniker, and quickly rushed out to place an advertisement in Variety . Worried that someone else owned the rights to the title and wanting to avoid potential lawsuits, Cunningham thought it would be best to find out immediately . He commissioned a New York advertising agency to develop his concept of the Friday the 13th logo, which consisted of big block letters bursting through a pane of glass . In the end, Cunningham believed there were "no problems" with the title, but distributor George Mansour stated, "There was a movie before ours called Friday the 13th: The Orphan . It was moderately successful . But someone still threatened to sue . Either Phil Scuderi paid them off, but it was finally resolved ." </P> <P> The film was shot in and around the townships of Hardwick, Blairstown and Hope, New Jersey in September 1979 . The camp scenes were shot on a working Boy Scout camp, Camp No - Be-Bo - Sco which is located in Hardwick, NJ . The camp is still standing and still works as a summer camp . </P> <P> The script was written by Victor Miller, who later went on to write for several television soap operas, including Guiding Light, One Life to Live and All My Children . Miller delighted in inventing a serial killer who turned out to be somebody's mother, a murderer whose only motivation was her love for her child . "I took motherhood and turned it on its head and I think that was great fun . Mrs. Voorhees was the mother I'd always wanted--a mother who would have killed for her kids ." Miller was unhappy about the filmmakers' decision to make Jason Voorhees the killer in the sequels . "Jason was dead from the very beginning . He was a victim, not a villain ." The idea of Jason appearing at the end of the film was initially not used in the original script, and was actually suggested by makeup designer Tom Savini . Savini stated that "The whole reason for the cliffhanger at the end was I had just seen Carrie, so we thought that we need a' chair jumper' like that, and I said,' let's bring in Jason"'. </P>

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