John Head, a British filmmaker and producer, has had a varied career in the entertainment industry, often working closely with his friend Lorne Michaels. Head attended school in Canada before returning to the UK, where he began his career in television working on the British investigative show World in Action in 1963.
In 1966, Head met Michaels and his then-wife Rosie Shuster in London, and the three became close friends. Head's laid-back attitude, taste, and social circle served as a model for Michaels, who was still figuring out his own personality and lifestyle at the time. After Michaels and Shuster returned to Toronto, Head followed them there and became roommates before eventually moving to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Head co-directed and co-produced the documentary Jimi Hendrix (1973) about the legendary musician. In 1974, Michaels hired Head to write for the first of four NBC specials starring Flip Wilson, which Michaels was producing. Head remained with the show after Michaels quit, writing for the subsequent two specials.
The following year, Head helped Michaels develop the pitch for Saturday Night Live (1975),which was eventually greenlit by NBC. Michaels hired Head as a talent scout for the show, allowing him to book the musical guests in the early days. In 1977, Head co-wrote a scrapbook-style companion book to the show, Saturday Night Live, with SNL writer Anne Beatts.
When Michaels and the original cast left Saturday Night Live in 1980, Head was one of many collaborators who took up office space at Michaels's production company Broadway Video. Michaels had a deal to produce movies for MGM, and Head and Michaels wrote a script for a modernized version of Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' about the production of a movie in a small Ohio town.
Also for Michaels's MGM deal, Head and Adam Brooks co-wrote an adaptation of Don DeLillo's 'White Noise.' Neither of these films went into production. The only film that did from Michaels's MGM deal was Tom Schiller's Nothing Lasts Forever (1984),which Head co-produced but was unhappy with the final product.
When Michaels returned to Saturday Night Live, he hired Head to oversee film acquisitions for the show. From 1986 to 1988, Head was responsible for seeking out and buying the rights to comedic short films to air during the show. Notable shorts that Head commissioned include Tim Robbins's "Bob Roberts," which was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 1992, and Ben Stiller's directorial debut The Hustler of Money (1987),which led to Stiller briefly joining the show's cast in 1989.
Michaels also hired Head to produce the ABC special Rolling Stone Presents Twenty Years of Rock & Roll (1987) for his friend Jann Wenner, and most notably, his new music show Sunday Night (1988) (also known as Michelob Presents Night Music). Head was the showrunner on the series, which aired for two seasons and featured performances and cross-disciplinary jam sessions from an eclectic mix of musicians.
The show was canceled in 1990, and this was Head's last major collaboration with Michaels.
