diff --git a/dbt/clients/system.py b/dbt/clients/system.py
index 2ea6d582a80..3ee2eee36e0 100644
--- a/dbt/clients/system.py
+++ b/dbt/clients/system.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import errno
 import fnmatch
+import json
 import os
 import os.path
 import shutil
@@ -119,9 +120,7 @@ def write_file(path, contents=''):
 
 
 def write_json(path, data):
-    make_directory(os.path.dirname(path))
-    dbt.compat.write_json(path, data, cls=dbt.utils.JSONEncoder)
-    return True
+    return write_file(path, json.dumps(data, cls=dbt.utils.JSONEncoder))
 
 
 def _windows_rmdir_readonly(func, path, exc):
diff --git a/dbt/compat.py b/dbt/compat.py
index e5a8d5daa34..0e450552326 100644
--- a/dbt/compat.py
+++ b/dbt/compat.py
@@ -44,18 +44,10 @@ def to_string(s):
             return str(s)
 
 
-def _open(path, mode):
+def write_file(path, s):
     if WHICH_PYTHON == 2:
-        return codecs.open(path, mode, encoding='utf-8')
+        with codecs.open(path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            return f.write(to_string(s))
     else:
-        return open(path, 'w')
-
-
-def write_file(path, s):
-    with _open(path, 'w') as fp:
-        return fp.write(to_string(s))
-
-
-def write_json(path, data, **kwargs):
-    with _open(path, 'w') as fp:
-        json.dump(data, fp, **kwargs)
+        with open(path, 'w') as f:
+            return f.write(to_string(s))