Sundance is bittersweet for Roiff
Budding film producer Michael Roiff is very aware of the odd road he's traveled in making his first feature film. Last fall, the native Bostonian and Harvard grad and writer-director-actress Adrienne Shelly had just completed "Waitress " when indie film veteran Shelly was murdered in a New York apartment. "We were waiting for word from Sundance about whether we would be here," said Roiff from the Sundance Film Festival , where the film sold last week for a reported $4 million. "Every step in this process, it's been more remarkable," said Roiff, the son of Boston developer Paul Roiff. "When Adrienne passed, we were right at the point where you can enjoy the work you've done." That journey has been "bittersweet," added Roiff, who said that Shelly was "ecstatic" about "Waitress," which stars Keri Russell, Cheryl Hines, and Shelly. "Adrienne and I sat for a thousand hours in the edit room and . . . we'd come back to this moment: Just how great it would be to stand on a snowy Park City street corner hugging when our film was bought." And that this film -- one marked by a personal tragedy and quick success -- would be his first strikes Roiff as remarkable. "I set out to make some films, and this happened to be the first one," said Roiff, who after graduation worked as a management consultant and did some theater when he lived in LA. The film, which is slated to open in theaters this summer, wasn't up for any awards at Sundance. "I know how it sounds, but we got the only award we could ask for with this film," said Roiff, who stayed through the end of the festival to see each screening of "Waitress." "We got an amazing response from audiences and film distributors. That people related to and connected with the film . . . that's as much as you can hope for."
Those heels weren’t made for walking
Catch Click and Clack on "60 Minutes" last night? In Steve Kroft's piece about gadgets, and the geeks who help us operate them, Tom and Ray Magliozzi had the last word. But a little back story: When Kroft and his crew came to town last month to tape the Tappet Brothers, they went to WBUR's old studio, not the new one several blocks away. Well, we're told the segment's associate producer Jennifer MacDonald was wearing high heels and didn't appreciate the long walk.
The scoop on Brandeis’ new institute
Who says investigative journalism's dead? Not Gerald and Elaine Schuster, who are doing their part for the future of muckraking media. The pair just gave $5 million to Brandeis's new Institute for Investigative Journalism. (Not coincidentally, the first-of-its-kind institute will bear the Boston couple's names.) The new school's fearless leader is none other than Florence Graves, whose stories about the sexual misconduct of Senator Bob Packwood led to his resignation. . . . WGBH-FM's chatting word game show "Says You" was out in Salt Lake City and the Sundance Film Festival in Park City last week. The Boston crew taping out West included host Richard Sher and panelists Tony Kahn, Arnie Reisman, Paula Lyons, Barry Nolan, Carolyn Fay Fox, and Francine Achbar.
Williams makes a connection
Word is that the two Robin Williams shows at Bill Blumenreich's Comedy Connection in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace netted $25,000 for the Greater Boston Food Bank. (Williams, who came to Boston to perform Friday night at the Yankee Dental Congress, made a deal with his longtime pal Blumenreich to use the money from the two warm - up shows for charity.) And since everything went so swimmingly, Blumenreich and Williams are trying to work out a date to bring the Oscar-winning star of "Good Will Hunting" back to Boston -- in a larger venue. . . . In town to perform at the Comedy Connection, Bill Bellamy used his down time to get down. The comedian stopped into Axis to check out the club's old-school hip-hop night hosted by Willie Maye. Bellamy and a buddy sipped some Hennessy while grooving to the vintage vibe.
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