A waitress bakes her whole inner life into her pies, her longings and sorrows and small rebellions. Pregnant and trapped in a marriage with a man who can't love, her pies might be her secret recipe for a better life.

WAITRESS (2007) was written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, who also plays one of Jenna's fellow waitresses. Keri Russell plays Jenna, with Nathan Fillion and Andy Griffith in support.

Shelly was killed in the autumn of 2006, before the film reached an audience, before she even learned it had been accepted to Sundance. When it premiered there that January, the celebration was also a memorial. She was forty.

Her small film became a hit, and in 2016 a beloved Broadway musical with songs by Sara Bareilles, which ran for years and toured the world.

Adrienne Shelly's husband established a foundation in her name, which grants scholarships, production funds, and stipends to female filmmakers early in their careers.