Moorestown natives Nathan Krachman and Colin Llewellyn are anxious to say ‘cut’ for the final time at the Jersey shore next month on a project that they consider to be their baby.
“I wouldn’t say I’m personally too stressed about it as much as I’m living in the fun and the joy that we’re getting to make this movie and that’s only a gift,” Llewellyn said. “When you see 20 to 30 crew members all huddled around, everybody working to execute something that’s so deeply innate within you… To see so many people rallied around that and working their absolute hardest to put one singular thing onscreen, sometimes I’ll step back for a minute and I’ll take that in and I’ll feel so eternally grateful that we have so many people here.”
“This is such a personal story to him and it’s so deep within his bones… Being there for him and giving him all the resources I can as producer to make this movie happen, that’s what drives me every day to face the challenges,” Krachman said of Llewellyn. “I want to do right by him, I want to make him proud and I want him to be proud of the movie he’s making, so that’s why I’m here.”
“Atlantic Avenue,” set in Wildwood, tells the story of 14 year old Owen, who meets a group of rebels on a three-week family vacation. Thrown in the midst of surrounding himself with people who like getting into trouble, Owen falls in love with the romanticized idea of being a teenager who feels the consequences of growing up. The idea for the film came in October of 2024 and both Krachman and Llewellyn, co-founders of film production company A Butterfly Production, started writing the script a month later. As a kid, Llewellyn spent every summer in Wildwood, working five or six different jobs in the city. Since Wildwood is a place that’s so personally connected to him, it was a great location to launch a story out of a town that brought Llewellyn both friendships and dynamics that he’s overcome.
“It’s just what I know best and I feel that a lot of directors or filmmakers, with their first feature, their mindset has to be that there has to be something in the script that if someone else had the script and they had $100 million, they couldn’t make the same movie that you could because they don’t know it like you do,” Llewellyn said. “It’s always something that’s super personal to them, so that’s how I figured that it should be the same for (our) feature film debut, which is only the story that I could make and something that’s so personal to myself.”
Much of the film centers around the question of identity. When you’re a teenager you’re still trying to figure out who you are but one could easily be swept up in the person that they’re not, Krachman explained. Normally, the total number of shoot days for an independent film like “Atlantic Avenue” would be 40 to 60, but the cast and crew did it at around 20 which is super condensed for a movie of its size, Krachman explained. The film’s mid- shooting block in May took place the week after Memorial Day and even though it was a hectic time with the “unofficial” start of summer, both Krachman and Llewellyn received a ton of support from the city, with many people excited to help make it happen. One of the goals when writing the script was to want to get the town excited about the film because Wildwood is essentially a character within the movie, Llewellyn said, and all the support exceeded both his and Krachman’s expectations.
After Krachman and Llewellyn graduated from Moorestown High School in 2022, they started creating three or four short films a year together. That work inspired them to film “Atlantic Avenue” in three blocks with the result a 90-minute, full length feature film. The first full hour of the project was completed earlier this year when the cast and crew filmed the first block in January and the second in May. January’s block lasted four days, with most of the scenes shot inside Owen’s home. The second filming block was shot over six days, and it called for shooting scenes outside at some iconic locations. That’s when the locals started to get really excited about the project, Llewellyn said, because there was a common thread throughout the community to see the different spots that were captured on camera.
Llewellyn serves as the film’s director with Krachman as producer. There’s never a moment when Krachman isn’t thinking about what needs to be accomplished. His job is to make sure that everything is happening and that what Llewellyn visualizes as the director is possible in what the cast and crew can do. They’ve had the chance to work with the most wonderful people on “Atlantic Avenue,” or as Krachman would put it, the most brilliant. Once filming wraps in mid-August, post-production will take place for a little more than a year followed by color correction and sound mixing, with a debut set for January 2028.
“It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid to make a movie and actually doing it with the idea of pressing play to watch is out of this world,” Llewellyn said. “You form a family with this whole crew and cast and who knows the next time that we’re all going to be able to work together. I’m going to be sad that I’m not going to be able to keep doing this because I could do it forever.”
“This is a movie made for everyone in the sense that you can connect with any part of the movie,” Krachman said. “Anybody can connect with this feeling of what it means to go down the shore for the summer and what that separation from reality feels like. We want to make Moorestown proud in a lot of ways because we’re so proud to be from here.”
Krachman and Llewellyn raised $20,000 for the first two filming blocks and while that process was an uphill climb it was mostly leaning on local support, both in their social circles as well as the help of Moorestown and Wildwood residents. That’s something that they’re looking to continue with the final filming block and while they need to raise an additional $12,000, they’re excited to make it happen and make their home town happy. Those interested in supporting the film can contact atlanticavenuemovie@gmail.com or visit @atlanticavenuemovie on Instagram or atlanticavenuemovie.com and abutterflyproduction.com.
“Atlantic Avenue,” written, directed and produced by Moorestown High alumni Nathan Krachman and Colin Llewellyn, tells the story of the trials and tribulations of discovering one’s identity down the Jersey shore.
The film’s main character Owen falls in love with the romanticized idea of being a teenager who feels the consequences of growing up.
