Gayla Goehl works as an on-set acting coach for film and television productions, supporting young performers through the working day — on location, on a soundstage, and between takes.

What an on-set coach does

A set is not a classroom. The pressure is real, the schedule is unforgiving, and a young actor has to deliver a truthful performance in fragments, out of order, surrounded by eighty adults doing other jobs.

An on-set coach keeps the performance consistent across takes and across days, helps a young actor hold the emotional line of a scene that is being shot in pieces, translates a director’s note into something a child can actually use, and keeps the young performer steady when the day runs long.

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer — 77 days on set

Gayla served as on-set acting coach on the feature film Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer, directed by John Schultz and released by Relativity Media — a studio comedy carried almost entirely by children.

She spent two weeks in preparation with the seven principal young actors alongside Gary Spatz. Gary and Gayla were on set for the first week of production; Gayla continued as the young cast’s on-set acting coach for the remainder of the shoot — seventy-seven days in total.

A feature led by children is one of the hardest things a production can attempt. The schedule is governed by child labour law, the young leads are in nearly every scene, and the performances have to stay consistent across months of shooting done wildly out of order.

Across those seventy-seven days the work was holding the through-line of a character when a child is shooting the end of the story before the middle; keeping a performance alive and truthful on take fourteen; translating a director’s note into language a nine-year-old can actually act on; and protecting seven young performers’ focus and wellbeing through long days, week after week.

Why it matters to a production

Directors have a whole film to run. A coach who can take a note and get the performance there quickly protects the schedule and the day. Gayla is known for her offscreen coaching of child performers, including her work preparing Joel Courtney for Super 8.

Why it matters to a family

A professional set is an adult workplace. Having someone whose only job is the young actor — their performance, their focus, and their wellbeing through a fourteen-hour day — changes the experience for the child and for the parent watching from video village.

Availability

Gayla takes on-set work in Los Angeles and on location. Productions and parents can reach her at gaylaactingcoach@gmail.com.