Meet Avery Looser | Founder and CEO of BraveMouse

We had the good fortune of connecting with Avery Looser and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Avery, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
While you can find this exact statement on our website, I feel as though it best describes how I came up with the idea for my production company, BraveMouse:

I founded my production company, BraveMouse, after a series of events and a season of reflection where I personally experienced sexism in the media industry at a very young age.

Although I have had many meaningful, professional experiences working with men in the industry, at a very young age, I found myself alone in an office with two men. I was berated for a short film I made about my personal experiences as a woman entering the industry, and because of the truth in my story, I was called a liar and a b*tch.

Since then, I have dedicated myself to telling the brave stories of women, in front of and especially behind the camera. The demand for female narratives in front of the camera has dominated the conversation surrounding female representation. And while this is extremely necessary and important, I believe the demand for women in production has been lost in the conversation.

I founded BraveMouse as an advocate for these lost voices. Whether it be through Film and Television Productions, Photography, Writing, or Web Design, BraveMouse is dedicated to amplifying and empowering all women’s voices with majority female production teams.

By supporting every woman who tells our stories, I believe they have the power to change the narrative for all.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Whether I am creating through BraveMouse or independently, my art honors and empowers women and their individualistic, wholistic, human experiences in front of and behind the camera. While telling authentically brave, women-led narratives through art is a mission of many, few stress the importance of the people helping tell these narratives. I am proud to have majority female production teams on all of our BraveMouse projects and in my independent work, especially with the explicitly female stories we are telling which span from toxic relationships to sex work to suicide prevention to reproductive rights. What we put in front of the camera is just as important as who is behind it. And that does not mean excluding any group in particular but rather making an effort to include those that are normally brushed aside. I am excited about the stories that will come from this inclusive, unifying experience of filmmaking.

Getting to this point in my career was by no means easy, but I am probably more grateful for the struggle than anything. Because many men in power told me I could never be this or would never be good enough to do that, I finally put my foot down, founded BraveMouse, and reclaimed agency over my capabilities. Overcoming these challenges boiled down to trust and confidence in myself. Despite what these men were telling me, I kept telling myself that if I just kept doing the work and doors kept opening, then this is what I was meant to do with my life. As more opportunities presented themselves in the direction of my dreams, their once dictating screams became whispers, and now they only exist as motivation to do what they said I could not. It is not easy to get to this place, but if you are facing anything similar, I simply urge you to keep going. Doors will open. You will find your people. Their screams will become whispers, and you will be glad you never gave up. If I would’ve given up, BraveMouse would not exist. If anything, I hope BraveMouse encourages artists to empower their own voices as well as the voices around them so that we can break this cycle of silencing.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Living in New York is like constantly existing on an itinerary. I am always discovering new places. And, there are a million places to which I have not been. But, if my best friend was coming to town, I would urge them to come in the late summer months as the city is transitioning to fall. We would spend the days with a minimal plan, walking the streets and re-discovering the city with a spirit of spontaneity. Perhaps we’d stop by Chelsea Market or The High Line. Or pop in a movie at Village East Cinema or Film Forum. Maybe end the night on the roof of the MET. Hit up my favorite speakeasy, The Back Room. Or perhaps my favorite jazz club, The Django. Probably take a nap in Central Park. Definitely get dollar pizza and a bagel the next morning. Take the train over to Brooklyn and enjoy a Saturday morning or a Sunday sunset. People watch on the subway. Visit the Whitney or the MoMA or the Guggenheim, depending on their exhibitions. Maybe even go to Coney Island! One piece of advice that my documentary professor at NYU advised me: do not walk the streets and listen to music. You will miss all of the excitement of the city and the people all around you! All the stories being told and lived! It’s true, especially as an artist.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate my shoutout to my family and my BraveMice, the artists we’ve had the honor of working with, the mentors I’ve been fortunate to have, and the female filmmakers who paved the path before me.

BraveMouse would not exist without the endless love and support of my family who carried me through the tough experiences that eventually birthed the company. Had it not been for their unwavering strength and resilience, I am not sure BraveMouse would have ever existed.

I must also credit my BraveMice: Brock Looser, Julia Kruger, and Truman Hanks. I founded BraveMouse back in October of 2020 during the pandemic in my childhood home, thinking I could do it alone. As the company slowly grew, I knew I needed to find a team. Finding the ‘right’ team proved much harder than I could have ever imagined. When you are building something from the ground up, know that people will try and discredit you, tear you down. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to be protective of your creation but not so much that it blockades you from finding your people. After a year of trial and error, I was fortunate enough to find my people. Luckily, I have been creating with Brock (my sister) ever since I was little. So adding her to the team as the Creative Coordinator and an Associate Producer was an absolute no-brainer. Julia and Truman, I met while working on a movie in Spain in the Summer/Fall of 2021, and since then, we’ve never looked back. Julia serves as an Associate Producer, and Truman serves as our Cinematographer as well as an Associate Producer. These three incredible human beings have pushed BraveMouse beyond what I could have ever dreamed. Before them, I could barely see past short film productions with the seemingly intangible pipe dream of eventually making features. With them, we have completed yet another short film and are taking tangible steps toward feature production that no longer make the dream feel impossible. They are my rocks and amazing artists in their own right. Know their names and watch them grow!

And lastly, BraveMouse would be nothing without all of the artists we have the honor of working with on all of our projects, most recently and notably Lizzy Walther, the co-writer, producer, and one of the actors in our latest short, ‘Indigo,’ all of the mentors I’ve been fortunate to have, including Susan Sandler and Sylvia Sichel, and all of the female filmmakers who have paved the path before me.

All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you to each of you listed above and more.

Website: https://averylooser.wixsite.com/mysite

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/averylooser/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avery-looser-448868227/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsU60P3Dyo5wg-yjQh63JhA?view_as=subscriber

Other: BraveMouse Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravemousellc/ BraveMouse Website: https://www.bravemousellc.com/ BraveMouse Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/bravemousellc

Image Credits
#1 – All Female Producing Team of ‘Indigo’ (Avery Looser, Mikayla Hendrickson, Lizzy Walther, Blessid Niayemi, Julia Kruger), photo by Truman Hanks #2 – ‘Indigo’ Q&A (Brock Looser, Truman Hanks, Avery Looser, Lizzy Walther, Mikayla Hendrickson, Ryan Shaw), photo by Theresa #3 – Still from ‘Indigo’ (Directed by Avery Looser, Cinematography by Truman Hanks) #4 – Location Scout for Feature Film, ‘Lifesaver’ (Truman Hanks, Avery Looser, Brock Looser) #5 – On Set of ‘Indigo’ (Truman Hanks, Avery Looser, Lizzy Walther, Brock Looser), photo by Jackson Thompson #6 – One Year Anniversary Celebration of BraveMouse (Avery Looser, Beth Looser, Brock Looser) #7 – BraveMouse Team (Brock Looser, Avery Looser, Julia Kruger, Truman Hanks) #8 – BraveMouse Logo