From a young age, you could say they were both natural-born storytellers and while Haydn expressed his ideas through the written word, Damien preferred to create and draw characters and build a world around them. Eventually their two methods would collide and mesh perfectly to create not only their own individual unique stories but collaborating on several other projects as well. With both brothers born on the Autism Spectrum (Asperger’s Sydrome), social communication was extremely difficult growing up and still is. “Living in a world, where you feel that everyone knows what is going on except you, is confusing, frightening, stressful, and often overwhelming”. Living in the real world, we feel a total lack of control”. They both deal with anxiety and sensory overload on a regular basis, but when Damien draws and Haydn writes, a calmness comes from within. They have described it as a form of meditation. For during the time they engage in these activities, their ‘problems’ disappear.

By creating their own stories, they get to control the narrative and the rules of the world they have created. A place to escape to when real life becomes mundane.

It was during one of these “escape” sessions, in Year 5, that Haydn came up with the character of Triz, who unbeknownst to him at the time, would one day see him become a two time published Author.

Being on the Autism spectrum, meant Haydn was obsessed with writing stories and this led to him refusing to do any other school work. In order to solve the problem, Teacher’s would allow Haydn to write a story after he had completed the set work to a satisfactory standard. For Damien, he was obsessed with drawing. He was always in trouble at school for drawing throughout his exercise books. He would complete his work as quick as possible, so he could draw. It was in Year 8, during a Geography class that a basic sketch in a school book, lead to the creation of a character, at that time, simple dubbed ‘Chicken man’. This character, however, has since being reworked and renamed, becoming the central focus of a future animated franchise. The details of this project, however, are not yet ready to be revealed. The only that thing that can be said is that it has been in development for more than twenty years, a body of work comprising seven visual journals of pictures and ideas, and now countless word files. Watch this space! 

From a young age, after watching Disney’s Fantasia, his love of Animation was born. He always knew he wanted to be a film-maker, but his road to get there was rocky to say the least. In year 9 he contracted Glandular Fever and then suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which saw him miss a year and a half of school, completely skipping year 10. His grades slipped dramatically, however he still managed to graduate. He even got top marks in the state for Design and had his illustration, titled Evolution displayed in the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane. Unfortunately, he did not get the OP score required to get into the Bachelor of Animation, he had applied for at Griffith University. But this would not deter him. He had no plan B. This was what he was going to do. He spent two years doing a bridging course at Uni to lower his OP and in 2004 he began his Animation Degree. It did not take long for him to realize that it stifled his creativity, was boring and  repetitive.

It was during this time, with Damien away at University in Brisbane and Haydn still at High School, that Haydn mentioned a story he had found tucked away, known then as ‘The Land of the Dragons’, during one of their many lengthy nightly phone calls. Damien saw the potential straight away and so the two began to develop it, long distance. The brothers struggled being apart from each other, as they always saw themselves as two parts of a whole, so it was almost inevitable that this project would be born. After deciding to create a children’s picture book, they soon realized that they had no idea where to start. It was then that they sort out the guidance of Ann James and Ann Haddon of Books Illustrated in Melbourne. James one of Australia’s leading Illustrators upon seeing Damien’s illustrations stated, “They were of industry standard”, and so began their guidance in developing the book. Having to cut a book back from 48 pages to only 32 was incredibly difficult for Damien, because it meant having to cut illustrations that he loved creating, and the need for a partial rewrite, while trying to maintain the essence of the story. But they did it. Wanting to perfect it even further, they sent it off to Create a Kids book, for critique, and after yet more changes, they were finally given the go ahead to send it off into the publishing world. Their first submission was to Penguin and while they were not published at that time, they were interested in Damien as a Graphic Artist and requested a portfolio of work from him. While this was affirmation of his talent as an illustrator, Damien had always known that he wanted to control his body of work and one day have his own Company.

He was also struggling mentally with undiagnosed Bi-Polar at the time, which would not be diagnosed until many, many years later, at the age of 32.

Haydn meanwhile was back in Townsville with his own struggles. His anxiety was so severe that he was only able to attend high school three days a week. Despite this he was still getting good grades, but by year 11, it was evident that the benefits did not outweigh the negatives. Haydn’s strengths were always in History, English and Drama and it was a chance encounter at the age of 19 that saw him find the acting bug, first with Props Youth Theatre, then Townsville Little Theatre and finally TheatreiNQ. It was here that he began to thrive and for the first time felt he belonged. He had always known that he wanted to act and write, but never imagined it was an option for him.

Back at University, Damien transferred from Animation to Film and Television and surprisingly as someone who has always been passionate about illustration, decided he wanted to major in scriptwriting.  Haydn then decides to seek out an Acting Agent, flies to Brisbane and is signed by Agency 888. So now, the illustrator wants to write and the writer wants to be involved in Film and Television.

Haydn then announced that he is going to write a six-part screenplay for television, writes a pilot episode and seeks out a professional screenwriter in Melbourne for critique. It was fate. Turns out that this gentleman, Roger Dunn, had no idea how Haydn had found him, and had completely forgotten that he was listed in the Australian Writer’s Marketplace as a critic of screenplay submissions. He explained that he was no longer providing this service, but something piqued his interest and after three short emails, agreed to take Haydn under his wing. He assessed the Pilot episode and said the whole thing was full of potential and Haydn’s learning curve was to say the least, intensive. He said it was like “climbing a mountain, while learning to climb a mountain”.  

Meanwhile, Damien’s mental health was deteriorating and he made the difficult decision to leave University and return home to Townsville.  Now under the same roof, collaboration on projects became much easier and it was at this time that many other projects were created. Their brains never turn off, with ideas always coming thick and fast, constantly. 

Their book meanwhile was put on the backburner and sat on a shelf almost forgotten about for a few years, when they decided to give it another crack at publication. Twice more they submitted, were rejected and back on the shelf it went, while they worked on other projects.

When Haydn decided he wanted to move to Brisbane to better his acting prospects, Damien was on board. He loved his time in Brisbane, during his University days, living at Griffith University’s Nathan campus, (Shout out to Bellenden Ker) so off they headed in 2014.

It was less than a year later, when Haydn suffered a major health setback and had to have open heart surgery for an aortic aneurysm. Once again things got put on hold for a while but once he  recovered, he was back into writing and acting and they were back on track.

The book sat on the shelf again for a few years, while they once again worked on other projects, when Haydn got the urge to send it off again. He searched the net and found Boolarong Press a Brisbane publisher, sent the mock book off, fully illustrated and kept on working on other projects.

They began collaborating on re-writes of their screenplay for television, and were making great headway when they received exciting news. They were offered a publishing deal from Boolarong Press, for their first book, so the screenplay was just going to have to wait. Damien once joked at a book signing that ‘We were in the middle of writing our screenplay when we were ‘rudely interrupted’ with a book deal. This was of course said in jest.

They always had the intention of starting their own company  and in 2021 it was finally  time, with the publication of their first children’s picture book, The Adventures of Triz The Babysitter.

The idea for the business name, MUSTLPIG PRODUCTIONS came about one night while Damien and his mother were playing scrabble; from the leftover tiles.  Damien, of course won the game…by a lot.

May 2021 their first children’s picture book was published by Boolarong Press: The Adventures of Triz: The babysitter.

October 2023 our second children’s picture book in our The Adventures of Triz series, Triz Destroys the Sun, was published by Boolarong Press.

2024 Audio companion to accompany The Babysitter.

It was something they hadn’t even thought about, until they were approached and decided that it would be a unique addition to accompany the physical book that would give the kids a totally immersive experience; including extra dialogue, sound effects and environmental sounds.

As far as the future goes, they have a slate of projects that, in Damien’s words ‘will literally take the rest of our lives to complete. And that is not even Hyperbole) From books, to films, animation and plays, and even a musical….nothing is off limits.

Knowing how much a movie can cost, Damien has taken it upon himself to produce his own concept art, including sketches, paintings, animatics, set dioramas and even resin sculpts of characters and creatures… and anything else required of him. Not only that, he wishes to direct these projects. ‘If you can do it yourself, why pay someone else to do it?’ Damien says. ‘And this is only the beginning’.