About Turbo Chook

Named after the iconic tassie native hen, Turbo Chook is a Queer production company created by AFTRS alumni Jess Murray, Declan O’Byrne-Inglis, and Tom Ward in 2021. The team has a soft spot for heartfelt absurdist comedies across both 2D animation and live-action; from music videos to web series, with plans to expand into long-form in the future.

Meet the Chooks

Jess Murray

Jess Murray is a non-binary filmmaker and illustrator with a focus on whacky characters and heartfelt comedies. Growing up on the outskirts of Hobart, Tasmania, Jess found a love of oddball movies at the age of 12 and has been determined to create their own kooky creations ever since. 

At the age of 19, Jess co-created the 2D animated short form comedy series Moments of Clarity, which was made by the local Tassie animation studio, Blue Rocket and funded by Screen Australia and Screen Tasmania. Moments of Clarity was nominated for best animation at Melbourne WebFest. 

Jess has co-written and directed on all four of Turbo Chook’s web series: Tornadohead, Letter Club, Wine Mums, and After All. As well as writing and directing, Jess also designs the team’s 2D animated projects and dabbles in producing, editing and voice acting.

Outside of the film industry, Jess’ digital illustrations have been featured in various exhibitions over the last decade, including: Art on Victoria: Epoch, Tas Pride’s Out of Darkness, and DARK MOFO’s Stories After Dark. This is an area Jess would love to expand on!

Tom Ward

Tom Ward is a nuisance and a menace to society. He is also a Sydney-based writer, sound recordist/designer, motion designer and actor who loves making whack art.

Since graduating AFTRS in 2020, Tom has worked on over 40 projects including TV shows (Black Snow, The Messenger, The Secret Life of Us), web series (Coach Dayum), short films, animations, music videos, theatre and documentaries in various roles. Since Co-Founding Turbo Chook with Declan and Jess, Tom has written on all major projects as well as being the co-creator and co-star of Wine Mums, a queer absurdist web series made by a pack of queers. 

Tom’s future goals are cleaning the gutters, writing a feature film and world domination.

Declan O’Byrne-Inglis

Declan is an actor and writer who loves telling stories about the strange lurking in the mundane. Declan relishes using absurdist comedy to portray their experience as a queer, non-binary and neurodivergent person living in a highly perplexing world. In addition to co-writing, directing and starring in various Turbo Chook projects, Declan has racked up a diverse resume of jobs from ghost tour guide to podcast intern at ABC’s Audio Studios, to Lego brick sorter on the series Lego Masters, among others.

Declan’s recent work includes writing and directing the music video Mufti Days: Intermediate, co-starring in and creating the Wine Mums series, as well as screenwriting for the Turbo Chook projects: Tornadohead, Letter Club, and After All.