Vienna-based ORF-Enterprise is bringing Portuguese mystery drama “Jones” to Berlin for its international market debut at the EFM Series Market, pitching the six-part series as a premium, export-facing whodunit with a supernatural hook.
Produced by Caracol Studios for Portuguese pubcaster RTP, “Jones” is created and directed by Bruno Gascon (“Carga”) and toplined by British actor Amanda Abbington (“Sherlock,” “Mr. Selfridge”) alongside a Portuguese-led ensemble.
The story opens at a lavish Sintra estate, where a dysfunctional family gathers to celebrate an engagement, only for the night to end in murder and a house full of suspects.
Inspector Oliver Jones, played by José Pimentão (Netflix’s “1899”), takes the case with an unsettling advantage: he can communicate with the dead.
That gift locks him into an unlikely partnership with the victim herself, Júlia (Laura Dutra, “Vermelho Sangue”), whose sharp tongue and post-mortem presence keeps the investigation off-balance as competing versions of the truth surface.
Shot across Sintra and Vila Nova de Foz Côa, “Jones” fuses Agatha Christie-style puzzle-box mechanics with dark humor and family-drama pressure.
Abbington plays Eve, a sharp-witted, slightly off-kilter actress whose obsession with the case pulls her into the investigative orbit and complicates the group dynamic.
The cast also includes Rafael Morais (“Rabo de Peixe”), Ivo Canelas (“Glória”), Rui Morisson (“Ordem Moral”), Raquel Rocha Vieira (“Rabo de Peixe”) and Paula de Magalhães (“Irreversível”). Cinematography is by Hugo Azevedo (“Rabo de Peixe”).
“Jones” gets a Berlin Series Market platform on Monday, Feb. 16, with two episodes screening at CinemaxX 1, followed by a Q&A with Gascon and leads Abbington and Morais.
Ahead of the event, Armin Luttenberger, head of content sales international at ORF-Enterprise, answered a Variety Q&A on how ORF is positioning the series in the current market.
Have you already started international sales on the series? In which territories and with which buyers have you already reached deals?
Yes, we’ve started international sales and have been actively taking the series out to the market. I can’t name buyers or territories publicly while negotiations are ongoing and subject to confidentiality, but momentum is strong and conversations are well advanced in several key markets.
What specific gap in ORF-Enterprise’s drama catalog does “Jones” fill?
For ORF-Enterprise, it’s a premium, Portuguese-origin title with a distinctly international feel — the kind of genre-driven drama that travels easily while still feeling rooted and specific. It broadens our slate with a high-concept mystery engine and a strong “event series” positioning and establishes a truly European collaboration with Portuguese pubcaster RTP and the production powerhouse Caracol Studios. The best-selling ORF Original drama movies and series surely form the perfect foundation for the extension of our portfolio with “Jones.” We expect our entire fiction catalog to benefit equally from this fresh color adding to our international sales offering.
How are you pitching the series in the market — crime, family drama, supernatural mystery…?
We pitch it as a premium murder mystery/investigation thriller with a supernatural edge — grounded enough for crime buyers, elevated enough to stand out in a crowded field. The supernatural element isn’t decorative; it’s part of the storytelling mechanism and the hook.
Which buyer profile is most immediately receptive? Could you tell why?
The most immediately receptive buyers are those actively programming premium scripted genres: streamers, premium pay platforms, and ambitious broadcasters with a clear appetite for event crime. They respond because the series has a sharp logline, a strong binge pull, and clear marketing handles.
What windowing model are you aiming for to maximize price and visibility?
Our priority is to protect premium value and visibility in each territory with the right first-window partner — ideally with meaningful exclusivity where it strengthens positioning. From there, we build a smart secondary window strategy to extend reach and longevity without diluting the brand of the title.
Which territories are most responsive right now to Portuguese-origin premium drama, and what’s driving that demand?
We’re seeing the strongest responsiveness in markets that are already comfortable with premium European drama beyond the usual “big languages,” and where buyers are actively searching for fresh origin stories. The demand is being driven by audiences’ appetite for distinctive worlds paired with universal genre engines — and by platforms wanting curated, high-quality differentiation.
The series is in both Portuguese and English. In current negotiations, is multilingualism raising the ceiling or creating friction?
Multilingualism is mostly a ceiling-raiser: it expands positioning options and widens the buyer pool. Practically, we tailor deliverables to market realities — leaning into subs-first where authenticity is a selling point and ensuring clean dubbing pathways where dubbing is the default — without compromising tone or pace.
‘Jones’
