Hot Shots 2025: Felix Jones

At the end of 2024, New Zealand drama After The Party became a sleeper hit for Channel 4. An early champion of the highly acclaimed series was Felix Jones, who acquired 169 hours of programming for the broadcaster last year and read and summarised more than 50 scripted submissions on behalf of his team.

His role spans genres and among the factual pre-sales he secured were BossaNova doc MH17: The Plane Crash That Shook The World – nominated for International Programme Sales at the Broadcast Awards – and Tsunami 2004: The Day The Wave Hit.

Jones built up his encyclopaedic knowledge of the international scripted and co-production market, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, in his three years as an acquisitions assistant for DCD Rights.

Having studied for a part-time diploma in scripted development at the National Film & Television School, he now helps C4’s teams cut through the noise with his curated reports of ‘ones to watch’ in premium scripted and factual from around the world.

C4 acquisitions head Polly Scates marvels at Jones’s “uncanny” ability to nail a script’s essence at “lightning speed”. She adds: “It’s rare to come across someone as talented and committed as Felix. He distils complex narratives into clear, insightful feedback. Felix is widely respected, and his editorial insight is regularly sought by departments throughout the organisation.

“I am forever impressed by how he approaches every task with great care, precision and enthusiasm, regardless of its complexity. No job is ever too small and his attention to detail consistently elevates the quality of the work.”

Small wonder, then, that Jones was promoted last year to acquisitions manager to help Scates further grow C4’s scripted pre-buy strategy.