He began his professional career in the 1980s on a local channel TVE-RS working as reporter, presenter, editor, screenwriter and producer.

In 1982 created a TV show Quizumba, that mixed fiction and documentary with very audacious language for the Brazilian public television.

Between 1984 and 1986, Furtado was director of the museum Museu de Comunicação Social Hipólito José da Costa in Porto Alegre.

At the same time, with the help of José Pedro Goulart and Ana Luiza Azevedo, he created the company Luz Produções, where he made two short films and produced plays for theater.

In 2008, Harvard University promoted an exhibition of his films called "Jorge Furtado's Porto Alegre".