Zeb Achonu - Freelance Film and Television Editor

Zeb Achonu was one of many people that reached out to a twitter post we sent out, it was a a pleasure to read about the many projects she has worked on and what an insperation she is for women who want to pursue an editing career.
Some of her projects include:
Editor on the National Television Award winning Paul O’Grady’s For the Love of Dogs (ITV 2018)
Editor on the Children’s BAFTA Award winning Bear Grylls Survival School (ITV 2017)
Editor on the Children’s BAFTA Award winning Our Family (CBeebies 2017)
2016 selected participant on the WFTV mentoring scheme.
Editor on the Kids International Emmy Award winning Pet School (CBBC 2012) 
Featured as “One To Watch” in Broadcast Magazine’s Hotshots list 2006.\

Here is her story about Lockdown.

Zeb Achonu - Life In Lockdown

​My name is Zeb Achonu and I am a freelance film and TV editor based in London. I'm on the board of directors for WFTV and an Associate Governor of the British Film Editors guild. I'm also a mother of 3 wildlings aged 8, 4 and 1. Life was busy before the pandemic and has stayed busy but in a calmer way. 

Lockdown: Family and Work
Pre lockdown I was freelancing for CGTN Europe making short films about science and technology for their weekly show RAZOR. A week before lockdown we were all told to work from home where possible and had media shared with us. It worked well. I always prefer working from home and not having to commute (90 mins each way on this job). I also pulled my kids out of school and nursery due to Covid fears, and started to consider the logistics of homeschooling. I've always wanted to work from home and to homeschool. I realise now that I didn't mean at the same time! My partner is a gaffer and all of his upcoming shoots were cancelled. As predicted, the following week the country went on lockdown and it all became even more real. My attempts at creating a fun and varied timetable for the whole age range had the addition of school online offerings, tantrums, my work deadlines and the roller-coaster of emotions lockdown brought with it. It's hard to listen to kids having tantrums about school work while you mute your mic on Zoom meetings and wonder how you are going to pull anything resembling a 10 hour day or get a cut ready for a viewing with numerous intrusions bringing various art gifts and lego creations. 
I find myself working into the night so I can have a few precious hours (they don't always feel that way!) with the kids during the day. The school rang at some point to ask why my oldest hadn't logged in every day. I had to explain that caring for 3 kids and working from home meant it wasn't always possible to have their structures in place. In the meantime we have built a Lego film studio and the kids have had lessons on lighting from their Gaffer Papa, planned a film shoot for me to edit, done loads of gardening and discovered insects. All perfectly valuable lessons as far as we're concerned.  
I've been lucky to have had a few weeks' work on a pre-shot TV programme and am now back making shorts, with mostly Skype recorded interviews. It's worked surprisingly well and although slightly more restricted in shot choices, it's been good practice in how we use stock or contributors' footage in interesting ways.

Links for Zeb Achonu

Linkedin: uk.linkedin.com/in/zebachonu
Website: www.zebeditor.com/
Twitter: @zebeditor 
​Instagram: @zebeditor