A Day in the Life of Moshe Finkelstein    

What I do

I produce promotional videos, focusing on the commercial, nonprofit, and not-for-profit spaces.

What that means

Anything from creating a series of campaign videos for a fundraising tzedakah organization to producing music videos and event promos.

How I got into the field

Twenty years ago, after learning in kollel for a few years, I needed to supplement my income. I wanted to continue in my yeshivah — baruch Hashem, I’m still there — so I had to come up with a side hustle that allowed for that. At the time, the video production industry was in its infancy. I liked to play around with home videos, taking them on my camera, so I figured I’ll give it a try. The demand for promotional videos was low back then, but there was the wedding industry. I offered to edit the videos of a friend who filmed weddings, and that’s how I started.

My training

Nothing formal. I bought Premiere Pro for Dummies, a book about the Adobe video editing program, asked my friend for something to work on, and got to work. It took many hours and sleepless nights, but I got the hang of it. Baruch Hashem, as my family grew, so did my business. I moved over to dinner and event productions once promotional videos became more common — not because the attitude changed, but because times changed. Back in the day, producing a promo video was difficult, expensive, and there was little return on investment. But once the technology advanced, videos could be made, distributed, and viewed easily. Now it’s a no-brainer — any business, in any industry, needs some kind of video. As for me, the skill is always evolving, because there’s always something to learn — and I need to keep up.