Retired Memphis police officer has been mastering video since 1979

My Profession profile for The Commercial Appeal

Oct. 11, 2010

Small-business ownership can, at times, feel like a life-or-death situation. Jonny Filsinger knows this all too well, but he manages to keep things in perspective.

The president of Master Video Productions has certainly had his ups and downs during his 31 years in business. But Filsinger comes from a place where the dangers are very real: He was an officer with the Memphis Police Department from 1973 until 1997, including serving on the TACT squad for 16 years.

Filsinger was at the Shannon Street siege in 1983. And he was among the officers who responded to the 32-hour hostage standoff at St. Jude Children’s Research hospital in 1982, for which he was awarded a medal of honor.

Master Video was started in 1979 when Filsinger, his father, Siegfried, and friend, Jerry Jeter, each put in $2,000 for equipment and he taught himself how to use it.

“I would work my eight hours on the police department and then put in six to eight hours on my job, and worked just about every weekend if I wasn’t already working with the police department,” he said. “I would put in a good 30 to 40 hours each week for 20-something years until I opened full time when I retired.”

Filsinger eventually bought out Jeter and his father retired. In addition to weddings and corporate training videos in the beginning, Filsinger used his own equipment, until the city bought its own, for police-training videos … (read more)