I'm trying to utilize the append method through the el in the BackBoneJS view. I'm using Handlebars.

When I run my code, I get this in the console:

main.js:14 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'html')
    at d.render (main.js:14:14)
    at main.js:23:43

Here also are the console logs and responses to the following:

videoViewer.el
  <div>​</div>​

videoViewer.$el
  undefined

Here is my JavaScript:

const VideoViewerModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
  defaults: {
    video: '',
    title: '',
    description: ''
  }
})


const VideoViewerViewer = Backbone.View.extend({
  template: Handlebars.compile($('#video-view-template').html()),

  render: function () {
    this.$el.html(this.template(this.model.attributes))
  },

});

const videoModel = new VideoViewerModel();

const videoViewer = new VideoViewerViewer({ model: videoModel });

$('.viewer-container').append(videoViewer.render().el);

Can anyone catch why my $el seems non-existent?