One of the first Russian film entrepreneurs. In October 1907, while still a law student at Moscow University, he was hired as a junior technician in the Moscow branch of the "Pathé Brothers" film company.

A year later, he was already the head of the company's sales department, and three years later, he was the general representative of "Pate" in Russia. Since 1912 - co-owner of the rental company "Ermoliev, Zarkhin and Segel" (in Rostov-on-Don). In 1915 he founded his own film studio "I.