GRAND PRIZE WINNER SCORES "BEAU BRUMMEL," PREMIERES JANUARY 29TH ON TCM

TCM's Young FilmComposers Competition, an annual event in which five finalists compete by scoring a 90-second clip from a classic silent film, has yielded a Grand Prize Winner in James Schafer of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Schafer’s prize included the opportunity to create a score for "Beau Brummel" (1924) starring John Barrymore. Catch that film with Schafer’s new soundtrack (in an evening of filmsdevoted to Barrymore) on January 29.

Born and raised in Southern California, James Schafer received his BM from California State University, Northridge, and a Masters Certificate from University of Southern California in the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program, where he was awarded the Harry Warren Endowed Scholarship. James has written scores for many short films, video games and independent features. Additionally, he has worked with several established film composers in orchestrating and producing their music.

When the Young Film Composers Competition began in 2000, it was inspired by a desire to bring unseen films to life and by TCM’s long-standing commitment to film preservation.We have more than 100 silent films that have not been seen since their theatrical debut, since they were originally performed with live musical accompaniment and have no recorded score. Thanks to past competitions, new scores have been created for seven other silents that are shown regularly on TCM.