Lovechild
A Starchild Lovechild Productions Documentary
ONE STRING
The Story of the Diddley Bow
THE DIDDLEY BOW MAY HAVE ONE STRING, BUT ITS STORY CONTAINS AN ENTIRE WORLD.
One String: The Story of the Diddley Bow explores an extraordinary instrument carrying generations of Black memory, ingenuity, craftsmanship, experimentation, and musical possibility.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN INSTRUMENT HELPS SHAPE A MUSICAL CULTURE, BUT NEARLY DISAPPEARS FROM THE STORY?
The Diddley Bow carries a powerful history of Black American ingenuity, experimentation, craftsmanship, and musical innovation, with ancestral memory connecting us to the many one string instruments found across Africa.
Yet its history remains largely absent from mainstream media, classrooms, and the broader narrative of American music.
The Business Problem
Important Black cultural stories are often presented as individual films, performances, workshops, or archives instead of being developed into sustainable intellectual property capable of living across media, education, products, performance, and cultural experiences.
THE VILLAIN IS ERASURE.
ONE STRING. MANY ANCESTORS. ITS SUPERPOWER IS TRANSFORMATION.
The Diddley Bow exists within a much larger continuum of one string musical traditions. Its story carries ancestral echoes from Africa while developing its own distinctive history within Black American culture.
Through ingenuity, necessity, experimentation, and imagination, available materials became musical instruments.
Wood became instrument.
Wire became vibration.
A wall became resonance.
A child became musician.
Memory became music.
Limitation can become possibility.
Simple materials become technology for musical expression.
One vibrating string becomes a laboratory for rhythm, pitch, resonance, improvisation, and imagination.
FROM ANCESTRAL MEMORY TO FUTURE SOUND. INFINITE POSSIBILITIES.
ARTIST. STORYTELLER. ENTREPRENEUR. CULTURAL BUILDER.
Coco Elysses is not simply documenting the Diddley Bow. She builds Diddley Bows. She plays them. She composes with them. She teaches their history. And now she is following the string through film.
Credentials
- 2019 Jeff Award — Best Original Music in a Play for Tilikum; first African American woman to receive the honor
- 2018 ALTA Award — Best Original Music in a Play for Tilikum
- A Doula Story — featured voice over artist
- The Debauchery Ball — original music used in the creation of the score and soundtrack
- …looking for Elysses — first experimental film; Silver Room Block Party Film Festival Official Selection
- More than three decades of creative music practice
- MFA in Creative Writing with screenwriting experience
- Former Chair of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
Creative Entrepreneurship
- Creator — The Multi Genre Artist Creativity Tool Workbook
- Founder — The Learning Prism
- MBA Student and Founder — OneDay Entrepreneur Program
I AM NOT ENTERING THIS STORY SIMPLY TO DOCUMENT WHERE THE DIDDLEY BOW HAS BEEN. I AM FOLLOWING THE STRING TO DISCOVER WHERE IT CAN GO NEXT.
FOLLOW THE STRING.
One String: The Story of the Diddley Bow is a documentary using music, historical investigation, personal narrative, archival material, instrument building, interviews, and contemporary performance to restore this instrument to the larger story of Black music and American culture.
The mission is not simply to document what the Diddley Bow was. The mission is to reveal what it represents and explore what it can become.
Our Difference Is Integration
There are documentary companies.
There are music education platforms.
There are museums and archives.
WE ARE NOT SIMPLY PRESERVING THE DIDDLEY BOW BEHIND GLASS. WE ARE KEEPING THE STRING VIBRATING.
THE DOCUMENTARY IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
One String represents a significant investment in original cultural intellectual property for Starchild Lovechild Productions.
The documentary is being developed not only for film distribution, but as the foundation for educational programming, workshops, licensing, exhibitions, live experiences, public humanities programming, community engagement, and future partnerships.
The production budget therefore represents investment in both the completion of the documentary and the development of a flagship intellectual property asset for Starchild Lovechild Productions.
Documentary
Education
Diddley Bow Construction Workshops
Curriculum
Community Screenings
Live Performance
Exhibitions
Public Humanities Programming
Licensing
Strategic Partnerships
Digital Content
Future Media
Media + Distribution
- Public media
- Broadcasters
- Streaming platforms
- Distributors
- Film festivals
Cultural Institutions
- Museums
- Libraries
- Arts organizations
- Cultural centers
- Public humanities organizations
Education
- Schools
- Universities
- Music programs
- Educators
- Students
Community + Consumer
- Families
- Artists and makers
- Music lovers
- Black history audiences
- Blues and roots music audiences
- Creative communities
ONE STORY CAN CREATE MULTIPLE EXPERIENCES, AUDIENCES, PARTNERSHIPS, AND REVENUE PATHWAYS.
Preliminary Working Budget
PRELIMINARY PRODUCTION BUDGET
One String: The Story of the Diddley Bow · A Starchild Lovechild Productions Documentary
Working Production Budget
≈ $500,000
Preliminary Production Budget
A preliminary working budget that will continue to be refined as production scope, archival requirements, travel, crew, post production, distribution, and financing are finalized.
Valuing Creative Labor · Coco Elysses
Director
$35,000
Project Fee
Producer
$35,000
Project Fee
Composer and Original Score
$25,000
Project Fee
Total Coco Elysses Creative Compensation
$95,000
Coco Elysses serves in three distinct professional capacities on One String as Producer, Director, and Composer. Each role is budgeted separately to accurately reflect the creative and production labor required by the project. The One String budget recognizes filmmaking, producing, and original music composition as distinct professional contributions.
The $95,000 is included within the approximately $500,000 total production budget.
Development+
- Historical research
- Archival research
- Story development
- Development travel
- Teaser and fundraising materials
Production+
- Director of Photography
- Camera crew
- Location sound
- Production management
- Production assistants
- Additional production personnel
- Camera
- Lighting
- Grip
- Sound
- Media
- Data storage
- Specialty rentals
- Airfare
- Ground transportation
- Lodging
- Meals and per diem
- Location expenses
- Permits
Creative Personnel+
- Coco Elysses — Director — Project Fee: $35,000
- Coco Elysses — Producer — Project Fee: $35,000
- Coco Elysses — Composer and Original Score — Project Fee: $25,000
Archives and Clearances+
- Archival footage
- Archival photography
- Music licensing
- Rights and clearances
- Legal review
Post Production+
- Picture editing
- Assistant editing
- Media management
- Color correction
- Sound editing
- Sound mixing
- Graphics
- Titles
- Mastering
- Deliverables
Accessibility+
- Closed captions
- Audio description
- Transcription
- Accessible deliverables
Marketing and Distribution+
- Festival submissions
- Festival travel
- Publicity
- Trailer
- Poster and promotional assets
- Digital campaign
- Community engagement
- Educational launch
- Distribution preparation
Legal and Insurance+
- Production insurance
- Legal services
- Accounting
- Bookkeeping
- Administrative expenses
Contingency+
- Appropriate production contingency to be set as the detailed budget and production plan are finalized
Final budget subject to production schedule, filming locations, archival licensing requirements, post production scope, distribution strategy, and confirmed financing. Category amounts remain subject to approval and are not represented as final.
WHAT DOES THE AUDIENCE SEE DIFFERENTLY AFTER ONE STRING?
Before
A simple homemade instrument.
After
What Can One String Become Next — Five Year Vision
Complete and distribute One String
Build strategic media and cultural partnerships
Expand educational programming
Develop recurring revenue streams
Build licensing opportunities
Create live and experiential extensions
Develop additional original intellectual property
Build organizational capacity and team
Create a repeatable model for transforming culturally significant stories into sustainable creative properties
ONE STRING BECOMES BOTH A FLAGSHIP PROJECT AND A PROOF OF CONCEPT FOR STARCHILD LOVECHILD PRODUCTIONS.
WHAT WE ARE BUILDING AT BREEDLOVE
Through the Breedlove Business Accelerator, Starchild Lovechild Productions is developing the infrastructure necessary to move One String from creative property to sustainable enterprise.
Business Infrastructure
- Business plan and financial strategy
- Market, distribution, and revenue model
- Strategic partnerships
- Intellectual property strategy
- Investment ready pitch
- Organizational capacity
One String Funding Strategy
- Documentary grants
- Public media funding
- Arts and humanities funding
- Foundation support
- Fiscal sponsorship
- Individual donors
- Corporate and institutional partnerships
- Educational partnerships
- Strategic production partners
- Impact campaign funding
- Distribution and licensing opportunities
Potential financing sources · No source is presented as confirmed
Build the infrastructure that allows culturally significant stories to:
TRAVEL. TEACH. GENERATE REVENUE. CREATE OPPORTUNITY. ENDURE.
KEEP THE STRING VIBRATING.
One String is seeking the partners, funders, distributors, cultural institutions, educational collaborators, and strategic relationships necessary to carry this story forward.
ONE STRING. MANY ANCESTORS. AN UNFINISHED STORY.
ONE STRING: THE STORY OF THE DIDDLEY BOW
A Starchild Lovechild Productions Documentary
PRESERVE THE MEMORY. EXPAND THE STORY. BUILD THE BUSINESS. KEEP THE STRING VIBRATING.