When the cameras are rolling, will Memphis be left on the cutting room floor?

Something rather on-topic (gasp!) and lengthy today. Non-Memphians, read at your own risk ...

Got an e-mail from a coworker today, the latest buzz between news junkies about a film and/or music company mulling over whether to move a regional office to Memphis. But it's been a couple of weeks now since the news first leaked, and key players are still tight-lipped about the whole deal. No hard facts. No name-dropping. Just a lot of nebulous talk in one corner and a lot of cynicism in the other.

As a native Memphian, I'm thrilled by the idea that we'd be home to a production megacorp. Being the 17th largest U.S. city, Memphis dukes it out with other mid-sized locales to draw and keep big-name companies and attractions. Nabbing this deal could be a real boon for the metro area. We're already fortunate that companies like FedEx and AutoZone and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital — to name a few — were founded here and are loyal corporate citizens. But I think there are times when the city tries too hard to seal a deal, trips over its own feet, and is left with nothing to show for its efforts.

One of the best examples: The Pyramid Arena. In 1991, the city built The Pyramid — a.k.a. "The Tomb of Doom" — a structure taller than the Statue of Liberty destined to be a big attraction and an even bigger money-maker. There's a great backstory to the construction of the Pyramid nicely laid out in this commentary. I was 10 years old, so I don't remember much about the early days of the Pyramid other than it involved a slick talker named Sidney Schlenker (whose name should've tipped us off).

The Pyramid never got its promised theme park. Or its halls of fame. Or even its observation deck. That's right ... it's taller than the Statue of Liberty, but you can't even look out the top.

After the Pyramid fiasco, city leaders still kept their heads high — until a decade later when they bent over backwards to attract the then-Vancouver Grizzlies. As part of that deal, a second arena, FedExForum, was built for the NBA team. And, with that shiny new arena only two miles away, the Pyramid was largely vacated (except for its occasional use as a movie soundstage or to hold graduation ceremonies).

Now the Pyramid is in limbo. Reportedly, it will become a mega-sized Bass Pro Shops, a rehab job similar to the one Bass Pro announced for Buffalo, N.Y.'s Memorial Auditorium. And though the Forum has lived up to and even exceeded expectations, it was recently announced that (oops!) a floor was left out of the Forum's parking garage, meaning the city loses out on $6.3 million in state funding.

So I'm wary of the incentives the city may be putting on the table to attract a film company. And — holding on to the adage "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst" — I fear the city is in for more disappointment. Do other cities understand what we're going through? Certainly we're not the first place to boast a failed effort to recall the mayor, a slew of political corruption, and, unfortunately, a lot of continued racial polarization. Over and over, we jump at the glimmer of a chance to rise above all that, yet we keep picking at old scabs. One step forward, six steps back?

I want to see Memphis succeed. I want to see it grow and thrive. I want to, for once, tell a long-distance friend I live here and have them recognize the city for something other than the place with Elvis and Martin Luther King Jr. died. I know that's what a lot of Memphians want, but the city needs to stop for a second and think. We must be wary of those who speak a good game but have nothing to show for it. We need to realize that spending money now is not always a guarantee of making money later. And, most of all, we must be conscious of maintaining and promoting the things we already have, lest we lose them.