Adventures in the Drinks Trade
Hard times are the prologue to innovation and revival
In 1982, William Goldman began writing Adventures in the Screen Trade at the “nadir of Hollywood despair.”1 At the time massive flops like Heaven’s Gate and Raise the Titanic! had film studios paralyzed.
As one worried executive told Goldman about audiences:
“We don’t know what they want. All we do know is that they don’t want what we’re giving them.”
Goldman’s legendary takeaway?
“Nobody knows anything.”
By the time his book hit shelves, the “immobilized” industry was in the middle of a historic boom. 1982 and 1983 didn’t just recover; they delivered E.T., Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. 1984 brought us Beverly Hills Cop and Ghostbusters. The panic was simply the prologue to a slew of blockbusters.2
The beverage industry is currently feeling that same “Heaven’s Gate” anxiety. Volumes are soft, and the old playbooks are missing the audience. But history shows that the hardest times force the most radical—and successful—reimaginings:
Napa Valley’s Post-Prohibition Revival: A decimated industry spent decades in the wilderness before the 1976 Judgment of Paris proved that “the experts” had no idea what was coming.
The Whiskey Slump: In the ’70s and ’80s, American Whiskey was “dead” stock. That despair forced the innovation of small-batch and single-barrel bourbon that redefined global spirits.
New Zealand’s Pivot: Born from a surplus of uninspired grapes and a desperate need for a new identity, NZ Sauvignon Blanc turned a local crisis into a global category leader, sustaining a growth story that lasted more than 30 years.
When executives say, “The audience doesn’t want what we’re giving them,” it’s usually an invitation to stop giving them the same thing.
Volatility is not a death knell; it’s a filter. It clears out the “me-too” products and forces the reflection, reinvention, and innovation that easy money never could.
If you feel immobilized by the current market, remember Goldman. By the time the “experts” figure out what’s wrong, the next blockbuster era has already begun production. 🥃🎬
Goldman had reason for concern. He was a screenwriter. His first original screenplay was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He later adapted All the President’s Men.
Goldman himself enjoyed a comeback starting in the late 1980s. He wrote screenplays for both The Princess Bride and Misery.