Writing While Sleeping

Last night I tossed and turned as vivid images filled my head. When I woke up I had the entire first act of my newest screenplay figured out (temp titled "White Man"). I've been mulling over how to open the film for months and haven't come up with anything which really makes the thing work.

The more I thought about it today, the more I realized that many of my favorite moments in my screenplays have occurred to me either while I'm sleeping, under the influence, completely spaced out or while daydreaming. That's not to say that I don't need to then write these inspirations down and make them work over month, and even year long periods. And I have certainly had the experience of dreaming what seemed like amazing stories, that while I'm asleep seem like the best thing since the invention of nuclear power, but when I wake up, reek of insanity or worse inanity. It just seems interesting that thinking about a thing rarely gets you where you need to go, whereas relaxing and just letting it eventually flow into you almost always brings you something interesting. I guess I should spend more time sleeping.