Yes, this is the actual text of a script. And a script contains scene
descriptions, dialogue, directions. (Contrary to popular opinion, the actors
don't just make up their lines when they hit the stage, based on loose ideas
by somebody.) My scripts tend to be *very* detailed, with camera movement
suggestions, optical notes, indications of dissolves vs. cuts, on and on. A
typical scene might look like this:

EXT. BABYLON 5 - ESTABLISHING

A scuttleship unloads cargo from a transport parked alongside the station.
PAN ACROSS with the scuttleship, tracking with it until it passes into the
docking bay, then DOWN TO the observation dome window, where we can just see
into

INT. OBSERVATION DOME

where Lieutenant-Commander IVANOVA stands at the console, cup in hand, staring
bleakly out into the starscape as SINCLAIR comes up alongside.

IVANOVA
I hate mornings...I've always had a
hard time getting up when it's dark
outside.

SINCLAIR
We're in space. It's always dark
outside.

IVANOVA
(forlornly)
I know...I know....

(That, by the way, is a slight re-do of an actual shot from "Raiding
Party.")

A script page, single-spaced, works out to about the same wordage as a
double-spaced prose fiction page, about 225-250 words per.

On this whole "costs less = not as good" question, the one thing that
galls me is the knowledge, accumulated through 120+ produced TV episodes, that
30% *or more* of any show's budget is wasted. It comes because you don't get
a script until maybe 3-4 days before you have to shoot, and everybody works
round the clock, ringing in double- and triple-overtime on EFX, costumes,
sets, you name it. So items that should by all rights cost maybe $150,000 end
up costing you $300,000 or more.

In B5, we're generally 3-5 scripts ahead of ourselves at any one moment.
Directors and crew get their scripts *weeks* before we have to shoot. And
even earlier than that, because I know what's coming down the road for the
whole season, I can give someone literally *months* of advance warning on
major EFX, or set requirements. As a result of all this, items that normally
cost $150,000 either cost exactly that, or we actually end up *saving* a
little money.

A lot of television production is absolutely irresponsible. That we are
penalized in the press for acting responsibly is something that I just can't
figure....

jms