20 Things You Didn't Know About It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
18. The Unaired Pilot Episode Cost Just $200
Before FX agreed to fund a glossy pilot episode, the main cast members decided to shoot their own micro-budget pilot to shop around to networks while living as struggling actors in Los Angeles.
The pilot, filmed on consumer-grade digital video in the actors' apartments with each of them taking turns operating the boom mic, was reportedly made for around $200. However, Charlie Day has claimed it actually cost even less than that.
The budget was largely for camera tapes, as the gang shot a short version of what would eventually become the series' fourth-ever episode, "Charlie Has Cancer."
The pilot was burned to a DVD to be shown to networks, leading to FX agreeing to produce a higher-budget pilot. The rest, as they say, is history.
Day said of their original kitchen sink pilot, "We were a bunch of kids with cameras running around shooting each other and [the] next thing you know, we're eleven years in and we're still doing the show."