The Original Pilot of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an amateur short film made by Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day on their own with two simple camcorders. The estimated production cost is $85-200, which went almost solely to tapes for the cameras.

The working title of this project was "It's Always Sunny on TV", and was supposed to take place in Hollywood, CA. It follows three novice actors as they go on various auditions. Rob, Glenn and Charlie played themselves, using their real names.

The FX network decided to give the concept a chance. Later, storyline of this film was transformed into the

fourth episode of the 1st Season of It's Always Sunny.

The estimated duration of this homemade pilot is 25 minutes.

First scene don't have any remarkable differences as compare to what we see in 01x04 [there only wasn't

an intercom, and sugar was replaced by the basket BALL ].

an intercom, and sugar was replaced by the basket ]. That was their second try to shoot this film. According to Charlie, the first version was just " NOT GOOD ".

". In aforementioned first BAD version , David Hornsby ("Cricket") played the role of Mac.

, David Hornsby ("Cricket") played the role of Mac. Neither version has ever been fully released publicly. It is unknown if they ever will be.

The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 DVD contains two scenes from the Original Pilot: " Charlie Has Cancer "

and " Rob (Mac) Meets Carmen ".

" and " ". Jordan Reid was Rob McElhenney's girlfriend at the time this pilot was produced. After FX picked it up, Reid and McElhenney broke up and she was replaced by Kaitlin Olson.

In this episode Carmen is portrayed by Morena Baccarin (she's Glenn's college friend and appeared in the pilot as a favor to him; a spray bottle was used to simulate her character's bulge).

Carmen had seen Rob's acting in an 1997 episode of Law & Order (s08e01).

(s08e01). At the time, Rob worked at night in a restaurant.

This pilot was filmed mostly at the homes of Glenn Howerton and Jordan Reid.

After the guys complete their pilot, they had meetings with representers of following channels: FOX, HBO, Comedy Central, VH1, MTV, CBS, and FX .

. FX had a little interest for the pilot, so they asked guys to shoot one more episode. After they'd seen it, FX picked the Sunny up and generously allowed Rob, Glenn and Charlie to actually run the show by themselves (in fact, they were working on FX almost for nothing).

up and generously allowed Rob, Glenn and Charlie to actually run the show by themselves (in fact, they were working on FX almost for nothing). One of the conditions that FX set for them to pick this up as a series was that it not be set in L.A., because they felt that would be too much like other sitcoms on the air. So Rob McElhenney transferred the show to his hometown - Philadelphia, PA.

be set in L.A., because they felt that would be too much like other sitcoms on the air. So Rob McElhenney transferred the show to his hometown - Philadelphia, PA. For her audition, Kaitlin read Glenn's part from their opening dialogue with Charlie. Later, she was really upset for not filming this scene.

Glenn: The women in this city... shallow, materialistic and du... I mean, just stupid!.. Charlie: (stealing beer from the party) I know...