For producers, the show 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' was almost a pet project. At first, no one expected that the show would become a huge hit. In fact, it almost ended right when it began; fortunately, one actor swooped in and saved the dayand the rest of the cast.
In those early days, though, money was tight. As Mental Floss recapped, the original pilot only cost $100 to make. The idea was that the pilot would serve as a 'calling card' and generate interest in the show's premise.
Those early days were rough all around; Rob McElhenney continued working an evening job after he finished filming each day. And before Danny DeVito came on board, 'Sunny' nearly fell out of favor with FX. In fact, it was DeVito whose "big name" helped boost the show's ratings.
Fortunately for the cast, it also boosted their earnings.
As Los Angeles Times reported, 'It's Always Sunny' have started out as a budget show. At first, production costs were around $400,000 per episode, including salaries for the cast members. Executive producers and stars Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney admitted it was a low figure, but they were willing to work with FX because of the opportunity the series allowed them creatively, one of the more interesting BTS facts about 'Always Sunny.'
Basically, McElhenney and Day had a free creative run to develop the show the way they wanted. The downside was lower pay than the actors would have earned otherwise. However, McElhenney did admit, noted Los Angeles Times, that he earned an estimated $70K during the show's first season.
For most average, non-celebrity folks, $70K is a decent salary for appearing in seven episodes of a show. For Rob, though, it wasn't enough, he said, hence his working evenings as a waiter. Though Charlie Day hasn't revealed his exact pay, fans can assume he made about the same salary as Rob, and that those two earned the same as the other lead characters.
Times have changed since the LA Times article circa 2010, though. Even then, the budget for the show had grown to $1.5 million per episode, in part to accommodate Danny DeVito's salary and also raises for the rest of the cast.
Since Charlie Day likely started out making about $10K per episode of 'Always Sunny,' fans can assume he's making somewhere around half a million — at least — per season these days.
Of course, he's also worth $30M these days, according to Celebrity Net Worth, which factors in both his earnings from 'Always Sunny' and other projects like 'Horrible Bosses.'
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