Although the story takes place in Hollywood, the pilot was shot entirely on USC's main campus near downtown Los Angeles. Most interiors were shot on a built set, and most exteriors were shot on the street in front of the sound stage. The footage of Hollywood was shot in one day with a small second unit crew.
The pilot was created in 3 acts over two semesters at USC's school of cinematic arts. Each act is meant to represent an 'episode' of a series, and the production mimicked real world TV series. Thus, each act had a new crew, with a new director, DP, AD, etc.
Nearly every crew member appears as an extra at some point of the pilot. Most of these roles were for patients in the clinic and DEA agents. Speaking roles were given to a writer and two producers for the act 1 patient montage. And also, the creator of the show appears in the same scene twice; once as a patient, and once as the cover model of a featured weed magazine.