<P> At the same time, Warren Littlefield, the then - president of NBC Entertainment, was seeking a comedy involving young people living together and sharing expenses . Littlefield wanted the group to share memorable periods of their lives with friends, who had become "new, surrogate family members ." However, Littlefield found difficulty in bringing the concept to life and found the scripts developed by NBC to be terrible . When Kauffman, Crane and Bright pitched Insomnia Cafe, Littlefield was impressed that they knew who their characters were . NBC bought the idea as a put pilot, meaning they risked financial penalties if the pilot was not filmed . Kauffman and Crane took three days to write the pilot script for a show they titled Friends Like Us . Littlefield wanted the series to "represent Generation X and explore a new kind of tribal bonding", but the rest disagreed . Crane argued that it was not a series for one generation, and wanted to produce a series that everyone would enjoy watching . NBC liked the script and ordered the series . They changed the title to Six of One, mainly because they felt Friends Like Us was too similar to the ABC sitcom These Friends of Mine . </P> <P> Once it became apparent that the series was a favored project at NBC, Littlefield reported that he was getting calls from every agent in town, wanting their client to be a part of the series . Auditions for the lead roles took place in New York and Los Angeles . The casting director shortlisted 1,000 actors who had applied for each role down to 75 . Those who received a callback read again in front of Crane, Kauffman and Bright . At the end of March, the number of potential actors had been reduced to three or four for each part, and were asked to read for Les Moonves, then - president of Warner Bros. Television . </P> <P> Having worked with David Schwimmer in the past, the series creators wrote the character of Ross with him in mind, and he was the first actor cast . Cox wanted to play the role of Monica, but the producers had her in mind to play Rachel because of her "cheery, upbeat energy", which was not how they envisioned Monica; after Cox's audition, though, Kauffman agreed with Cox, and she got the role . When Matt LeBlanc auditioned for Joey, he put a "different spin" on the character . He played Joey more simple - minded than intended and gave the character heart . Although Crane and Kauffman did not want LeBlanc for the role at the time, they were told by the network to cast him . Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow were cast based on their auditions . </P> <P> More changes occurred to the series's storylines during the casting process . The writers found that they had to adjust the characters they had written to suit the actors, and the discovery process of the characters occurred throughout the first season . Kauffman acknowledged that Joey's character became "this whole new being", and that "it wasn't until we did the first Thanksgiving episode that we realized how much fun Monica's neuroses are ." </P>

Where do the cast of friends live now