About the Time Kal Penn Took Two Years Off to Work for President Obama

"There was a selflessness about it. He was there for the right reasons. He believed in the candidate, he believed in the cause. He was approachable, he didn't put on any airs. And he loved to work hard.... We'd take him to five, six college campuses a day, and he'd never complain.... You could have asked him to do anything -- go lick some stamps, he would've done that." Spurred into public service during the Writer's Strike, Kal Penn (who's back on screens next week in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas) took a mid-level outreach gig in the Obama administration that, at one point, caused his agent to freak out: "What are you doing? The guy is down 30 points in the polls. It's not cute anymore!" [L.A. Times]

TV Creators Tell All in Behind the Scenes Doc Showrunners

With Upfront Week in full swing (see Deadline's extensive coverage here), what better time to peel back the layers on the creative minds behind some of your favorite series of the past few years? The 2012 documentary Showrunners does just that, featuring interviews with the likes of Damon Lindelof (LOST), Jeff Pinkner & J.H. Wyman (Fringe), David Eick (Battlestar Galactica), Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy) and more, who spill on everything from daily life as a showrunner on a hit show to what happens when you sign away creative control. TV lovers, you're going to want to watch this trailer.

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