When introducing Science on Screen to local media outlets, outline the goals of the program, what makes it unique, and how it is compatible with your theater’s mission. At the beginning of each season, the Coolidge and the Sloan Foundation issue a joint press release announcing the year's grantees; you can mine this release for information and quotes about the SoS program in general.
You will also want to circulate a press release or otherwise alert the media to individual Science on Screen events. Consider inviting press to your events so that they can experience Science on Screen first hand.
If a guest scientist has expertise in an unusual area, is doing research on a particularly timely or controversial topic, or is making an especially intriguing or quirky connection to the film you are showing, a media outlet may want to do a feature story, Q&A, and/or radio/TV interview. For example, Coolidge Science on Screen programs have generated print and/or broadcast coverage on how zombies’ brain anatomy drives their behavior (The Night of the Living Dead), the biology of B-movie monsters (It Came From Beneath the Sea), and the physical feasibility of two dudes traveling back in time (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure).
Similarly, the California Film Institute generated an article on their program, Science on Screen: What Captain Kirk Can Teach Us, which featured a neuropsychologist talking about the Kobayashi Maru scenario in conjunction with a screening of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. And The State Theatre of Modesto landed a feature on a program that combined a screening of Spider-Man with a talk on the amazing powers of spiders and a lobby display of a dozen living arachnids, some of which were available (to the non-phobic) for touching. This presented a great photo opportunity.
Don’t forget to include science and technology writers, editors, and bloggers on your media list, in addition to film, A&E, and event press contacts. Your guest scientists may have their own blogs, as was the case with two of Cinefamily’s speakers, who blogged about their appearances at the theater. Others sources of coverage are student-run media and guest scientists’ hometown press.