Odds are 1 in 307.

Not bad for the lottery, but this is for the Academy Awards. That's how many feature films are eligible for Best Picture of 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced yesterday.

To qualify, movies must be 40 minutes or longer and open in a commercial theater in Los Angeles County by midnight Dec. 31 and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

The first round of ballots for the 79th Academy Awards were mailed Tuesday to the 5,830 voting members. Nominations will be announced Jan. 23, and final ballots put in the mail eight days later. The Oscars will be handed out Feb. 25 in Hollywood.

SAG kudos coming

In other awards news, actors Sandra Oh and Elijah Wood will join Alan Rosenberg next week in announcing the nominees for the 13th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Rosenberg is SAG president, although fans of "The Guardian" will remember him as Simon Baker's boss.

The nomination announcement will be televised at 9:05 a.m. Thursday live on TNT and E! Entertainment Television. The awards show will be simulcast on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. Jan. 28.

SAG is the nation's largest labor union representing working actors. The annual SAG Awards are the only industry accolades devoted solely to actors honoring actors.

Ballots for eight TV and five movie categories, including the ensemble awards, which can be a harbinger of Oscar glory ("Crash" trumped "Brokeback Mountain"), were mailed Dec. 1 to film and TV nominating panels. All active union members then get ballots to vote on the winners.

Making music

Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore ... and you if you win a songwriting contest being held in connection with their romantic comedy, "Music and Lyrics," opening on Valentine's Day.

Warner Bros. Pictures is partnering with VH1 in a songwriting contest. From now through Jan. 20, contestants can write, record and upload a love song to Talentload.tv/musicandlyrics. You can also find rules at that site along with a movie preview.

Entries will be rated by online users and the top-rated videos will be judged by representatives of VH1 and the movie. The winner will be picked Feb. 3 and the songwriter flown to Los Angeles for the red-carpet premiere of the movie. That person also will have his or her love song professionally recorded.

"Music and Lyrics" stars Grant as a washed up 1980s pop star who's been reduced to working the nostalgia circuit at county fairs and amusement parks. He gets a chance at a comeback when a pop diva invites him to write and record a duet with her, but he hasn't written a song in years and never did pen lyrics.

Unlikely help comes in the form of his plant lady, played by Barrymore. Romance appears to blossom.