‘Lean In’ and 10 Lady Ladder Climber Movies

Sony Pictures just can't get enough of Facebook as the studio behind "The Social Network" (2010) has optioned a second book linked to the social media site, "Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead," according to Deadline.

"Lean In" was written by Sheryl Sandberg, who as of last August is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook. Published in March of last year, the book explores the inequalities of men and women in the American workplace and discusses how women can better empower themselves as professionals.

The screenplay will be adapted by Nell Scovell, a longtime television writer and director who served as a consultant on the writing of the "Lean In" book. The film won't be a feature-length 'How To' session or documentary but rather an original narrative based on the book's themes.

"Lean In" (a phrase which one episode of FX's "The League" described as "the white collar version of Larry the Cable Guy's 'Git R Done'") serves as the latest in a long line of films that celebrate (and occasionally cower in fear from) the lady ladder climber. Here are ten you may be acquainted with.

1. "Baby Boom" (1987)

Diane Keaton stars in this "unexpected comedy" as J.C. Wiatt (a name for an '80s yuppie if there ever was one), a high-powered NYC businesswoman whose life goes topsy-turvy when her inheritance from a dead relative ends up being a baby girl. True, her eventual maternal instincts prompt her to step off the ladder, leaving the film with the odd message of "All successful single women should get a baby and move to Vermont."

2. "Baby Mama" (2008)

Tina Fey proved you can have a successful career AND a baby AND have your scenes stolen by Amy Poehler in this cutesy comedy in which an infertile businesswoman hires a working class woman to be her surrogate ... and they eventually end up stuck in kind of a female version of "The Odd Couple."

3. "Broadcast News" (1987)

In James L. Brooks' pre-"Simpsons" (yes, there was a world before "The Simpsons") comedy, Holly Hunter plays the brilliant yet somewhat emotionally unstable producer of a TV news program caught between her top two reporters: one of them handsome (William Hurt), the other actually talented (Albert Brooks).

4. "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006)

Meryl Streep got to play the boss from hell in this adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel: Miranda Priestley, the editor-in-chief of 'Runway' fashion magazine, who terrorizes and humiliates her new junior personal assistant, Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway). She just might not be all bad, though ...

5. "Disclosure" (1994)

Demi Moore is a force to be reckoned with as Meredith Johnson, the new head of a Seattle technology company who files a sexual harassment suit against her subordinate — and former lover — Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas, who else?) after he refuses to follow through on their brief late-night office tryst. Sanders counter-attacks with his own sexual harassment suit against his boss and things get very, very messy and Michael Crichton-y.

6. "I Don't Know How She Does It" (2011)

Sarah Jessica Parker stars in this adaptation of Allison Pearson's novel as Kate Reddy, a New York financial executive who serves as the breadwinner for her husband and two kids. Unfortunately, the film's themes were considered hopelessly outdated, treating a female professional and multitasker as some sort of anomaly in 2011.

7. "The Iron Lady" (2011)

Meryl Streep got to be a little nicer — and even more powerful — than her "The Devil Wears Prada" character with her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 through 1990. "The Iron Lady" received mixed reviews, but Streep won her third Oscar for her performance — 29 years after her second win, for "Sophie's Choice" (1982).

8. "Mr. Mom" (1983)

Michael Keaton followed up his starmaking turn as a 'love broker' in Ron Howard's "Night Shift" (1982) with this comedy about an auto worker who ends up staying home to take care of the kids after he loses his job while Mom (Teri Garr) gets hired by an ad agency. Wouldn't you know it, Mom ends up being pretty good at this going-to-work stuff!

9. "Nine to Five" (1980)

Arguably one of the greatest 'revenge movies' of all time, "Nine to Five" stars Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fond as office co-workers who hatch an elaborate scheme to get even with their "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss, played to loathsome perfection by Dabney Coleman. We hope he's happy with that tribe of Amazons in the Brazilian jungle.

10. "Working Girl" (1988)

It hasn't aged very well (dear lord, those hairstyles!), but back in the late '80s, "Working Girl" was the girl-power movie, with Melanie Griffith (dear lord, that hairstyle!) as the secretary who impersonates her evil boss (Sigourney Weaver) all the way to the top of the ladder ... and gets the guy who looks like Han Solo, too.