Are you sure you don't mean "stolen concept?"
http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/stolen...

Borrowed premise is the term. I'd like a reliable source for the definition if anyone has it.

Khalling, that isn't the way that she, Ms. Rand, used it.

hey, Adam. Simple. It's the re-telling of a story-usually one well known. Because it's a well known story in literature, the characters have become archetypal.
an example-"Clueless" is the re-telling of Jane Austin's "Emma."
"Pretty Woman" is a Cinderella story.
"A Thousand Acres," is King Lear
"West Side Story" is Romeo and Juliet, etc
Some of the most common are re-telling of biblical stories. How many movies have a character who dies to save everyone else?

http://borrowedpremise.blogspot.com/ the fair-use recasting of familiar characters from popular culture and the world of literature in new fictional adventures, has gained avid readership and some attention from mainstream media thanks to small-circulation print 'zines and web-based publications devoted to original works of fiction.