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When he took over two years ago, Riefkohl says one of his main goals was to spread the word about the incentive in order to attract more feature and television production from outside Puerto Rico.

Producer Kip Konwiser discovered the rebate and has been instrumental in bringing a steady stream of productions to the island, including NBC’s now-canceled series “Kidnapped.”

The initial plan was to shoot in Mexico, where part of the storyline took place, but Konwiser says he called an executive at Sony Pictures TV, the show’s producer, and told the exec about Puerto Rico.

“I said, ‘Don’t take it (to Mexico), Puerto Rico’s the answer, and I can return 40% as well,’ ” Konwiser recalls. “The show was hemorrhaging, so it gave me an opportunity to wedge myself in.”

It wasn’t the first time Konwiser acted as a liaison between a U.S. production and the island. He was also hired as a producer by Grosso Jacobson Communications to work on “Kings of South Beach,” an A&E original film, also partly financed by Sony, and shot entirely in Puerto Rico last year.

“Shooting on Puerto Rico came about because it was a way for us to put as much money as possible on the screen,” says Grosso Jacobson’s Clay Kahler, executive producer of the film. “The 40% rebate was a big incentive.”

Kahler says there wasn’t a requirement to hire local crews, but he wanted to take advantage of spending local dollars toward the rebate and found the crews to be “amazing.”

“It’s just good business,” he adds. “The more you do locally, the more you save.”

Kahler warns that figuring out how the rebate works is not for the faint of heart.