Set up in 1983 by Bryan Brown in response to his philosophy, 'If you own it then they can't tell you that can't be in it', New Town Films has been jointly run since the mid-1980s with his actor/writer/director wife, Rachel Ward. Operating as an independent company, New Town Films has produced at least nine film and television productions to 2009, including the 1991 feature film Sweet Talker (co-produced with the US-based company New Vision Pictures) and the Aboriginal-themed Dead Heart (1996). The company has also produced the 12 part series Twisted Tales, and its 14 part follow-up Two Twisted.

Other productions from the company include the three short films Blindman's Bluff, the 2000 AFI award winning The Big House (both written and directed by Rachel Ward), and Martha's New Coat (also directed by Ward). In 2003 Martha's New Coat won Australian Film Critic's Circle Award for best Short Drama. The company's Animated Leunig, comprising 50 one-minute animations based on the cartoons of Michael Leunig was released in 2001.