Erich John Waschneck (29 April 188722 September 1970) was a German cameraman, director, screenwriter, and film producer.
Waschneck was born on 29 April 1887 in Grimma, Kingdom of Saxony, the son of Karl Hermann Waschneck, a blacksmith, and his wife Therese Emilie, née Schneider. After graduating from high school he went to the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig and studied painting.
Waschneck came in contact with the film industry in 1907 when he began to paint posters for films. He then worked as a still photographer and later as a camera assistant to cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner.
In 1921, he did his first work as a cameraman in the adaptation of the fairy tale Little Muck () by Wilhelm Hauff. Until 1924, he was involved in numerous other productions as a cinematographer. From 1924 he worked as a director. His first directorial effort was the feature film Struggle for the Soil () (1925), for which he also co-wrote the screenplay. His film Eight Girls in a Boat ( (1932) won the Gold Medal at the Venice Film Festival.
In 1932 he became managing director of Fanal-Film-Produktion GmbH in Berlin and a film producer.
After the Nazis seized power, Waschneck joined the National Socialist Factory Cell Organization () of German-born film directors on 4 April 1933. In 1940, he directed the anti-Semitic propaganda film The Rothschilds ().
After the war Waschneck directed only three more films.
Waschneck and the actress Karin Hardt married in 1933. He died on 22 September 1970 in Berlin, and is buried in the old cemetery in Wannsee.