Joachim Masannek, born in Hamm in 1960, studied German and Philosophy in Munich, then at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF). From 1985 on, he worked for film and TV productions in different roles, e.g. as production designer, cinematographer and author. His children's book "Die wilden Fußballkerle" ("Wild Soccer Bunch") was a huge success that lead to a whole series of sequels.

He directed six of the film adaptations of his "Wild Soccer Bunch" books. The films were big box office successes and made the young lead actors Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht and Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht famous. In addition to his work as director, between 2010 and 2013 he wrote a new series of children's books called "Honky Tonk Pirates".

With the car racing film "V8 – Du willst der Beste sein!" ("V8 – Start Your Engines", 2013) and its sequel "V8² - Die Rache der Nitros" ("V8² - Revenge of the Nitros", 2014), Masannek seeked to establish a new film series, but failed to build on his earlier successes with the "Wild Soccer Bunch" films. In 2016, he shot "Die wilden Kerle - Die Legende lebt" ("The Wild Soccer Bunch: The Legend Lives!"), the last of his successful feature film series. Following this, he directed another children's film, this time focusing on a young girl: "Liliane Susewind - Ein tierisches Abenteuer" ("Little Miss Dolittle", 2018, based on the books by Tanya Stewner) is about a smart girl that has the ability to talk with animals.