Filmmaker chums the water with bar-based dino shark suit fundraiser to put the hell in Drumheller

They don't exactly give away those 14-foot animatronic part dinosaur, half shark suits for peanuts, you know, so a Calgary filmmaker is hoping a local fundraiser will help.

This isn't Spencer Estabrooks' first rodeo, but it may be his most ambitious.

"I was complaining about too many shark movies in the world, and then I realized, Alberta didn't have one," Estabrooks told the Calgary Eyeopener.

So the Calgary-based, Red Deer-raised writer and filmmaker set out to change all that.

His central character, Sharkasaurus, came to life in a short film of the same name about six years ago.

Then the angry, toothy fellow surfaced on the pages of a graphic novel.

But Estabrooks always had bigger plans.

"The half T. rex, half megalodon, dirt-devouring, dinosaur from Drumheller swims in the dirt and runs on land, whichever one catches people faster," Estabrooks said of his next project, The Ballad of Sharkasaurus.

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts liked the concept and have granted Estabrooks' team $15,000 to get started.

But for this short film to emerge gloriously from the Drumheller dirt and devour the locals, that animatronic suit is going to have to be next level.

Award winning veteran dinosaur sculptor Brian Cooley think National Geographic Magazine and Royal Tyrrell Museum has already expressed an interestin being involved.

"It takes place in 1880s Drumheller," Estabrooks said.

"Some coal miners dig too deep, unleashing Sharkasaurus on an unsuspecting town and only Betsy Tyrrell can stand in the way."

This weekend's fundraiser at a Calgary brew pub hopes to tick a lot of boxes, in addition to raising about $12,000 for the suit, Estabrooks said.

Interested parties can learn how to become an extra that gets massacred in the film, but Estabrooks says there's an even more exciting opportunity.

"Our ultimate perk is the animatronic dino shark suit will come to your special event, be it a wedding, birthday or bar mitzvah."