Difficulty targeting external swf

I have an external .swf that contains a sliding menu like the one here:
[url=“http://www.kirupa.com/developer/flash5/slidingmenu.htm”]
http://www.kirupa.com/developer/flash5/slidingmenu.htm

I am trying to load the .swf into an empty movie clip that is within a movie clip that is within a movie clip. When I load the movie, the sliding menu no longer works. I have tried changing the _root to _parent but that did not work. I also tried _parent._parent._parent with no luck. I also tried changing _root to the instance name of the movie clip that I am loading into with no luck.

I searched through the forums and found one suggestion to put:

 this.lockroot=true;

on the first frame of the external swf. This also did not work. Any suggestions??