HELP! Creating a Mask inside a movie clip symbol

Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up…

Or more to the point, I have a movie clip that contains three layers. The top two layers make a mask and the bottom layer is just an image. The over all effecct creats a sparkle (shine).

When I scrub the movie clip the effect works great. When I play the movie int he library it works. But when I put an instance of the movie clip on the stage and Test Scene, it doesn’t play the sparkle.

The layers in the movie clip, in order are:
Text : Just static text
Shine: A motion tween of a rectangle
Text2: a repeat of the first text.

Text and Shine make the mask.

I am not using any action script. After trying every trick I know, I think I should be using action script. But I am at a lost as to what that could be.

Please help me. I am self teaching. So I am REALLY lost.

Thanks in heaps and bunches!