# Noob to AS3, quick question, thanks in advance!

**URL:** https://forum.kirupa.com/t/noob-to-as3-quick-question-thanks-in-advance/313991
**Category:** flash
**Created:** [September 15, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/noob-to-as3-quick-question-thanks-in-advance/313991 "2010-09-15T15:46:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Petey\_B\_New\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a8b319/32.png) [@Petey\_B\_New\_B](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Petey_B_New_B)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/noob-to-as3-quick-question-thanks-in-advance/313991/1 "2010-09-15T15:46:53Z")

</div>

I’m very new to AS3 and object oriented script. My issue involves instantiating movieClips and referencing the correctly to avoid:

Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.

I’ve spent hours researching this and know I am referencing an object that is not there but I don’t understand how to instantiate the movieClip (I think I need to generate a class for the main movieClip?) I am such a noob and really apologize for the lame question. Thanks so much for any tips; my file is [here](http://www.pidesigned.com/problem_file.zip)

The file works but I know I’m doing it wrong and really would love to know the right way! 😏

Here’s the full error:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.  
at problem\_file\_fla::avalanch\_holder\_6/frame200()[problem\_file\_fla.avalanch\_holder\_6::frame200:4]  
at flash.display::MovieClip/gotoAndStop()  
at problem\_file\_fla::avalanch\_holder\_6/frame200()[problem\_file\_fla.avalanch\_holder\_6::frame200:4]