Setting the location of emptyMovieClip... what am I missing?

programming flash
1

I’m clearly not caffinated enough (or too much!) because I can’t seem to place my emptyMovieClips where I want them. I’m sure I’ve done this before but I would really appreciate it if someone would shine the light of understanding on me…

I’ve tried this two ways (from the _root.):

this.createEmptyMovieClip(“mainHolder”, this.getNextHighestDepth());
_root.mainHolder._x =0;
_root.mainHolder._y =61;

and

this.createEmptyMovieClip(“mainHolder”, this.getNextHighestDepth(), {_x:0, _y:61});

When published, the swf loaded into ‘mainHolder’ is located at 0,0. What am I not doing right here?

thanks!