Here is a tutorial that shows you how to create and use a custom event using the dispatchEvent() method.

Here is a class for a start screen '.fla' file:

 Javascript | 
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package {
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import flash.display.MovieClip;
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import flash.events.Event;
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import flash.events.MouseEvent;
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public class mcStartGameScreen extends MovieClip {
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//create vars
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public var mcStart:MovieClip;
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public function mcStartGameScreen() {
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// constructor code
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mcStart.buttonMode = true;
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mcStart.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, startClick);
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}
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private function startClick(e:MouseEvent):void
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{
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dispatchEvent(new Event("START_GAME"));
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}
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}
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}

Here is another class that loads the '.swf' file and listens/reacts to the custom event:

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package  {
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	import flash.display.MovieClip;
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	import flash.events.Event;
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	import flash.events.KeyboardEvent;	
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	import flash.display.Loader;
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	import flash.net.URLRequest;
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public class eaterMain extends MovieClip {
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//create vars
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public var menuStart:mcStartGameScreen;//start game screen swf
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public function eaterMain() {
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// constructor code
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//set focus of keyboard output
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stage.focus = stage;
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//create a loader object
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var startLoader:Loader = new Loader();
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//add event listener to listen for the complete event
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startLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, startLoaded);
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//load out loader object
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startLoader.load(new URLRequest("startScreen.swf"));
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}
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public function startTheGame(e:Event):void
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{
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trace("Game has started!");
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}
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private function startLoaded(e:Event):void
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{
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//get a reference to the loaded movieclip
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menuStart = e.target.content as mcStartGameScreen;
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//add loaded movieclip (start scree) to the stage
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addChildAt(menuStart, 1);
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//listen for start game event
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menuStart.addEventListener("START_GAME", startTheGame);
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}
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}
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}
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