"essence of its" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
For example, you could write "The essence of its beauty lies in its simplicity."
Now, with the very essence of its identity disappearing, it inevitably crumpled.
The Robin Hood myths capture the essence of its concerns (and it is not too surprising that the popular TV series of the 1950s, "The Adventures of Robin Hood," was written anonymously by Hollywood screenwriters blacklisted for leftist convictions).
The essence of propaganda is that it is intended to be opinion forming, and the essence of its mechanism is that it is manipulative.
Rich media has the perfect name, because it describes the essence of its own format.
The more a company reaches out to the entire world for the best ideas, people and processes, the more it becomes the refined essence of its brand.
The use of fur as if it were fabric is the essence of its fashionable return.
When your run-of-the-mill studio drama would eventually work to bond the pair, Paint It Black instead stays true to the essence of its characters and keeps them stubbornly at odds in spite of the collective loss they share.
I reckon the less a Real Person Movie pays lip service to known facts, the more hope it has of capturing something of the essence of its subject, which is why that one late-night phone call offers more insight than the rest of Frost/Nixon laid end to end.
But the second coming of the Microbus it's not, and this is perhaps the essence of its affront.
But this show is a great first start that captures the essence of its subject.
Its ingenious reflexivity isn't the essence of its importance but is merely its source.
