State funding for a gold medalist is only £28k a year, and you can earn up to £50k from sponsorship before you lose that funding. Tom’s YouTube channel alone probably takes him over the earning threshold. Apparently his company accounts show £500k in revenue in 2020, before the Olympics. He’s not short of a few bob.
I reckon Lance makes more than you’d think. He got a house in West Hollywood out of Big Love, the first TV show he worked on, and was a producer on Milk because he was originally self-funding development on it. I know that he has taken long periods off for politics and had to deal with America’s broken healthcare system, but as far as I know he hasn’t needed to take short-term jobs just for a pay check.
They don’t live a particularly extravagant lifestyle so maybe it’s just sensible money management, but if Lance can afford to take a lot of time over passion projects it’s probably because he has a steady income from residuals on his previous work.
Tom confirmed in his last live that the documentary adaptation of Lance’s memoir Mama’s Boy was made on spec and has now sold.
edit: sorry to everyone here for the sexy pics and bored by the money/Patreon talk!